KEY POINTS:
It has taken the entire New Zealand footy season but, finally, we have a series to behold. And it's shaping up as a decent one, against the odds you would have to say.
The Kiwis versus Great Britain in league hardly rated as a speck on the 2007
radar. Oh no, there were far more important matters to contemplate, like what SPF number the All Blacks might need in Corsica.
The league series was so far down the publicity queue that it was still out in the street getting whipped by the wind and rain while the yachting, rugby, cricket, netball and even a few other league matters were being attended to at the front counter.
There were even more newspaper columns dedicated to which Australians were being considered for league's All Golds than there were to a little old league test series.
Anyway, now that it's here, this three-match battle is shaping up pretty well, and got off to a low-flying start at Huddersfield yesterday.
International football series are a sadly lost wonder of the sporting world.
They used to be the backbone, blood and muscle of international union and league, back in the weird old days when the number of players in a touring squad easily outnumbered the support staff.
The modern obsession with World Cups allied to rugby test coaches who often cop out by not fielding their best teams has got me continually on the verge of wanting to check out.
Full-blooded test series are the go, even if - as must be conceded - their proper scheduling in the professional era is often difficult to achieve. Series involve the main plots, the subplots, and the opportunity for redemption and revenge. Series are about action rather than overblown theories. They create and nurture the best thing in top-level sport - rivalry. They also encourage a history which can fuel the good times, and get a sport through the bad.
A series can also pull teams together, or maybe tear them apart. This is all part of the fascination and the intrigue of a sporting series.
Southern Hemisphere exhibits A and B in this case are a couple of Australian events, rugby league's State of Origin, and cricket's one-day tri-series.
Both provide cracking good entertainment year after year, without all the pretentious nonsense which inevitably surrounds World Cups. They involve action and words, and the former almost always overshadows the latter, as it should.
Exhibit A-plus in the case for the joys of sports series is the Ashes cricket contest two seasons ago. That provided never-to-be-forgotten sports action and drama, and was maybe the greatest series ever, particularly for those of us not totally au fait with American baseball and basketball over the years.
So, I've crammed three league games into a phone box, spun them around, and popped out a sporting Superman to save the day.
The Kiwis bounced back - with little bounces it would rather forget about it has to be said - from the horrors of the drubbing by Australia.
In truth, a Kiwi league side should perform in excess of what we saw against a rusty British combination in Huddersfield yesterday morning. With so many leading professional players in both Australia and England, it remains frustrating that the great new era the Kiwis often promised never arrives. The big problem, and one that never seems to go away, is a lack of combined authority and class at halfback and standoff.
But let's be thankful for small mercies. Yes, the Kiwis lost to Great Britain, but after the Wellington disaster against Australia you had to fear something much worse was in store. There was at least enough to suggest that the Kiwis have the potential to win this series, that a decent contest is ahead.
Neither side is in prime condition, particularly as both used utility players (Leon Pryce and Lance Hohaia) at standoff and had part-time goal kickers.
Television didn't quite catch this incident, but if the commentators were correct, Hohaia actually forgot he was the Kiwi goalkicker and had to be reminded after the game's first try.
There were some riveting and tough contests within the contest to behold. If the teenage British prop Sam Burgess beats a high-tackle charge, his rematch with Fuifui Moimoi should be a highlight of the second encounter in Hull, the British league outpost that was the professional playing home to the Kiwi coach Gary Kemble and his assistant James Leuluai.
The second test should also provide a chance of redemption for the new Kiwi fullback Sam Perrett, whose inactivity near those aforementioned little bounces at the dead ball line allowed Great Britain a soft try.
Perrett made partial amends with a sharp dummy half run to set up a Shontayne Hape try, but he is still in the red such were the magnitude and ramifications of his earlier error.
Perrett's progress is all part of a plot that should thicken. If you get knocked down, then get straight back up and set about plotting your comeback and revenge. That's what a series is all about, and why they should be treasured.
