The Western Force are in the midst of a tough final week of this year's Super Rugby Pacific season, having to play three games in eight days, with a flight from New Zealand to Perth thrown into the mix.
But this challenging schedule will now decide whether their season ends on Saturday night, or continues for at least another week.
After copping a 54-21 hammering from the Chiefs in Hamilton last Saturday, the Force quickly made their way up New Zealand's State Highway 1 to Auckland to get ready for their match against competition newcomers Moana Pasifika on Tuesday night.
This was the make-up game required from round 10, when the Force suddenly found themselves with more than 20 new positive COVID-19 cases in Perth, meaning they were unable to field a team for the competition's inaugural Super Round in Melbourne on the Anzac Day weekend.
So three days after leaving Hamilton with their tail between their legs, they rolled into Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium and played well enough to beat Moana Pasifika 48-28, earning a handy bonus point in the process.
The result has added a bit of unexpected intrigue to the final round of Super Rugby Pacific, where previously it was starting to look like the top eight was set ahead of next week's quarter-finals.
Allow me to bring out the abacus.
By defeating Moana Pasifika with the bonus point, the Force moved to 19 points and within a win of the eighth-placed Highlanders on 22 points.
For the Force to play finals, they would need to beat the Hurricanes in Perth on Saturday night. The Hurricanes can still break into the top four, so it cannot be assumed they would send anything less than their best team over the other side of Australia.
But not only do the Force need to beat a Hurricanes side with plenty to play for, they also need the Highlanders to lose to the Melbourne Rebels on Sunday. But it is not that simple.
If the Force beat the Hurricanes with a bonus point, they would move to 24 points. As long as the Highlanders lost, the Force would be through to the finals.
But if the Force win without the bonus point (and move to 23 points), they would then need the Highlanders to lose to the Rebels by eight or more, so as to not gain a losing bonus point.
A losing bonus point would move the Highlanders to 23 points and with the same number of wins as the Force (four), their far superior points differential would see them through.
So, in summary, the Force need to win and then become huge Rebels fans on Sunday.
The Rebels, on 16 points, cannot finish any higher than ninth and will miss the finals regardless of their result, but they can do the Force a massive favour by winning.
Meanwhile, the Queensland Reds are seventh on 35 points and cannot drop down the standings.
The Reds can finish as high as fifth place. A win over the Crusaders in Christchurch could help them get to sixth, which would likely mean a trip to Canberra to face the Brumbies, rather than another week in New Zealand.
And they will have to do it without fly half James O'Connor, who on Monday was ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn hamstring. He had just returned from a knee injury last week.
Waratahs targeting home final
The NSW Waratahs, in sixth position on 37 points, can still finish fourth and earn a home quarter-final in Sydney.
But it will not be straightforward. First and foremost, they need to beat the Blues at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday night with a bonus point. Anything less, and they will not get past the fourth-placed Chiefs.
But the Waratahs would also need the Chiefs to lose to Fijian Drua in Lautoka on Saturday afternoon without a bonus point, and they would also require the Hurricanes to lose to the Force.
If the Chiefs win, the Waratahs cannot finish higher than fifth and would then play the Chiefs in the quarter-finals.
That just leaves the Brumbies, who now find themselves third on 44 points after successive losses in Canberra to the Crusaders (second) and Blues (first). The silver lining is they cannot finish lower than fourth and will play their quarter-final in Canberra on Saturday week.
The Brumbies can get to second with a bonus-point win over Moana Pasifika in Auckland, but they will also need the Reds to cause a major upset against the Crusaders with a victory by more than eight points so as to prevent the New Zealanders from grabbing a losing bonus point.
If the Crusaders win, the Brumbies will not move from third place. If they lose to Moana Pasifika, a Chiefs win in Fiji earlier in the afternoon could mean they would slide to fourth.
Come the quarter-finals, it is your typical eight-team knockout scenario: first plays eighth, second plays seventh and so on, with the top four teams hosting in the first week.
The winners will meet in semi-finals, with the highest-seeded teams again hosting, before the two remaining sides then meet in the final on June 18.
But there is a bit of rugby to be played before then and there is a chance of two Australian teams hosting finals in the first week.
It is not much of a chance, but a chance nonetheless.
