Test rugby is not immune to the levels of ennui that seem to be prevalent in society as everything from the pandemic to the glut of entertainment options to the general awfulness of social media leads to the sense there is nothing to get really excited about any more.
Too much rugby, some say. The game has got too predictable, others argue. What is the point of games between World Cups anyway?
Even test week in Dunedin, once labelled "Rugby City", ain’t what it used to be.
The days of Tent City, businesses going All Blacks-crazy and a week of electric build-up are long gone. Ireland only arrived on Wednesday night — visiting teams once spent the whole week in Dunedin — and the All Blacks have maintained a very strict schedule that included no public trainings.
For all that, do not try to tell me the next couple of days are not going to be a lot of fun.
Touring fans will start pouring in to taste this city’s hospitality, before some 30,000 people will cram the best stadium in New Zealand to see a heavyweight fight between two rugby powerhouses.
Remember this is still a relatively rare opportunity to have international rugby on our doorstep, particularly involving the ever-popular men in green.
This is only the 14th test between the All Blacks and Ireland in New Zealand, and just the third in Dunedin.
The All Blacks’ winning margins in their two previous tests against the Irish in Dunedin? Three points and nine points.
It seems like rugby in a parallel dimension now but Ireland had played teams such as South Canterbury and Poverty Bay in 1992 before it took a shock 12-0 lead at Carisbrook, only for the All Blacks to regroup and win 24-21.
Ten years later, conditions were brutally freezing as the All Blacks ground out a 15-6 win.
What chance tomorrow night, the eighth All Blacks test to be played at Forsyth Barr Stadium, will be an arm-wrestle on that scale?
And what is the real significance of this test?
For the Irish, obviously, there is some pressure to rebound from the 42-19 loss in the first test at Eden Park and recapture some of that oomph that has struck fear into the hearts of All Blacks fans in recent times.
They are good value, these tourists, full of verve and power, and it would not be disloyal to express some hope they are at full blast tonight and give the All Blacks an almighty battle.
And the home team?
More of the same, please.
It gets banged on about ad nauseam but we have a lovely stadium with a roof and a lightning-fast surface, and southern fans would be very grateful to see some razzle-dazzle.
There are still some questions hovering over the All Blacks, especially around selections in some positions just a year or so until the World Cup.
But they can be pushed aside tonight. Fingers crossed for a barn-storming test.
