This time last year the build-up to the new international rugby season was gathering pace, with the all-important iconic series against the British and Irish Lions receiving huge attention in the rugby media.
The build-up to 2010 is markedly different, and it is easy to understand why.
Apart from the fact that the Fifa World Cup is the big sporting event that will grip the public imagination in South Africa in June, the Springbok early season schedule is nothing like last year. If you look at the Bok fixture list before the Tri-Nations starts in July, you can appreciate why there haven't been weekly Springbok team barometers taking up rugby column inches this time around.
Bok coach Peter de Villiers has spoken a lot about resting players, and even if he arrives in June to discover that none of the Super 14 coaches have given his Boks their rest, he should get an opportunity to do so himself.
First up is the British summer Test match in Cardiff in the first week of June against Wales in Cardiff.
De Villiers has already said he will load that team with overseas-based stars. This then could be regarded as a trial match for someone like Frans Steyn and presumably BJ Botha. They did well for the Boks last year, but do they still have it?
Then comes the clash with France at Newlands on June 12. This is probably the only game prior to the Tri-Nations where the Boks should be thinking about playing full-strength.
After that comes two Tests against Italy, both of them in far flung and lesser rugby venues, with the first scheduled for Witbank and the second for East London.
The Boks have seldom fielded a full-strength side in matches against Italy in South Africa, so there is no need to do it now.
Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Morne Steyn, Jaque Fourie and the other stalwarts should have their feet up during those weeks, or at the very least they should not be playing.
But what should the Springbok coach and his selectors have learned out of the Super 14 so far that could possibly drive a change of plan from the Tri-Nations and Lions series winning formula of 2009?
Firstly, we mustn't forget that the previous season was concluded on a losing note, which means the lessons of that end of year tour should be internalised.
Against France, for instance, it would be folly to go in with the front-row that carried so many question marks through 2009 and was so brutally exposed on the November tour by, among others, Italy.
The smart money should be on the Boks starting this season with the combination that did well in an otherwise losing cause in the last match of 2009 - in other words, Beast Mtawarira at loosehead, John Smit at hooker and Botha at tighthead.
But Gurthro Steenkamp has been making an impression with the Bulls, and there still seems uncertainty over the eligibility of Beast, who hasn't exactly distinguished himself this season for the Sharks anyway.
In the second row the old firm of Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield pick themselves, but Botha has yet to play in 2010 and it does make the question about who would play in his place an important one. The earliest date set for Botha's return is the Bulls-Lions match in Pretoria at the end of the month, though, a later return is more likely.
Danie Rossouw has done the job in the past, and some people forget that Andries Bekker played there for most of the 2008 Tri-Nations, and didn't do too badly.
Bekker has been more physical and a bit tighter in this year's Super 14 for the Stormers, so it is a consideration, though your take on whether he should play there or not should be influenced by what you know about his scrumming ability.
Playing two non-scrumming locks together is a no-no, as the Bok coach discovered when he tried to team up Bekker and Allistair Hargreaves in a midweek match on the last tour.
Heinrich Brussow's injury should have cleared up any questions about the back row. Schalk Burger was to have become embroiled in a tussle with his long-time Bok teammate Juan Smith for the No7 jersey, but should instead slot back onto the openside flank, where he has played most of his international rugby.
Fourie du Preez selects himself at scrumhalf, with the big question revolving around the back-up.
Ricky Januarie has recovered the zip he lacked last year, but he is not being used much by the Stormers.
Ruan Pienaar is playing scrumhalf again regularly for the Sharks, but that reintroduces the question about Morne Steyn's back-up at flyhalf.
Peter Grant has been the next best South African flyhalf to Steyn in the Super 14 this year, and by some distance, but his lack of an educated tactical kicking boot has occasionally still been exposed, like in last week's Stormers defeat to the Western Force in Perth.
Has he got a lengthy enough boot for international rugby? The jury is still out.
The midfield question has been made interesting by the departure of Jean de Villiers for Munster, but De Villiers is heading back to South Africa later in the year. Adrian Jacobs was exposed when tried at inside centre on the last end of year tour, and anyway, after returning to his best form at outside centre for the Sharks, he is now injured.
Juan de Jongh is by far the best new kid on the block, and merits inclusion among the group of centres for the incoming tours, but he still looks more of an outside centre than an inside centre.
My money says he will make his Bok debut in the No13 jersey against Italy, and make a great fist of it.
Wynand Olivier is by far the best South African specialist inside centre in the Super 14. Perhaps he hasn't quite made the expected graduation yet to international level when he has been given the opportunity, but the Bok coach should try him at No12 in the incoming tour matches and perhaps in Cardiff as well.
Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen remain the best wings by some distance, although some of the young Bulls flyers have made their mark in the gap created by Habana's departure.
Jongi Nokwe appears to be overcoming some of the weaknesses that blighted him early in his career.
That leaves fullback, where Zane Kirchner has been the most solid local fullback in the Super 14, and Joe Pietersen the most impressive.
Neither of them though would bring what Steyn brought to the Bok game last season, and regardless of the fact he is playing his club rugby in France, he should be wearing the No15 for the Boks in 2010.
Frans Steyn, JP Pietersen, Jaques Fourie, Wynand Olivier, Bryan Habana, Morne Steyn, Fourie du Preez, Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield, Danie Rossouw (if Bakkies Botha not fit), BJ Botha, John Smit (captain), Gurthro Steenkamp/Beast Mtawarira
Zane Kirchner, JP Pietersen, Jaques Fourie, Wynand Olivier, Bryan Habana, Morne Steyn, Fourie du Preez, Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Andries Bekker, Steven Sykes, Brok Harris, Tiaan Liebenberg, Gurthro Steenkamp
- Gavin Rich