KEY POINTS:
It's only now that John O'Neill is back on board that it becomes apparent just how weak the Sanzar alliance has been these past few years.
O'Neill resumed his job as chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union only on June 29 and in just two short weeks has accomplished more than has been achieved in the past three years.
The man has an ego for sure. He can be sandpaper one minute, silk the next and as a result has an enemy to balance every ally.
Like him or loathe him or even remain indifferent about him, there is no escaping the fact O'Neill is the man. The grand fromage of Sanzar. What he says goes and rugby followers in this country should be thankful he's back.
Self-interest and gutless rhetoric were threatening to split the partnership. Acrimonious divorce has never seemed terribly far away since O'Neill departed in 2003. And nor has there been any great sense of there being a long-term vision for Sanzar since he left.
There was the dog's dinner of a broadcast deal re-negotiated in 2004, in which consolidation was valued ahead of something more revolutionary, something that could have taken professional rugby into its second growth phase and launched it on a path to conquer new markets.
Didn't happen, though, because no-one round the Sanzar table could see the big picture. They all looked at their balance sheets and reckoned more of the same would do the trick in keeping them in the style to which they had become accustomed.
No-one within Sanzar could see they were treating the rugby public with contempt by simply expanding competitions. It was as if they really thought we would be riveted by the arrival of the Force or the Fury or whatever the hell they are called and the Leopards or Panthers or whatever the new South African team call themselves these days.
For sure we were all crying out for more tests against the Boks and the Wallabies. Of course we were, Sanzar told us, simply not caring what we really wanted because they were convinced rugby fans were entirely undiscerning - that we would lap up any old muck just because it was rugby.
But what really galls is that after shoehorning meaningless rugby into every available nook and cranny, the Sanzar suits then became incredulous about the excessive demands being made of the players - as if they were in no way responsible for creating such a hideous, overburdened season.
Lucky us. We got second-rate competitions we didn't want and then had to stand in open-jawed disbelief that they were going to be made third-rate by the regular non-appearance of the best players.
It presumably can't have been to anyone in Sanzar's great surprise that tests in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa failed to sell out last year. Not one executive could possibly have been miffed to see appalling drops in New Zealand broadcast numbers during this year's Super 14.
The verbal assault launched last week by the Sanzar countries' domestic broadcast partners must have been something for which the suits were braced.
The New Zealand Rugby Union's obsession with winning a World Cup has put a massive strain on the Sanzar relationship and South Africa were obviously taken with New Zealand's view that it's best to ask for forgiveness, rather than permission.
For too long now, the partners have done their own thing regardless of what it means for the alliance.
No individual has had the force of personality to make a stand and say enough is enough.
Cue O'Neill. In two weeks, he's banged heads together and made things stark. Rugby will die from a self-inflicted wound if New Zealand and South Africa continue to put their own interests ahead of the collective.
Broadcasters can fill their channels with action from sports that people still care about and sponsors are not short of an NRL, AFL or A-League football jersey to stick their name on.
Maybe then it's time for New Zealand to forgive O'Neill and realise that he's not the enemy of the game in this country. He may possibly be the saviour.
