Next year's World Cup hovers over the series like a big cloud about to cover the sun.
Everything for the English is pointed towards the tournament in their own country late next year.
The men in white have brought a truckload of players to New Zealand to size them up in preparation for next year's tournament.
They want to test players in a tough series and see how they will shape up under extreme pressure.
The All Blacks are not quite looking that far ahead, although they know the ultimate prize lies offshore next year.
It all makes for a great game tomorrow night.
England will be heartened by its first-test performance, by the way a side shorn of some of its better players ran the All Blacks so close and almost grabbed a victory.
But - and this is the only but that counts - the English still lost, and in top international sport it is the result that matters, nothing else.
Time will tell whether that really was the one that got away, but England has responded by picking some more established stars in the backline while keeping faith with most of its pack from last Saturday night.
The All Blacks were rusty last week and one imagines they will be much better tomorrow night at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Although it is not exactly last-chance saloon for some of the All Black players, another average effort from some in black will lead to serious head scratching from the selectors.
The All Blacks were off-key last week but in all the doom and gloom following that performance, the fact remains they still won. And that is what good teams do: win ugly.
The All Blacks showed they have the tenacity and calmness under pressure to scrap out a victory. But their skills and execution must lift dramatically if they want to go two up in the series with one to play.
If they look to the heavens, they have one advantage. The All Blacks have no peer in world rugby when it comes to running the ball and playing an up-tempo game, and a roof that guarantees a dry surface makes it easy to play that way.
The English, though, are showing signs they, too, know how to use the ball. For years, their approach had been kick first, second and third. But they realise they must move the ball and score tries to win tests.
With good timing, there is no better place in world rugby to try that than Forsyth Barr Stadium.
