On all fronts, there is heat. Extra tumult is circling the All Blacks, their coaches and their New Zealand Rugby Union overlords as they step into Bledisloe Cup combat tonight in Sydney.
There is no less stress on the Wallabies either as they search for some magic elixir to avoid the tag of three straight defeats which will drape the reputations of tonight's losing team.
This is Death Row for one side's Tri-Nations' hopes this season.
If it is the Wallabies they have a chance in a week to redeem themselves against the Springboks.
If the All Blacks fall, they will endure three weeks of inquisition and national blood-letting before they have a stage to deliver a response.
For just the third time in his multi-decorated career with the All Blacks, coach Graham Henry sends his side out to avoid a third straight defeat. That rarity says a great deal about the side's standards and perhaps a little about their foes.
This year the transtasman rivals have both been subdued by the Boks in their own backyard. Neither found an answer to the bludgeoning power of South Africa's pack and the relentlessly effective "bombs away" approach.
Both sides have made switches for tonight's face-off. The Wallabies have lost injured skipper Stirling Mortlock and ditched misfiring No 8 Wycliff Palu.
The All Blacks have reclaimed talisman five-eighths Daniel Carter, teamed him up with this year's unproven Luke McAlister and pitched in a face for the future at No 8 in Kieran Read.
The visitors lost half their tests this season in an annual record which is already more scarred than any other in Henry's six-year tenure. Those facts and the NZRU's early decision to reappoint the staff to the next World Cup add extra background heat to this clash.
This will be a game where will, courage and composure will be the biggest weapons for either side.
Both will be twitchy. They have multiple kicking options which suggests early flamboyance, at least, will be shelved for pragmatic gains in territory and pressure.
Yet if both shelve their boot for the sort of creative expression Henry would like the rules and lawmakers to assist, the test could unfold like the extraordinary All Blacks 39-35 triumph on the same ground way back in 2000.
That chance seems remote. The Wallabies have played with a measured caution so far, though the All Blacks showed their attacking intent without the execution in the last loss to the Boks.
"At the moment you are rewarded for putting the ball in the air, playing at the right end of the field and looking for others to make mistakes," All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw said.
"You should be rewarded for skill with the ball in hand, that's what rugby's always been about, but you don't want to do that at the expense of costing you the game."
Success at the lineout will decide the All Blacks' fate.
They have a strong scrum which, at worst, is the equal of the Wallabies, they have McCaw for the breakdown, though he needs help, and backs who have clout if they abandon some of their recent clumsy alignment.
Carter's direction should help that area as long as McAlister does not go into one of his blinkered stretches, while Sitiveni Sivivatu appears in venomous touch.
"We broke the line 10 times to one in the game against the Boks," Henry said, "but we did not complete it. That shows a balance that can be worked."
If the lineout creaks and possession is scratchy, the flow will go out of the All Blacks' game. Isaac Ross likes planning progress in an area where assistant coach Steve Hansen needs improvement.
Lack of combination between Andrew Hore and his targets will be a massive concern because despite Aled de Malmanche's physical threat, the substitute hooker's throwing is not a strength.
The All Blacks' run of four successive wins against the Wallabies may offer a shade of comfort but those results are in the rugby almanacs, this is a litmus test for their revival and their season.
A week ago in camp, they received a savage Henry appraisal equal to any he has delivered in his time with the team. It was more cutting than one which enveloped the side after their disjointed win against Italy.
He wants results and in the revamped words of Lord Kitchener, "New Zealand expects".
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