KEY POINTS:
November will become the most important month in the All Black calendar. The six-game tour of 2008, is going to be followed by something similar in 2009.
The IRB has the All Blacks down to play Italy, France and England. It's likely a test against the Wallabies in either Denver or Tokyo will be added, as will a game against Wales in Cardiff.
It's possible, although unlikely, that some midweek games will be added if the right commercial arrangements can be struck. These ever-increasing itineraries are partly about money.
Everybody got what they wanted - the administrators their loot and the coaches their Grand Slam.
But maintaining that harmony from 2009 is going to become increasingly difficult. By adding tests against the Wallabies and Wales next year, the NZRU are not creating a meaningful schedule, they are creating a financially attractive schedule.
The coaching panel will live with that however - partly because they have to and partly because they are beginning to feel that November is the time when they make the biggest strides in terms of individual development.
The rugby is tougher, the pressure greater, the opponents that bit better.
