The rugby world is rightfully worried about the gap between the New Zealand and the Australian Super Rugby teams.
However, the chasm that's grown between the next best hopes, the South African group, and their New Zealand counterparts has to be of grave concern too.
The Lions put up a decent fight in their 39-27 defeat by the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday but the result couldn't hide the fact that South Africa's best did not win in New Zealand this season.
After blanking the Waratahs, the Lions lost to the Reds and the Hurricanes in somewhat limp fashion, before Saturday.
Of the 14 matches played by the South African teams in Australia and New Zealand, South African teams have won only two.That was the 63-40 win by the Sharks against the Blues on March 31 and the Lions 29-0 win over the Waratahs on April 20.
The Argentina Jaguares, who had a bye this week, won more matches (four) in Australasia than their South African conference partners this season.
There's no sugar-coating how abysmal South African teams have been on the road, but that also explains why the Springboks haven't won in New Zealand since 2009 and in Australia since 2013.
Test rugby is a different kettle of fish but Super Rugby form often gives reasonable enough pointers from a travelling perspective.
LIONS MISSED MARX
The Lions can't be overhauled at the top of the South African Super Rugby conference but their 31 points look tenuous when the form of the Jaguares is factored in.
The Sharks, Stormers and Bulls are too inconsistent to be relied on, and over the next few weeks they will systematically eliminate each other.This says a lot about the inferior quality of the South African conference where the Lions have dropped six out of 12 games and lost three on the trot, yet have not been removed from the conference perch.
New Zealand's top three teams, the Crusaders (42), Hurricanes (41) and the Highlanders (32), have more points and, significantly, have lost only six matches in total this season.
Judging from these statistics, the play-off road is going to be a narrow and curvy one for the South African teams that get there.
Lions coach Swys de Bruin was disappointed by his team's showing but he has to shoulder some of the blame.
Last year's aggressive defence that bothered the overseas teams is nowhere to be found. The Lions also missed Malcolm Marx's influence even though they scored two rolling-maul tries.
"I am very disappointed. We scored four tries and we still can't win the game. We matched them from that perspective but still lost the game. That's just not good enough. We just need to get home now, rethink the whole situation and take stock. That's all I can say," De Bruin said.
Stock has to be taken and very quickly because wins against New Zealand teams at home will become hollow if they can't be repeated on the road...