Twenty-six years on from its inception, Super Rugby will this week launch its ninth separate iteration of the tournament.
Professional rugby, and the world we live in, has changed markedly over that time, while the Super Rugby brand - which began as Super 12 - has changed with it, most notably toying with expansion into new territories, and a retreat from others.
When the deal was struck for Super 12 midway through the '90s - as colourfully recounted here by late colleague Greg Growden - the rugby world was in a state of a flux. Almost three decades on, and with some vastly different challenges, the situation is much the same.
But the alliance that is SANZAAR certainly isn't what it was back at the start of Super 12, nor the halcyon days that followed with the Tri Nations; South Africa, for one, has taken its provincial teams north while rumour and innuendo about a potential move to the Six Nations is constantly doing the rounds.
And so, at the provincial level, and following much posturing and more than just a few heated exchanges, New Zealand Rugby and their Rugby Australia counterparts have partnered up on Super Rugby Pacific.
The big question - for Rugby Australia anyway -- is whether this tournament can again engage not just the rugby community, but so too the sport's more casual fans that once flooded to the Sydney Football Stadium to watch Phil Waugh bury his weathered head in yet another ruck; or braved the winter cold in Canberra to see George Gregan and Stephen Larkham run amok; or Queenslanders flock to XXXX Hill at Ballymore to catch a glimpse of Tim Horan and Co.
"For where we are now and how the world is positioned, absolutely," RA chief executive Andy Marinos said last week when asked whether this was the best iteration of Super Rugby yet. "And I think it's really exciting to bring in these two new teams from the Pacific.
"There's long been questions and people's opinions around the strength of the rugby and the flat buoyancy which they play and seeing it now, week in, week out: I think it's a really great sense of identity for the Pacific region and [I'm] really looking forward to it.
"And for me, I've always said this consistently, the strength of SANZAAR is always been how the teams have performed on the international level. And I think we'll see the benefits or the strength of the competition as we go into the internationals and how competitive the countries are across that format of the game."
Given the departure of South Africa's franchises, so too expansion team the Jaguares [Argentina], Marinos' point about the strength of the SANZAAR block is somewhat moot when it comes to Super Rugby Pacific. But it does clearly hold relevance for New Zealand and Australia, particularly in a Test rugby environment that is arguably as competitive as it has ever been.
While the travel was a nightmare, both New Zealand Rugby and its various All Blacks coaches relished the opportunity to play against South African teams, believing as Marinos says, that it was the best way to prepare for Test rugby, specifically matches against the Springboks.
But as the global market player grew, and the rand remained weak, the lure of the pound, euro or yen, became increasingly harder to resist and the depth of player across the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks, Lions and Cheetahs waned - and it was only further hit when South Africa had six franchises in action.
Australia, too, has suffered.
While expansion into the new rugby markets of Perth and Melbourne with the Western Force and Rebels respectively, is starting to bear fruit, Australian rugby has at times been engulfed in a civil war over their involvement.
There are those in Australian rugby who still believe five professional franchises is too many, that the talent is spread too thinly, and that certainly was the belief when NZR offered up its now infamous invitation late in 2020 for "two or three Australian teams" to join a new competition as it moved to take a stranglehold on the Pacific region.
Insulted by the invitation, Rugby Australia chairman's Hamish McLennan was understandably angry and a flat out rejection of such a plan was issued in response. McLennan, at that point, was prepared to go it alone on Super Rugby AU, not just as a stopgap competition into the future, but as a permanent solution.
When negotiations started to improve into 2021, the chairman made the point that Australia's television ratings declined when the Trans-Tasman crossover series was played, while New Zealand's increased on those from its Super Rugby Aotearoa competition.
NZR boss Mark Robinson admitted to being "perplexed" by RA going cold on a 12-team competition for 2021, with reports McLennan was dissatisfied with the share of the broadcast revenue RA was in line for.
When asked whether Super Rugby AU, which included a final played before over 40,000 fans in Brisbane, had given RA something to ponder, Marinos admitted that had indeed been the case and, potentially, a complete reunification with New Zealand might not be in Australian rugby's best interests.
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, however, took a different view. Knowing the need for Australia's players to be regularly tested by New Zealand opposition, the Kiwi has always been in favour of one united trans-Tasman competition.
Certainly the gulf in class was shown in the crossover series last year when New Zealand teams won 23 of the 25 matches played, and then only further enhanced when the All Blacks swept to a 3-0 series defeat, but not before there was one final and complete breakdown in trans-Tasman relations.
The organisation of last year's Bledisloe series was a debacle, and stunk of New Zealand again acting in its own interest. After giving up the first two games, which were both played at Eden Park, RA were left fuming when New Zealand refused to travel to Perth for the rescheduled third Test, which meant it then had to be rescheduled once more.
Rennie described the move as "hugely disappointing", saying he was "bloody angry" and that only one Union was interested in doing what was "best for the game".
All the while in the background, negotiations continued in the pursuit of an agreed Super Rugby Pacific format that would admit both Fijian Drua [with financial assistance from the Australian government] and Moana Pasifika, with both franchise licenses to be owned by New Zealand Rugby.
Undoubtedly, the addition of Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua is overdue. After years of exploiting the resources in the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia can at last start to repay some of the debt they owe the Pacific.
Once the format had been agreed, RA boss Marinos, in an exclusive interview with ESPN, later described the Trans-Tasman relationship as that shared between two brothers.
"We understand that we have got to work with New Zealand and New Zealand understand that they have got to work with us," he told ESPN in October last year. "And from a relationship point-of-view, it's like two brothers, you're going to have your dust-ups, you're going to have difference of opinions.
"But at the end of the day we are both committed to what's good for the game and growing the game in our region, and so we'll continue to work in that vein."
It was certainly a walk back from the exchanges shared around the time of Bledisloe III.
Fast forward to 2022, and a week out from kick-off, and Super Rugby Pacific continues to fight battles on a number of fronts, but all have been brought about by COVID.
Having shifted all six of its New Zealand-based teams to Queenstown in a bid to avoid a COVID outbreak across the playing group, six Moana Pasifika players tested positive for the virus on Friday. This competition's opening game, between Moana and the Blues, has now been postponed as a result.
New Zealand's teams will otherwise play before empty stadiums in Dunedin and Wakatipu for the opening three rounds of the competition, with franchise chief executives desperate for a change in policy that would allow crowds to return when the six teams return to their respective home grounds from Round 4.
"We're expecting crowds. People have made their choices around vaccinations and those people who are double-vaxxed should be rewarded with being able to go to these things," Blues boss Andrew Hore said recently.
"I don't think we should be held to ransom by those that haven't. The rest of the world seems to be getting on with it. People are starting to get to a point now where life has got to get moving again and this is getting a bit silly."
There is also the very real chance that, given New Zealand's ongoing border restrictions, the trans-Tasman games will have to be played entirely in Australia. That would see all six New Zealand-based teams stay on after Super Round in Melbourne in week 10 of the competition.
All in all, uncertainty reigns as we approach the competition's kick-off.
What is certain, however, is that the pressure is on for Australia's franchises to perform when the trans-Tasman matches are played from late April. For this new competition to work, it cannot be dominated by New Zealand teams in the same fashion as Super Rugby Trans-Tasman last year.
Only then will we be able to judge whether this competition can prove to be a successful format - in Australia and New Zealand at least - and perhaps start to restore the Super Rugby brand to its former glory.