Oh Canada, you have no chance. Less than zero. Less than that even if there is such a thing. And look I'm not being silly here. Or cocky. Or over-confident. Just realistic. I'm talking RWC.

No dis-respect to Canada, but the Maple Leafs/Canucks/Les Rouge  have as much chance of beating us in rugby as we do them at ice hawkey.  And there's many many reasons for this starting with the fact that rugby is our game, not theirs.

Our kids grow up playing it. It's our national sport. 

Most of all our best athletes end up as rugby players. Substitute rugby for  hockey, NZ for Canada, and you start to get the picture.

For the All Blacks, the opponent is not the most important thing about tonight's test match. We are. Our lineup. How we play. Gelling combinations. Rotating the squad. Coming through unscathed by injury. The result less important than the performance, blah blah. Reality is even that isn't of too much consequence.

Just how do you assess the benefits of a match between the world's best team and an NPC-rated opponent? The last time we played was at the 2011 tournament.

Canada scored two tries that day, half the amount Zac Guildford got on his own.

The score was 76-15 but who can remember? Again, please believe me here, I'm not belittling the opposition I'm merely trying to apply a realistic perspective on what gains the All Blacks might take from this match.

In truth our training sessions are probably tougher but 80mins under the ref's whistle with the world watching does also have benefits no close-door private session could ever provide.

The biggest challenge facing most fans tonight, on a school night, will be staying up  for the duration. With the game not scheduled to finish 'til well after midnight the true test will be one of tiredness I'm guessing. 

But if there is one inarguable reason to keep watching it's to see Ardie-G's goggles! I'm serious. This will be the kookiest craziest thing seen on a rugby field since Sonny Bill covered up the BNZ signs! What a marketing opportunity for Spec-Savea's.

What fan wouldn't want to wear a pair of "Ardie's" to the game? So many questions around will they fog up, will they stay on, will they get tweaked and pulled in those dark ruck'n'maul places, and will they even work given the close-quarter physical way he plays? Rugby has come a long long way people. For a sport intrinsically attached to after-match beer goggles, now we've got on-field wear goggles.

Oh Canada. Quite possibly the one and only thing any of us will remember.