When the pool draw is made on Monday afternoon for the home World Cup in 2015, there will be 1,016 days to go until the tournament begins.
The seedings for the draw will be founded on the IRB rankings, which will be updated following this weekend's Tests in London and Cardiff. Thus, the round-robin stage of the sport's blue-riband event will be configured on the basis of the balance of power almost three years earlier.
This may not be a new arrangement but it is not an acceptable one either. It raises understandable concerns about the relevance of proceedings on Monday. There is no sporting reason for conducting this important bit of business at such an early juncture.
What it comes down to is the thorny issue of logistics. Organisers need the assistance of long-range advance notice about pool line-ups in order to prepare schedules in close negotiation with global TV networks. They need to know as much as possible about the movements of the major nations to ease the process of finalising venues, training centres and accommodation options.
It runs deeper than that. Those in charge of delivering a successful, profitable tournament require early warning about the fixture list to ensure they can start fine-tuning sponsorship arrangements, localised fan-zone plans and community-based projects.
Furthermore, in this particular case, English authorities are under huge pressure to shift millions of tickets, so the more time they have to activate promotional plans the better. If northern stadia are to be sold out, the powers-that-be from England Rugby 2015 need a long run-up, so to speak.
Yet, the knock-on effect is that the seedings which form the basis for the pool draw can become horribly outdated by the time of the tournament. It is instructive to note that in the last two World Cups, the finalists have come from the same pool - England and South Africa in 2007, New Zealand and France last year.
By the time of the 2011 event, Argentina had faded from their 2007 height, so their status as top seeds in England's pool was flawed. Next time, what's to say the Pumas or Wales, who could be among the third seeds on Monday, won't have soared to the upper reaches of the rankings?
If that were to happen, one supposedly superior nation will have drawn the short straw in being placed in a pool with them. That fate could befall the host nation, which in turn could render all the months and years of forward planning redundant.
Unprecedented glory beckons for England's women at Twickenham. When the men have finished with the All Blacks - or vice-versa - in the last QBE International, their female counterparts look to complete a first series clean-sweep against the mighty Black Ferns, New Zealand's world champions, after victories at Esher (16-13) and Aldershot (17-8).
The game kicks off at 5pm and is free to attend.
England will be captained by Katy McLean (right) and she and her side will be given another chance to make a mockery of the rankings, which list the New Zealanders ahead of them based on the outcome of the last World Cup.
At the end of the season, they will travel to New Zealand for a further three Tests. The RFU are funding these regular clashes with the Black Ferns - home and away - in order to boost England's hopes of World Cup success and, on current evidence, the move is paying off.
Mitchell will put the wind into Sale
The sight of John Mitchell in the arrivals hall at Manchester Airport this week was no great surprise.
After the circus of his drawn-out departure from the Johannesburg-based Golden Lions, the former All Blacks coach is now formally on board at Sale. Never mind the official title of 'consultant', Mitchell will have a hands-on role at the Cheshire club as they attempt to extricate themselves from a perilous state at the foot of the Aviva Premiership table.
Tonight, the salvage operation begins at Salford City Stadium against Northampton. On paper, the Sharks line-up contains too much quality to succumb to relegation and it would be no surprise if Mitchell's abrasive input transforms Sale's fortunes. The methods may be uncompromising but the reaction could be emphatic.
lCondemning disciplinary verdicts has turned into a tired routine of late but it's time for another swipe at the judiciary.
Yet again, a sentence passed down to an All Black was no more than a hollow gesture. Hooker Andrew Hore's five-week ban for a cowardly strike to the head of Bradley Davies from behind which left the Wales lock out cold is appallingly inadequate.
This sounds like a familiar echo but the New Zealand hierarchy have again hoodwinked officials by arguing that the pre-season friendlies of Hore's club side Otago Highlanders are 'meaningful' enough to suggest that missing them constitutes a grave punishment. They must have laughed all the way back to their hotel.
The last wordThe really pertinent line in the IRB's press release about the Player of the Year nominations was the one which identified those players 'unlucky to miss out on the shortlist'.
Put aside Springbok wing and past winner Bryan Habana and All Black No 8 Kieran Read - among others - the missing name which stood out was Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe.
Argentina's inspirational captain and supreme back rower is without question the world's leading performer in 2012. His absence from the shortlist is at best debatable, at worst ludicrous. Let the authorities honour whoever they wish, this column will acclaim Lobbe as unofficial winner.
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