Aisle be back: The Brisbane Bledisloe

Can't wait for Bledisloe Three this weekend. The battle between the world number 1 and number 3 teams.

Actually I could happily not have Bled Three. Happily not see another test match against Australia for oh, a year or so.

Because, as I've said before, the Bled is officially boring.

The three-test Bledisloe is a historic hangover, from the days when the Wallabies had parity or even supremacy. That was pretty much the late 20th century.

Aussie fans are voting with their feet. How long long before our stadiums start to thin out at the prospect of another one-sided clash with Australia, or the Boks.

Now you might have been heartened by the cracking Newlands test. Ah the nostalgia of those big Bok slabs of beef charging around without fear, and playing proper Springbok rugby. Losing of course, but heck, you can't have everything.

Yet you'd still have to see a few more such efforts, home and away, before you'd be convinced it wasn't just what they call in financial markets, a dead bok bounce.

So where to for the Rugby Championship. How do we make it interesting. That's not one for you and I to solve, but it's something that should be troubling administrators.

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You wouldn't be a crazy Wellington fan not to have pondered how the shield moved on from Canterbury to Taranaki last week.

So you're thinking, the Lions spanked both the winning and losing Shield sides this year. Surely if we had a crack at the Shield (which we can't anyway) it would be as good as here.

Stop that thinking now. Can you remember what holding the Shield did to Wellington last time.

We defended it with all the passion and  abandon of a constipated pensioner. Talk about being scared of losing. It was I think a particular exercise in torture for fans having to watch that, until mercifully, it was gone.

Perhaps we should only win it, and then give it back straight away.

No, the Lions just need to stay focussed on getting back into the premiership and the first semi now. The Shield will come in due course.

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Putting aside the Grouch Gatland that came out this week, I was more interested in the fact he is coming home and wanting to coach Super level. You'd think as a knee jerk it would be the Chiefs, but that may not be where the opening is.

As for the grouchiness, I am not sure why he didn't just ignore Sean O'Brien's whacky comments about how some other coach would have cleaned out the All Blacks 3-0.

Then again, if you've just turned in the second best Lions coaching performance in their history, then perhaps you are entitled to wonder quite what you have to do earn respect.

Just grit your teeth and keep smiling, Gats.

Lifelong All Blacks supporter Kev has followed the Hurricanes since they began. Last year his faith in them was rewarded when they won the title – they've missed out in 2017, but he'll be back!