KEY POINTS:
There was a Rugby World Cup, eight years ago, for which our brave lads departed in a plane decked out as an All Black front row.
Such grandiosity is bound to come unstuck, literally in this case. The initial image was placed the wrong way round - surely even graphic artists in this country should know their tighthead and loosehead props - and had to be prised off and replaced.
From left to right, from the viewing deck, Kees Meeuws, Anton Oliver and Carl Hoeft were definitely good enough to scare the ground crew at Heathrow and a few others. But triumphant World Cup certainties they were not. Meeuws - who bore only a passing resemblance to his plane image - struggled to even start.
The World Cup returns to Europe this year where the All Blacks really will be led by its front row.
Carl Hayman, Tony Woodcock and whoever is in between have turned the All Black scrum into a safe bet, a weapon of destruction. Unless injuries strike, All Black fans can have faith in the scrum and save their prayers for the lineout.
Hayman has emerged as the star, the perfect propping specimen in an imperfect game. He is a man of modest demeanour and immoderate front row acts. He is one of All Black rugby's finest front row men.
And, we are told, he will join Newcastle at the end of the year at about the time he turns 28, and a touch under seven years since his test debut. As the All Black rules stand, it will put him off limits to the test side because he is no longer a resident in this land. What a disaster.
How long can this residency rule last, especially when the All Blacks are no longer guaranteed to play a consistent part in the Super 14 with a reconditioning bug on the loose?
And for how long will the New Zealand Rugby Union even have the guaranteed funds to hold elite players, given broadcaster dissatisfaction and the effect of a strong New Zealand dollar on NZRU reserves?
You can have only sympathy for the NZRU, which must employ players rich in talent on middle-class wages while foreign millionaires keep knocking on their doors. Solomon's wisdom would be tested sorting it out. His mines would be more helpful.
The power of overseas currency not only tears at the NZRU's financial reserves but it continues to tear the best players away. The feeling is that as star players realise how limited their careers are and that what lies between World Cup tournaments has become functional rather than Earth-shattering, they will increasingly accept early showers of overseas gold.
The simple scenario, as put to the nation, is that to sanction the selection of overseas-based players in the All Blacks would be to open the floodgates. It wouldn't be long before the All Black selectors could reside in London.
Yet would a rule change really alter that much on the domestic front?
Players will always want to create the platform for their careers here because this is the best place to learn the game and win initial test jerseys. And it is - for the money-minded - All Black status that creates the major earning potential.
The latest batch of departures, after this World Cup, may include Hayman, Oliver, Luke McAlister, Byron Kelleher, Aaron Mauger, Chris Jack, Rico Gear and Sam Tuitupou. Their average age now is about 27. The overseas rule, you could argue, is already failing.
Hayman, Mauger and McAlister should be at the core of future All Black plans. Jack, despite lineout deficiencies, turns 29 late this year so is hardly over the hill, nor out of the picture.
The All Blacks would not only be without the world's finest tighthead prop - with no backup remotely in his class - and their longest serving lock, but could lose their influential second five-eighths and his mercurial challenger.
There is even the possibility that Richie McCaw, the All Black captain and to many minds the greatest openside flanker in our history, will head through the departure lounge at the same time, close to his 27th birthday and with enough money to buy his own plane.
One hates to be alarmist, but what if the brilliant Dan Carter was to join them at the end of next year? What if Captain Underpants calls it quits after such a brief All Black career?
The argument that players can return in time to qualify for World Cups is not strong enough to simply ignore the damage this exodus will do to the test side. The majority do not return in their prime.
All Black supporters deserve to see at least something close to the best side playing every year. We've already put up with a half-cocked Super 14. Are we to endure the same in tests as well?
And while there are issues about bringing players back after arduous northern club campaigns - and the season ends for different players at different times - they are far from insurmountable, especially in the rotation era.
Young men will be lured overseas by more than just money. But players don't employ managers as glorified travel agents, and money must be a major reason Hayman is ready to depart at this time.
In the case of Hayman - who has been offered $1 million a year by Newcastle - why not have a dispensation? Something subtle - such as allowing Opunake-born tighthead props with beards who played for the Highlanders to be excluded from the residency rule - would do.
No doubt the NZRU would see a dispensation for the thick end of the All Black row as being the thin end of a dangerous wedge.
Maybe, more seriously, the NZRU could remove the restriction for players who have racked up a certain number of tests. Maybe, even, private enterprise could be further encouraged in an effort to keep a few key players here longer. What about a pact with a British club to supply players who would return here to qualify for World Cups - if that over-valued tournament must continue to dominate the game.
As I said, I don't envy the union in trying to deal with this problem. But the time could be fast approaching when this matter must be turned over to the All Black selectors, although a nervous NZRU will cling for dear life to its existing policy.
What would the public prefer here - a weakened Super 14 or a weakened test team? Stadiums like the Cake Tin no longer overflow whatever the Super 14 situation, and the competition's television viewing figures have plummeted.
At the very least, you can argue with great persuasion that no residential restrictions should apply when it comes to selecting World Cup squads. It is anachronistic for a game that turns itself inside out over one tournament to then exclude players for it on the basis of their address. A judicious power to combat the player drain needs to be put in the All Black selectors' hands.
The rule should change on the Hayman case alone rather than letting this great player disappear with the usual "thanks for the contribution" guff.
Call that professional? Hardly.
Yet for all his worth, Hayman won't be the deal breaker or, it seems, even a debate-maker on this, although I'm not sure why. He is that good.
But McCaw or Carter ... that could be a different story.
