The game of rugby has been synonymous with New Zealand for almost 150 years, responsible for some of the most memorable moments in our proud sporting history.
The smell of muddy grass on a Saturday morning and a pie at the game has almost become a rite of passage for Kiwis. It's in our DNA, right?
But in recent years, a scroll of social media on any given Super Rugby Saturday night paints a very different picture.
Frustration over issues ranging from the persistent stoppages during matches, to the overall lack of competitiveness and the gulf between the top and bottom teams have arguably started to overshadow the games themselves.
Which begs the question - have we reached a crisis point with Aotearoa's 'favourite national past-time'?
NZ Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson acknowledges the differing perceptions on the modern game and the challenges it's facing in this era.
"It's different to what it was in the past," Robinson told Paddy Gower Has Issues. "It's definitely a different level of engagement to traditional times.
"The game's definitely got some issues to work through… but the game is still really strong in terms of its connection to people's hearts and minds."
What are the potential solutions?
The overarching public opinion suggests rugby is beginning to lose the narrative, as it faces increasing competition from other sports for attention.
One major initiative designed to try and breathe some new life into the competition is the Super Rugby Commission - a joint venture between NZ Rugby and its Australian counterparts intended to "drive commercial revenue, oversee rules and regulations, shape the future strategic direction and generate fan-first initiatives".
The Commission will be wholly committed to overseeing Super Rugby's growth, which Robinson is confident will make a "big difference in the game".
It almost defies belief that in Super Rugby's 30-year history, there has been no such dedicated administrative body solely focused on its improvement as a product and driving fan engagement.
But there appears to be a roadblock with its implementation in the form of Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan, who many stakeholders believe is holding up that process and strangling Super Rugby out of self-interest.
"There's a number of different moving parts of this and I've got no doubt there's some frustrated stakeholders around the game," notes Robinson. "I know that I'm hearing it directly, obviously, and I'm frustrated myself at times
So, do we really need Australia to move forward? Fan attendance at matches involving opponents from across the ditch this season would suggest otherwise.
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According to statistics acquired from the Blues, Australian teams have accounted for the three lowest attendance figures at Eden Park this season. Even the occasion of a quarter-final against the Waratahs failed to muster much interest, with just 12,941 fans turning out in what was the second-lowest crowd of the season.
While Robinson insists Australia's ongoing presence in Super Rugby is critical, he admits a reduction in the number of teams across the ditch would mean the talent pool is less diluted, resulting in fewer but more competitive teams.
In the Rebels, Waratahs, Brumbies, Reds, and Force, the Australians have equal the number of teams as New Zealand, despite a consierably smaller pool of players to draw from.
"History would show they are a stronger union when they have less than that," Robinson notes.
"But that's ultimately a decision for them and it's something we'll work more on, you know, when we get the commission up and running to look at."
Another alternative to helping spread talent more evenly would involve allowing NZ-contracted players to represent Australian teams, or relative newcomers Fijian Drua and Moana Pasfiika, and remain eligible to play for the All Blacks.
Several leading player agents have indicated it would be the next logical step in the advancement of the tournament and New Zealand Rugby's eligibility rules - an idea Robinson says they're "incredibly open to".
Ardie Savea in a Brumbies uniform? While the mere suggestion may almost seem sacrilegious to the Hurricanes faithful, it's the kind of move that would likely spark interest from fans of rival teams.
"We acknowledge it would create a greater degree of interest and is something that we should be moving towards quite quickly," he says.
"At some stage it might be the right thing for Ardie or someone else in our leading player group to think about in terms of wanting to freshen up in another city across Australasia or the Pacific.
"So yes, we acknowledge that could be really interesting both to the fan and the player."
The chorus has also become louder for the exploration of more radical ideas to even the ledger, such as the introduction of a US-style player draft and transfer system, as well as a salary cap.
"I think there'll be more and more work as the commission stands up to investigate those areas with urgency," says Robinson.
"We're incredibly open-minded to all of these possibilities. Nothing is off the table as it relates to the way we're viewing the future of the competition."
The perspective from the coal face of the grassroots game is somewhat more bleak, where dwindling registrations paint a concerning picture of rugby's popularity.
And here nobody is better qualified to pass judgement on that situation than Sandra Ioane.
Ioane is a former Black Fern and a stalwart of one of Ponsonby Rugby Club, one of New Zealand's oldest and most famous rugby clubs. She also has a couple of sons you may have heard of - All Blacks Rieko and Akira Ioane.
She's devoted her life to the game and you'd struggle to find anyone with a better understanding of the game at all levels in New Zealand.
This year alone, Ioane points out the players at the junior level have plummeted.
"We've got 45 junior teams. That equates to about 600 kids. We're way down on our numbers. We're about 250-280 kids down this year," Ioane told Newshub.
Ioane points out the ever-increasing popularity of sports like basketball and football have had a significant impact on their figures.
