SEPTEMBER
Individual tickets go on sale for games and that leads to inevitable complaints about over-charging, over-allocating, and greedy fans from overseas.
But by and large, it all goes smoothly.
The Namibian population is not up in arms that it can not sit in the main stand to watch its side take on the Welsh in New Plymouth on a Monday night.
OCTOBER
All Black coach Graham Henry picks his 30-man squad to go to the United Kingdom. He talks about building squad depth, working on combinations and moving forward. One word he does not mention is "rotation".
Sonny Bill Williams makes the side in between his trips to the ski field and helicopter flights. A pensioner goes public saying he has been going to Eden Park for 50 years yet can not get a seat for the final next year. Anyone who has watched Auckland this season has total sympathy for him.
NOVEMBER
Uruguay wins the playoff final and its reward is two games in Invercargill. Tim Shadbolt invites the mayor of Punta del Este to the sunny South. On the advice of the Rolling Stones, the mayor declines.
The All Blacks win all their games on the northern tour but Henry says anyone can still make the side next year. Even Luke McAlister.
DECEMBER
Rumours abound that the new stadium in Dunedin will not be finished in time.
Malcolm Farry sends out the same press release he has sent out 20 times already, denying these.
Sonny Bill Williams is spotted bungy jumping.
JANUARY
Ali Williams gets on the paddock after nearly two years away. He survives his first game but still no-one can understand him at the press conference.
The northern hemisphere nations start their Six Nations preparations but results won't matter - it is all about the World Cup. That is what the losing coaches say, anyway.
FEBRUARY
The new Super 15 kicks off and the Crusaders moan about injuries despite having five All Blacks sitting on the bench.
The red and blacks win their first three games by a combined 135 points, but coach Todd Blackadder still talks at 10 words a minute.
Ticket allocation for the Cup final and semifinals is announced. Take-up from the Georgian fans disappoints.
SBW last seen skydiving.
MARCH
The grass in the new stadium starts to turn purple. Farry sends out the same press release - all going to plan, the tomato harvest is plentiful.
The roof is slowly going on, but huge scandal breaks that the substance used to cover the roof is actually made of bamboo. So Dunedin will have a new indoor stadium but pandas are on strict rations.
France wins Six Nations, Scots wooden-spooners.
APRIL
Henry talks for the first time, saying all is good, despite every New Zealand side except the Crusaders struggling. Chris Jack finally hits a ruck. Brad Thorn is said to be defying his age - every week.
At least one All Black outside back gets a serious injury - odds on Richard Kahui playing every game?
MAY
The grind of the new Super 15 starts to take its toll. Injuries hit some teams hard. All national coaches say Super 15 is irrelevant. The race for the playoffs hots up but no-one can understand how to qualify.
SBW signs up for the Red Bull air race tour.
JUNE
Northern nations pick their squads for the tournament. England names 30 players and a support staff of 400.
Italy checks the passport of everyone who has ever picked up a rugby ball to investigate their ancestry.
Crusaders top qualifiers in Super 15. Highlanders improve, Blues implode, Chiefs disappoint, and Hurricanes finish well but miss out.
JULY
Farry again says everything fine, despite scaffolders finishing off the roof with offcuts from Placemakers.
Crusaders win the Super 15, and Henry names his first All Black squad of the year. Utterly predictable, with no new caps. Joe Rokocoko is named despite being no quicker than a sick hedgehog.
Shortened Tri-Nations starts.
AUGUST
All Blacks win the Tri-Nations but no-one cares. Dan Carter gets a sore calf and in Aaron Cruden the nation trusts. Oh dear.
Teams and fans start arriving. So do the stories on over-pricing, wrong hotels, poor training facilities, bad roads, unhappy parents . . .
SEPTEMBER
Finally, after six years and much talk, the tournament is about to start. Half an hour before the first game in Dunedin, Farry finally admits "the stadium is not quite ready". Everyone tramps down to Carisbrook.
OCTOBER
And the winner of the tournament is . . .
