Two big rugby topics to talk about, one we like and one we definitely don't.

Let's start with that which we hope won't happen which is the first two Bledisloe Cup tests being played in Australia. If this is the only way we get to see our beloved All Blacks play this year then I'd be happy if they played on Mars.

But reports from the weekend that there may not be any Rugby  Championship at all with four matches vs the Wallabies instead would also mean a clash of dates/times that'd reverberate all the way through to our NPC.

And that's my major concern. A hammer blow in fact for all us old romantics thinking that finally we'd get to see a real Mitre 10 Cup featuring our top All Blacks turning out regularly for their provinces.

If this Bledisloe-in-Oz story stands true then all our best players are also automatically taken out. The NPC is scheduled to start Friday week. The proposed Bledisloe dates in Oz include a compulsory four week quarantine period prior to the first test. That would mean our squad having to assemble over there the same weekend.

Then after those twin tests, both teams would come back here for two more weeks of isolation followed by the final two tests. That's a total of eight weeks where the All Blacks are out of the NPC effectively killing off all plans and/or hopes of having, at last, a real live fair dinkum inter-prov-ding-dong domestic rugby comp.

Bummer huh? So let's end then on a happier note which is this North vs South match coming Saturday. Speaking with All Black assistant coach Scott McLeod yesterday he reassured that this is not going to be some Barbarians-style showboat try fest but a full-on competitive occasion that the players are amped for, up for and treated as seriously as they did SRA.

Let's hope so. Because we absolutely need it to be. With so little rugby to celebrate anyway, we need this match to be more meaningful than maverick and that's what I reckon we'll get.

Almost all our best players on show plus the chance to see our AB coaching crew at last. I'm unashamedly up for it, into it and will definitely be watching it.