KEY POINTS:
Some aspiring All Blacks must surely be cursing mankind for not yet having acquired some mechanism to hold time still.
Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu, among others, would dearly love a few more weeks in front of the All Black selectors.
Instead, they have one last chance in the Super 14 to produce something, anything, to keep their names fresh in the minds of those who will pick the 30-man All Black squad on May 20.
Exclusion will not be fatal to World Cup dreams but it will be grave. All Black coach Graham Henry says that, ideally, the 30 selected next month will be pretty much the squad for France.
As he says: "We have been at this for four years. We should have a good handle on the players by now."
Injuries will disrupt Henry's ideal world and some allowances will be made for individual workloads.
Those who have bashed away for most of the Super 14 might be afforded a short reconditioning window before the first tests against France and Canada, while others in the 30 might be posted out to the Junior All Blacks if the coaching panel feel they need game time and aren't getting it with the senior crew.
In the case of Greg Somerville, who hasn't played since August, the door will stay open until the World Cup squad announcement on July 22.
"He's a player we want to give every opportunity to," says Henry. "He needs to play and that means he might even be involved in the Air New Zealand Cup to give him that chance.
"That would be the exception rather than the rule, though. Our basic objective is that we would like to select the same 30."
Nervous times loom for players such as Smith and Nonu, who have meandered through the last 11 weeks without making a peep. Adding to their angst will be the knowledge that Henry and his chums place a big emphasis on knock-out football.
So while Smith and Nonu are left to ponder why their powder never went boom, midfield contenders Isaia Toeava and Casey Laulala will monopolise the attentions of the men who matter in the games that matter.
The two Hurricanes men needn't fall into despair. There is hope. Both have played tests in every year of the Henry reign and their previous deeds will not be forgotten.
The last two years of experimentation and rotation were designed to ensure the All Black selectors got to 2007 knowing who they rated and who they didn't.
Smith and Nonu are players they rate. The former brings a unique dimension. He is a link player, clever with his hands and astute in defensive positioning. When Smith plays, the All Black back three become the strike point. The ball goes through the hands more and there is licence to counter-attack from deep.
Nonu is a power runner who can bust big holes in the middle of the park. In a game of collisions, he almost always wins and the selectors were hooked on that ability on the 2006 end of year tour.
Back in November, Nonu was operating at a ratio of two-parts hero one-part villain with his ability to break the line - only then to suffer sporadic malfunctions in his post-break execution.
At that 2:1 ratio he was an asset. Unfortunately the mix has been diluted in the Super 14, with some unwelcome habits resurfacing.
Having spent so many hours working on Nonu's tackling technique, it won't have pleased the panel he was yellow-carded for not using his arms.
Neither Smith nor Nonu can claim to be in form which puts all the pressure on the selectors. How much weighting do they place on the last 12 weeks?
While Nonu and Smith have spluttered along, young buck Toeava has sliced his way through every backline. Laulala, too, has grown in confidence and is making telling contributions.
Toeava and Laulala are the men in form. The men who look the goods. But both have had their test chances and gone all stunned-mullet.
This is a tough nut for the selectors. They know they have Aaron Mauger, Luke McAlister and Mils Muliaina safely in their midfield mix.
But who joins them - the men in form or the men with longer pedigree? Smith, Nonu, Toeava and Laulala can't all squeeze into the 30.
At least one, maybe two, will miss the cut come May 19.
Having missed most of last season with a broken leg, Smith returned to test duty on the back of limited game time to combine effectively with McAlister in November.
The selectors probably won't have any reservations about selecting him on the back of patchy form again as they know he brings to the table a cool head which allows him to rise to the big occasion.
Toeava had special project status for most of 2006 until his confidence collapsed towards the end of the Tri Nations.
He has every skill a centre needs and with his confidence now rebuilt thanks to some compelling work, the selectors will be seriously tempted to give him another crack in the test arena to see if he can handle the pressure.
They know Toeava can play - they just don't know whether he can hold it toge-ther at international level.
For that reason there is little value in putting Toeava into the Junior All Blacks.
He needs to jump back in at the deep end and see if he can swim.
Nonu, on the other hand, may benefit from some time with the Juniors.
He needs to play to build his confidence and a stint in a less intense environment where he is likely to see significant action might just be the ticket to rework him into a more appetising concoction.
Laulala, too, would be well served by consistent game time in a black jersey where there is lesspressure.
Right now, Smith and Toeava could be the survivors come May 19.
But if Nonu can deliver before July 22, it might be the selectors who are left cursing mankind's inability to hold time still.
