Ben Smith. Photo / Getty Images.
The All Blacks have a lot to thank the Highlanders for - and in the most unusual way.
Maybe there's something in the water. Maybe there's something in the indoor stadium.
But the Deep South is turning out the glamour boys, the blokes who are fueling the test backline.
It's conceivable, even probable, that in the near future a test backline will include five Highlanders: Aaron Smith, Lima Sopoaga, Malakai Fekitoa, Waisake Naholo and Ben Smith.
Naholo's rise to the starting lineup - on the right wing - is continuing a revolution so amazing that the Highlanders' other wing, Patrick Osborne, could also have figured in the All Black discussions.
What the heck is going on in the North Island? The Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes should be the the razzle dazzle merchants.
When I was a lad, about the only thing that a kid from the north knew about southern rugby was that a traditional scrap between Otago and Southland might leave an array of body parts on the field.
Southern teams didn't play rugby, they played Ruckby. Put it this way: the primary role of sprigs was not to keep a player upright. The backs were there to to stand around getting cold.
During the so-called 'shamateur' days, Otago University attracted flashier types into the Otago team, but their backs have tended to be stout rather than startling with the odd exceptions such as Jeff Wilson and Marc Ellis.
The really impressive thing about these new Highlanders stars is that they were not golden prospects who had been lured to the south. There was no great tick next to their name although it has to be said that Auckland rugby aficionados were shocked that John Kirwan couldn't spot something exceptional about Fekitoa.
The Highlanders' Famous Five have made their careers under Jamie Joseph and now Tony Brown, and were then fast-tracked - in a couple of cases - by inspired spotting from the national selectors.
Aaron Smith, the world's best halfback and already close to being an All Black great, was (yet another) player who floated unsuccessfully through the Blues. Wellingtonian Sopoaga has hung on to his career through thick and thin. For Fekitoa read Aaron Smith, re the Blues. For Naholo, read Aaron Smith and Fekitoa re the Blues.
Ben Smith is a category of his own, a sensational player, a one-province die-hard who bypassed modern pathways to rise through the ranks the old-fashioned way.
The booming Joseph, a bruising loose forward, has a weird magic touch. The Highlanders are so good at this they've even made the rough-as-guts Richard Buckman top class. Brown, a classically Trojan southern back in his playing days, may also be headed for higher honours as a coach.
OPINION: There are three key reasons to believe that they can.