Australia, with their only representation in the finals coming through a contractual agreement, hold the power to determine whether Super Rugby will make sense next year or whether it will be an even bigger basket case than it is now.
What they essentially have is the ability to drag everyone down the plughole with them. The Australian Rugby Union had just the one job to do - chop a team from next year's competition.
Simple enough surely?
The ARU certainly gave that impression back in March. At a meeting in London, it was agreed that South Africa would cut two teams and Australia one to create a 15-team competition in 2018.
It wasn't going to be a fun process, but the ARU said it was not only committed to axing one of its five teams, but that it would also have no problem doing so quickly.
Reduction was required for the greater good. The concept of quality versus quality had been lost and everyone wanted it restored.
South Africa made the same commitment, and promptly went home and did what they said they would.
But not Australia. Their big promise remains unfulfilled and, as a result, they now have everyone over a barrell.
Incompetence has created their power base. Maybe it wasn't incompetence, but just a big fat lie told in London to save face, but either way, the ridiculousness of the scenario hasn't been lost on anyone.
It is incredible - an ant controlling an elephant - but that's what it has come to.
The Australians are watching the bottom fall out of their game. They have seen crowds plummet, playing numbers collapse and the Wallabies lose at home to Scotland, and yet they have the power to determine New Zealand's fate.
Super Rugby is in limbo, until Australia gets its act together. Super Rugby can't move forward, can't put a draw out for next year, or even tell players how many teams will be in the competition and what format it will take, until Australia provides a definitive answer to the question of how many teams it will be running in 2018.
Despite their seemingly bold and unambiguous statement of clarity that they would be cutting a team, nearly four months on and everything now hinges on a legal case.
At the end of this month, the ARU and Western Force will begin an arbitration process that is expected to last for at least a week. The Force agreed to the hearing, because it felt it was wrong to ask players, coaches and fans to wait until a scheduled High Court hearing in September.
The club feels it has a binding contract to be supported through to the end of the current broadcast deal in 2020. If the club is proven right and wins its case, what then?
So what will be Sanzaar's Plan B? The South Africans have already told the Cheetahs and Kings they are out.
But a 16-team competition would be a nonsense. It won't work on any level.
It's too many for a true round robin and the only option would be to run two pools of five and one of six. Ugly and no better than the current situation, which everyone wants to axe, because it lacks integrity.
But as unloved as it would be, a 16-team format is a definite option. The only other road Sanzaar can explore is whether they can put pressure on the Australians to axe a different team?
What about the Brumbies? It would be entirely ridiculous to blade them given them they are the strongest Australian side and only to make the playoffs.
But ridiculous is Sanzaar's staple fare.
