Such is England and Ireland's improvement over the past fortnight that it seems the All Blacks are standing by themselves in holding back the Northern Hemisphere tide.
Coach Steve Hansen has been a keen observer of not only that improvement but also the battle raging across the Tasman between England coach Eddie Jones and his Wallaby counterpart, Michael Cheika.
The latest victory by the Australian Jones, who has turned England from confused World Cup flops to a side with a steely edge, was the 23-7 victory in Melbourne that sealed the series after the home side's 39-28 defeat in Brisbane the week before. And Hansen can't help notice that the result has come on top of Jones winning the off-pitch battle in terms of his strategy to unsettle Cheika in the media. The two are former club teammates, and Hansen wonders if that history is playing a part in Cheika's apparent willingness to keep turning the other cheek.
"Cheika has not come back, he's let Eddie have a free rein to the point where he's actually allowed Eddie to bully him in the media. I don't know if that's because they know each other that well that there's a pecking order from the old days ... but that's gone on to the park, hasn't it?"
Hansen's needling of Cheika could have consequences for the build-up to the All Blacks v Wallabies Rugby Championship test in Sydney on August 20.