Was the SAS Insight Series in New Zealand and Australia a prelude to the Rugby World Cup?  Perhaps it was, even if you cannot find it on the list of official events.   But consider these coincidences:

• Like the Rugby World Cup, my trip was also sponsored by MasterCard. (Okay...not really sponsored, per se...but my MasterCard definitely saw a lot of use.)
• Before each presentation, Evan Stubbs and I would perform the haka.
• While presenting in New Zealand, I wore my All Blacks tie.   Even though I had blue suit coat, I was told that the All Blacks tie goes with anything.
• When asked what team I would support in the Rugby World Cup, I usually countered with the question, "wait, what country am I in right now?"   Then I would attempt to craft an answer to appease the nationality of the questioner, without offending anyone who happened to be from somewhere else. In New Zealand, the All Blacks rule.   In Australia, moral support (although not a tremendous amount of optimism, I found) falls to the Wallabies.

As a reward for my fence-sitting, the local SAS office presented me with a jersey from each team, which I wear proudly and simultaneously.