Now we are told that a 37-strong playing squad is good for the All Blacks' health and that tonight's test in Tokyo is an important step in the development of the national side.
Lin Colling, Warren Gatland, Kevin Greene, Greg Kane, Robert Kururangi, John Mitchell, Mathew Ridge, Mark Sayers, Vance Stewart and Ron Williams were some recent All Blacks who made the grade but never played a test.
In Tokyo tonight, Frank Halai and Dominic Bird step across that benchmark and probably Jeffery Toomaga-Allen and Luke Whitelock from the bench.
That's the way it is and has been for some time since the lawmakers wisely decided injured players could be replaced. That was a no-brainer and it was not long before coaches began to chip away at the need for substitutes.
They used front-row safety and fatigue as reasons to run on new men but far too many All Black caps have been given away for cosmetic appearances rather than meaningful impact.
This game tonight is a development match, a useful opportunity for the All Blacks to deliver their brand to Japan, their sponsors and the hosts of the 2019 World Cup and a chance for those fringe All Blacks to get a game.
When the All Blacks toured Japan in 1987 and used their strongest World Cup-winning selections, those matches were not awarded test status.
Outside that expedition and tonight's leg-stretch, the All Blacks have been drawn to play Japan twice at World Cup tournaments when they triumphed 145-17 in 1995 and 83-17 in 2011.
Those games were tests because of the context of the competition.
However, tonight's match in the Japanese capital is not an international, it is an opening for the new and less credentialled members of the All Blacks to run out in the national uniform alongside rehabilitating superstars Richie McCaw and Daniel Carter.
The NZRU, the All Blacks and the sport's historians should put a tour match asterisk beside this fixture if they want to prolong the concept that All Black tests are the ultimate.
