Look up reality in a dictionary and this is what you get: "thing or all that is real and not imagination or fantasy".
What is very, very real right now is that the All Blacks have a chronic list of players injured and the player well, which was deep and overflowing a couple of years ago, is drying up.
Any sporting outfit has to have an experienced and talented spine of players through its team, quality players at hooker, lock, openside flanker or No 8, halfback, first five-eighth, centre and fullback.
Quite simply, the team must have top players in these positions.
But last night there were plenty of crooked bones in this All Blacks spine.
Players like Mils Muliaina and Andrew Hore, or Keven Mealamu, are still world class.
Unfortunately, the replacements for the likes of Ali Williams, Rodney So'oialo and Daniel Carter are not quite as good as the aforementioned.
And that's understandable.
Carter and company have always played the majority of tests to construct that spine, as they were the best players.
It is a bit of a trip to Fantasy Island to expect guys like Liam Messam and Isaac Ross to instantly be as good as So'oialo and Williams.
The problem now is that, thanks to a mass of players going overseas, promising players are not getting the same time to develop and learn their skills.
They have to click in sooner, rather than later.
Would Ross, for example, have made the team if Chris Jack, Paul Tito or Greg Rawlinson were still available?A few years ago, All Black coach Graham Henry went through the dreaded rotation policy to try to get two world-class sides.
He will not be doing that now, not only because the public ended up hating it, but because there are not sufficient quality players around to build two world-class sides, especially with all the injured players.
There are supposedly more New Zealand professional rugby players overseas than in New Zealand and that is ultimately starting to bite.
The player drain has been going on for more than 10 years and has been turning into a torrent in the past couple of years.
What can be done to stop the drain?The answer is nothing.
The New Zealand Rugby Union is never going to change the strict criteria of having to play for a New Zealand side to play for the All Blacks.
Nor should it.
No-one wants to have players jetting in from overseas to play tests.
So all it can do is keep hoping players will stay in New Zealand for the love of the game, and the love of the country.
The All Blacks might lose a bit more often, and that will be hard to stomach.
But there is one positive.
This year is halfway through the World Cup cycle.
Usually at this time the All Blacks are smashing everyone by 50 points, only to fall over at the most important time.
Hands up who would happily swap a few losses in 2009 for the ultimate glory in a couple of years' time?
