When the Springboks travel to Wellington to face the All Blacks in a Rugby Championship match in two weeks' time, it will be the only time both sides are likely to play at full strength before Rugby World Cup 2019.
The Championship is supposed to be the pinnacle of southern hemisphere rugby, but in a World Cup year it's slightly devalued because it's relegated to warm-up status for the main event.
Because of its timing, the Rugby Championship and the Tri-Nations before it, is cut shorter because there simply isn't enough time to play a double round of matches.
So it's not surprising that no winner of the tournament in a World Cup year has gone on to lift the Webb Ellis Cup in the five times the tournaments have overlapped since 1999.
EXPERIMENTAL TEAM
But what the Rugby Championship does provide is a brilliant platform for coaches from the All Blacks, Springboks, Wallabies and Pumas to enjoy massively competitive RWC preparation.
It's an advantage the northern hemisphere sides don't have. A team from the southern hemisphere has won the World Cup in four of those five overlapping years.
In 2019 it's already clear that the Rugby Championship is seen as second prize as Japan looms.
There are only four or five positions where you can say a player is clear-cut first choice and those players will go to New Zealand
— Rassie Erasmus
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has left out eight Crusaders players for the trip to Argentina next week for New Zealand's opener in Buenos Aires next week.
Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has already indicated that he is going to play an experimental team against Australia at Ellis Park next week. His "core" players will travel to Wellington earlier to be ready for the All Blacks as he mixes it up.
Erasmus has clearly targeted the Wellington meeting as the real measurement of his team before RWC 2019. The two giants are pooled together in Japan and clash in Yokohama on September 21.
The Wellington meeting is about scoring psychological points and sending out a message to the rest of the world before RWC 2019. If the Boks perform well in Wellington, it will be a warning shot. But if they are hammered, it could undermine their World Cup before it has begun.
"The team already knows what it will look like," Erasmus said. "What we will try to do is take the best [to New Zealand].
"There are a few players who you can say are streets ahead of the others. That is the nice thing at this stage. There are only four or five positions where you can say a player is clear-cut first choice and those players will go to New Zealand."
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