Steve Deane: Weekend TV schedule ... something missing?

So what will you be watching this weekend?

For me, the international league double header will be top billing, with the Roos v England probably just shading the Kiwis v France.

Then there's the north London derby, always an exercise in disappointment for we Spurs fans but, hey, this year might be different. Then there's the baseball world series. Pencil in a bit of Under-17s soccer World Cup too. Those kids play with the sort of abandon that can be a joy to watch.

Job done. Although I've got this nagging feeling I'm forgetting something. Hmmm. Cleaned the garage last week, so it can't be the missus. The life-changing exercise programme is pencilled in for January, maybe February, and the car's oil change is down for 2016. Perplexing.

Got it. Of course. Rugby. How could I forget the Air New Zealand Cup semis. What a weekend.

That'll do me nicely. But it's a good job there's nothing else on. I mean, with a sporting calendar like that you'd have to work pretty hard to drum up much enthusiasm for anything else, even an All Blacks rugby test. Sure, there might be a bit of interest in a one-off against England or Wales over there, but you'd be hard pressed to get much value out of yet another meaningless match against Australia. To create any sort of novelty factor, you'd have to stage it somewhere like Hong Kong, Denver or Tokyo ...

There goes the tractor pulling I'd earmarked for last two hours of weekend viewing time permitted in the marriage vows.

International rugby's saturated schedule may be a joke but it is now no laughing matter. I can't remember the last time I missed an All Blacks test, but this one is going to be a chore. And I get paid to watch it. Pity the rest of the nation who don't, many of whom I'd guess will watch out of a sense of obligation rather than any hope of being mightily entertained.

For me, this is one milking of the cash cow too far.

For a lesson in the value of scarcity, the NZRU needs look no further than a league Four Nations comp that is shaping as truly compelling. The Roos-Poms match is a genuinely intriguing contest. Sure, we all think we know what will happen, but we don't know. Meetings between the teams are rare enough that there is no real form line, while the clash of styles between north and south adds to the sense of unknown. Ditto the Kiwis v France. Who's going to win? Well, the Kiwis of course. Probably. Well, maybe. They should, but France are always tough in Toulouse and, honestly, we just don't know much about them.

That certainly can't be said of Wallabies and All Blacks teams that are so over-exposed that most people don't even giggle any more when they realise Ma'a Nonu's middle name is Allan.

Fuifui Moimoi's is Moana, by the way. Not Moana Moana. I've asked, but that's an aside.

International league is still a basket case in many ways. There are only a couple of good sides, the schedule is set in sand and the nationality of the players hardly seems to come into it.

But it is still rare enough to be interesting, exciting even.

As the old beer add jingle promoting the Kiwis used to say, give 'em a taste. Union, by contrast, is intent on ramming it down our throats. I'll be voting with my remote.