The Tri-Nations, now the Rugby Championship, was for decades the crown jewel of southern hemisphere rugby.
Sitting high alongside Super 12 as the pinnacle of the world game for over a decade; Australia, New Zealand and South Africa battled to be crowned the best of the south before Argentina's inclusion in 2012 added another dimension to the mighty competition.
But as the years have worn on, and changes have been made, the RC [Rugby Championship] has slowly succumbed to a death of a thousand cuts with next year's All Blacks-South Africa tour potentially the final nail in the coffin.
Held prisoner to harsh time zones, lopsided results and constant fixture tinkering, the Rugby Championship has failed to capture the imagination of fans as it once did, slowly falling into rugby irrelevance as the northern hemisphere's Six Nations has leaped ahead as the world's premier Test tournament.
Perhaps it was the one-sided results with the All Blacks enjoying the lion's share of the spoils, lifting the trophy nine times since 2012; the Springboks have managed it twice, and the Wallabies just once, while the Pumas are yet to win a championship. The lack of jeopardy has certainly not done the competition any favours, especially when compared to the Six Nations which often takes to the final game to determine a winner.
An out of sight out of mind mindset, especially in Australia where the Wallabies are competing against an already bloated sporting market, could also be at play.
Or perhaps it simply lost its relevance as one-off rivalries became the main attraction.
Despite the Wallabies' 23-year drought, the Bledisloe Cup with the All Blacks remains one of the most watched rugby contests in Australia and New Zealand. So too the Freedom Cup between the All Blacks and Springboks in South Africa and New Zealand.
The two-match series, as they have been played for the last decade, continue to draw crowds and attention around the world. The spectacles are some of the best, with last year's hugely entertaining 31-27 Springboks win at Ellis Park sending fans wild in the stands, which they then followed up a week later in an 18-12 spectacle in Cape Town with the Springboks lifting the trophy once more.
No wonder the two rugby unions made the decision to go it alone and return to a traditional tour format for 2026 and 2030. Dubbed the 'Greatest Rugby Rivalry', next year's tour will feature three Tests and four tour matches in South Africa with a fourth Test to be played in London. You certainly can't begrudge them their decision given the interest -- and profits -- the tour should generate.
But with next year's All Blacks-Springboks tour and the new biennial Nations Championship kicking off in July, the RC has been left in the lurch and by 2030 could be gone completely.
Already any Tests between the All Blacks, Springboks or Wallabies next year are unlikely be played under the RC banner, while a tournament in 2027 is likely to be shortened due to the Rugby World Cup (although Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh believes it could be played in full due to a later RWC kick-off), and a reported return to traditional three Test tours in 2028, it won't be until 2029 that a full length Rugby Championship could return.
By that stage two Nations Championships and a Rugby World Cup will have been contested, raising questions as to how much interest there would be in a southern hemisphere crown with two global titles on offer.
Maybe the RC could fall in line with a British and Irish Lions series and take a "less is more" approach. The scarcity of the title could make the tournament special, but this would require the SANZAAR nations to buy in and market the trophy as something special, a title worth waiting years to play for.
Or perhaps the end of the RC means greater opportunities for Tier 2 nations to take on the best in the southern hemisphere with Fiji and Japan thirsty for more Tests against the Wallabies, Springboks and All Blacks.
Either way, the lack of certainty hurts not only the RC but also rugby as a whole in the southern hemisphere.