Wallabies great Toutai Kefu isn't a fan of Australia's back-row setup, but the former Test No. 8 believes Michael Cheika has little choice but to play Michael Hooper and David Pocock together such is the dearth of talent at the back of the scrum.
As the 'Pooper' combination continues to dominate the build-up to the Wallabies' clash with the Springboks in Brisbane on Saturday, Australian rugby fans are left with strong memories of a free-running Kefu such has been the continuing search for a player of the same mould.
Wycliff Palu, Richard Brown, Rocky Elsom, Scott Higginbotham, Ben McCalman and now Pocock are just some of the names to have pulled on the No. 8 jersey since Kefu's departure, though no man has been able to match the all-round skill-set of the Queenslander.
And the situation has perhaps never been grimmer, with Pocock doing his best to fill two roles despite his natural fit at No. 7.
"I was just having that conversation the other day while I was watching Wallabies training; there hasn't been a real No. 8 [for quite a while] or we can't see any in the foreseeable future," Kefu told ESPN.
"[Ben] McCalman does some good things; are there some kids coming through? I don't know. Look I just don't know to tell you the truth.
"When I played, I think players were definitely more skilful then. But the game has changed so much and especially the way the Wallabies play, it is so collision based; whereas back then, we probably played a bit more in terms of passing and offloading.
"But it just depends on what type of No. 8 you're looking for. In terms of a ball-playing No. 8, I just don't see many around these days."
While the 'Pooper' combination helped to fire the Wallabies to the 2015 Rugby World Cup final, a dysfunctional lineout and an inability to breach the gainline in close -- particularly in twin Bledisloe Cup defeats -- have raised questions over the combination's viability.
Kefu has a temporary solution.
"I'm not that big of a fan of it, but I can see where Michael Cheika is coming from," he said of the dual-fetcher setup.
"He's picking two of our better players in the back-row instead of picking the best for the position. It's probably his last chance [to field the combination] this game, and they probably need to have some success and get a good result.
"I'd probably swap the two around; I'd probably play Pocock at No. 7 and move Hooper back to No. 8 or maybe even blindside.
"But No .8 is a really specific role where you need to have a good feel for it and, like I said before, it's a position where you can pick and choose when you go in and out of the tight stuff."
When he was out of the "tight stuff", Kefu was one of the world's most damaging ball-runners.
Responsible for one of Australia's iconic Bledisloe moments -- the 'Inspector Gadget' try that sent John Eales into retirement a winner -- Kefu told ESPN of the roaming licence he was given by then-Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, explaining how that role allowed him to be so effective.
"Look I think Scotty Higginbotham was our last kind of ball-playing No. 8, and even with him a lot of people criticised him for being too loose," Kefu said.
"But if you look at the way I played, at times, I was loose. I suppose I had the freedom to do that in terms of my coaches.
"The best coach I had was Eddie Jones, and he basically left the way I wanted to play, and how I saw the game, up to me. But I had that freedom because I had a really good forward pack in front of me; so I could basically pick and choose when I wanted to run and when I wanted to ball-play.
"And I had a free licence that Eddie Jones gave me, and I suppose there was a special relationship there that allowed that to happen."