Concussions are a major concern
Those numbers take another dramatic hit when kids reach the U-8 age group, which is typically when they graduate from rippa to full tackle rugby.
Concussion has become a major talking point in rugby across the world, and its ripple effect has well and truly reached the grassroots game.
Despite the introduction of new rules to lower the legal tackling height in the community game, the now well-publicised long-term effects of concussion have proven a huge deterrent.
"A lot of parents don't want their child to be tackling," says Ioane. "Because there's so much information at the moment about concussion and all the rest of it.
"I think that's right across the board. It's in the media now… every day somebody is talking about concussion.
"As a parent, I can understand you get a bit concerned."
One of the biggest narratives in rugby over the past year has been the surge in popularity of the women's game inspired by the success of the Black Ferns, whose run to World Cup glory on home soil last year captured the hearts of the nation.
But what seemed a watershed moment in the sport has yet to manifest itself at club level, where Ioane says the few women's teams at Ponsonby can't even assemble a full squad.
In fact, they've reached a point where they've had to begin culling teams altogether.
"I'll be honest, we're struggling to field a full 23 on a Saturday," she admits.
"We have had, for a number of years, a development side and 10-a-side women. Just the other day we just had to contact the ARU [Auckland Rugby Union] and tell them that we're going to pull the plug on it.
"We just can't get the numbers."
But surely over the coming years, the Black Ferns' popularity will lead to a rise in younger girls playing women at Ponsonby.
Ioane's incredulous glance speaks a thousand words: "No".
The uncertainty doesn't end there. The drop in player numbers means even a heavyweight club like Ponsonby is growing increasingly concerned about its future, which raises wider questions over the degree of trouble facing lesser-resourced clubs across regional New Zealand.
"I don't know how many times it's been brought up in the committee about - is Ponsonby rugby still going to be around," says Ioane.
"We've been here since 1874. Are we still going to be around in five or 10 years' time? We don't know.
"I'd hate to think that we won't be. But I suppose it's just going to be a completely different landscape than what it is I don't like.
"We are one of the bigger clubs in terms of player numbers. A lot of clubs out there must be struggling."
While nobody could question Ioane's investment in the game, she admits she's seen a definite decrease in interest from the general public.
The rising popularity of American sports - particularly basketball's NBA - and rugby league's NRL is plain to see on the streets and in schools, and their ability to engage fans shows where rugby is falling short.
"I think the whole aura of the All Blacks or rugby, in general, is waning a bit," notes Ioane.
"You go into schools and you see so many kids wearing NRL shorts and you walk around the malls and everyone's got some sort of apparel of the NRL.
"I haven't got the answer. I wish I did. But then I wouldn't be working for Ponsonby, I'd be working for the NZR."
And while Super Rugby may be having trouble putting bums on seats, a rare insight into viewing figures from its broadcasters Sky TV show it's more than holding its own against threats like the NRL - at least in regards to the numbers tuning in at home.
When you compare the two on a head-to-head basis, the Blues' clash with the Hurricanes drew a viewership of over 182,000, while the Warriors' showdown with the Broncos - which was on at the same time - garnered 107,400.
The average crowd size for the Blues this season (16,147) has been lower than the NZ Warriors' at GoMedia Stadium (21,592), although that Eden Park average has been pulled down by the aforementioned Australian games, which have proven to be of relatively minimal interest to punters.
Their highest attendance number this season - 23,811 against the Crusaders - edges the Warriors', whose high watermark this season has been the 23,686 who turned out for the match with Redcliffe Dolphins.
Blues chief executive Andrew Hore agrees Super Rugby is in need of some TLC, but as their social media metrics and ticket sales attest, Aucklanders are still as up for a night out at the rugby as they've ever been.
That said, he admits they could learn some valuable lessons from their cross-code rivals.
"It's about telling the story," says Hore. "It's about telling the story of the competition as well.
"The NRL does that - telling that story to the fan really well, but also telling the experience that the fans are having. That comes back to resource and investment to actually turn that around.
"We're definitely not dead and people still love our sport. It's just a matter of making it relevant for those people.
"Super Rugby Pacific is alive. It's just we've just got to give it a bit of breath."
Robinson echoes those sentiments. From his standpoint, New Zealanders' long love affair with rugby burns as bright as ever.
"People are still connected to it," says Robinson. "They are still engaging with it at different levels, but they engage with it differently.
"We've got to move more quickly to make sure that people can engage with the sport in ways that they need to nowadays.
"We believe that people fundamentally have a massive interest in the game, a massive connection to it, and they love it when their own teams do well. When our teams do well on the international stage, there's nothing that brings this country together more than those experiences.
"We've had absolute proof that when good things happen in the game, it brings people together. When more challenging things happen in the game, it creates conversations and polarisation like we don't see across our communities.
"If people didn't care about the game and think deeply about it and want it to be great, they wouldn't be having those conversations.
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