SOMEBODY will pay a horrible price in July for the decisions made in January.
Leaked information this week that the Super Rugby's four-try bonus point will be turfed out in favour of a point reward from being three tries better than your opposition does not give the incentive that Sanzar seems to think it will for the teams on either side of the win/loss equation.
Based on the French Top 14 system - and why we are giving credence to a national competition whose quality relies on a multitude of foreign imports is beyond me - the three-try advantage point is reportedly to give teams more desire to play hard even nearing the end of lopsided contests.
"It forces teams who have scored a bonus point to ensure opponents don't close the gap to two tries," read the SuperSport article.
"Conversely, the team trailing in tryscoring can rob their opponents of the bonus point by closing the gap to two."
It would hardly seem as important an incentive for the beaten side, just slightly spoiling their opponent's day, instead of trying to score their own four tries and getting a priceless bonus point themselves to move forward with.
I first realised how important salvaging a point from games when thinking about the whole campaign would be, rather than going for the win, during the very first Super 12 season as I watched Otago Highlanders captain John Leslie wave away a chance of a quick tap to take a penalty shot with time running out.
The subsequent successful kick saw the Highlanders lose by less than seven and Leslie was complimented by the media for having grasped the new rules.
It is the dangling carrot of getting a point themselves for their own tally which should drive well-beaten teams in the dying minutes of games, not just trying to stop their opposition leaving the ground without a full quota.
And think of the potential negative play certain teams will invoke - I'm looking at you, South Africa - if they have a three-try advantage but know their opponents are decent attackers if they can get their act together.
It's not attractive rugby if sides always kick for the opposition corner or hold the ball in the ruck for umpteenth phases despite having a 15-18 point lead and no danger of defeat.
I've got another one for you that's much closer to home. If this rule was in effect for the 2014 Pink Batts Heartland Championship, then Jason Caskey's Steelform Wanganui team would not have become the Lochore Cup champions - which was the springboard to regaining the Meads Cup last year.
Wanganui's last round robin game, a 30-29 loss to King Country in Te Kuiti, saw hooker Roman Tutauha crash over to score from a lineout steal with just two minutes left.
That seven-pointer brought in two bonus points - losing by less than seven and scoring four tries themselves - which kept Wanganui tied on the points table with eighth-placed Thames Valley, who had narrowly lost the same day to West Coast.
Wanganui therefore went ahead of Thames Valley into the Lochore Cup playoffs via a superior for/against record of a mere five points, again highlighting just how important was Tutauha's dash.
The rest is history as Wanganui buried King Country in the semifinal rematch 37-6 and went on to upset North Otago 14-12 at home in the final.
And without that four-try bonus, it would not have happened - Wanganui would have finished ninth by one point and the team's future, from the Caskey coaching staff on down, could have been drastically different.
One wonders how the Super 18 will now play out in July for those teams sitting 9-12th on the table, desperately trying to muster whatever points they can scrape together to make the quarterfinals.