This developing New Zealand team does show promise, but they lacked some of the X-factor, such as the Ioane brothers and Ardie Savea that lit up the 2016 event, not to mention consistency both with and without the ball.
The old warhorse DJ Forbes wound back the clock, playing with his usual commitment and effectiveness, while Isaac Te Tamaki showed some fancy footwork in his brace against USA on day one. Veterans Scott Curry, Sherwin Stowers and Tim Mikkelson all had their moments. But New Zealand were defensively creaky against Fiji and Argentina.
In the Cup final, after a day of wind and sun, South Africa confirmed their form as the tournament's best team, sweeping Fiji 26-5. One of their scorers, Seabelo Senatla, passed Fabian Juries to become South Africa's leading all-time tryscorer with 180.
It was a physical decider, and Fiji took an early lead via Joeli Lutumailagi's eighth score of the event, but South Africa were too slick and extended their World Series lead.
Sir Gordon Tietjens' Samoan team had a steep learning curve, but will take 13th position after edging Russia 19-12.
Scotland continued their resurgence by clinching third place ahead of surprise package Canada.
Heading into next weekend's fourth leg in Sydney as hosts, Australia will seek a better showing, after placing 10th, losing the Challenge Trophy final 19-17 to Kenya.
Thankfully, though, World Rugby gave a strong directive towards the referees around the policing of high tackles, most games were not adversely affected by the rulings.
While New Zealand will live to fight another day, the future of the Wellington leg of the World Series must be under a dark cloud after paltry crowds over the two days. There looked to be well under 10,000 on either day and, indeed, the day two crowd was, if anything, smaller than day one, which should never be the case on finals day. . World Rugby will hate seeing the empty yellow seats on the TV coverage.
Other venues around the country, notably Rotorua, might just be preparing their plans for change.
