KEY POINTS:
Australia might be the only rugby nation that can boast two World Cup successes, but our record in the provincial Super tournaments of the professional era doesn't stack up nearly as well.
The Brumbies, in fairness, have provided some of the more exciting moments in the competition and in so doing nabbed a couple of titles, but lame efforts overall from the Reds and Waratahs since the initial kick off in 1996 have added up to a lot of wasted expectation for the majority of Australian rugby followers.
Unfortunately, whatever happens in 2007, any expectation will remain unfulfilled.
While players and coaches of the four Australian teams are as focused and committed in their preparation as any that have gone before, the reality is that the winners of the 2007 Super 14 will be the recipients of a tarnished title.
Once the New Zealand hierarchy decided the cream of their All Black squad would be spectators for the first half of the tournament, the prestige and privilege of being anointed 2007 champions faded to grey.
Whoever is ultimately successful will be delighted on the night of the Grand Final at the reward for their toil, but will wake up the following morning, potentially with a headache, but certainly knowing in their hearts that it has been the victory you're having when you're not having a victory - a classic Clayton's.
Elite sportspeople want to be tested against the best, and while it's accepted that injuries, suspensions and the like are part of the wheels of fortune that always spin in the games we play, having the cream of the crop compulsorily removed from half of the tournament belittles the whole notion of a fair dinkum competition.
When the statisticians make out their lists of the Super 14 champions down the years, the 2007 title-holders should have an asterisk beside their name.
A shame for those members of the winning side but if they want to complain, they should ring Graham Henry.
Clearly, Henry is doing what he thinks is best in his quest for a triumphant day in Paris on October 20 and there's little doubt that if John Connolly and Jake White could have got away with it, they would have followed suit and teams from all three nations would have been stripped of their finest for much of the tournament. One no-show is enough to spoil the party, though, and considering New Zealand teams have won nine of the Super tournaments it's fair to say this party has gone a bit flat even before it has started.
One upside could be that we get more entertaining rugby. That is not a slight on the stars of the code, but rather an observation that today's best players are becoming too good for the game.
Vastly improved defensive qualities of the majority of international players, coupled with the referees' refusal to consistently stamp down on those creeping over an already too close offside line can stifle the flowing rugby that the majority of spectators want to see.
The absence of such misers as the McCaws, Collins etc, may create a few extra metres of space that will result in the Habanas and Tuqiris of this world seeing a bit more possession and room to move than last year.
The prize mightn't be worth as much, but at least it will be fun to watch.
But judging by what Reds coach Eddie Jones has had to say in recent weeks he's one not expecting those spectators with a penchant for running rugby to be getting full value for money.
In fact, the Wallabies 2003 World Cup coach claims the opening weeks could be set-piece marathons.
After spectators at the Reds' second trial match saw 39 scrums set in the game, Jones claimed fans can expect more of the same in the next month or so.
"I hate to say it," he said, "but I don't think the rugby at the start of the year's going to be pretty. I think it's going to be defence-oriented and I think the sides that are best at set pieces will win the games."
Great, just great! Some of my best friends have been paid-up members of the tight five union, but that doesn't mean I want to watch them at their craft for the majority of the 80 minutes.
I hope Jones is wrong and we do see some ball movement sometime before mid-April, but the sad truth is that this Super 14 has already been relegated to curtain-raiser status, and many of us think that is a travesty.
* Andrew Slack is a former Wallabies skipper
