In the month of November there will be 19 test matches featuring the world's established Tier One Unions - those that contest the Six Nations, the Tri Nations and Argentina - but theirs will not be the only rugby on offer.
In a significant change to the autumn calendar this year, the Tier Two Unions strategically targeted by the International Rugby Board will also play their part.
The challenge of Fiji is well known and the World Cup quarter finalists currently sit above both Scotland and Italy in the IRB World Rankings, but they are joined by a host of teams bidding to further close the gap on the Game's elite.
AUDIO: MARK EGAN, IRB >>
In all, 14 matches will take place featuring Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, USA, Canada, Portugal, Namibia, Tunisia, Romania, Uruguay, Russia and Japan, with these countries either playing each other or one of the 'superpowers'.
The move is part of the development 'masterplan' being put in place by the IRB along with the countries themselves, and will allow both parties to benchmark progress on the field of play.
"These additional Autumn tests are a very important part of the programme that we have for all of our Strategic Investment Programme Unions," said Mark Egan, Head of Performance and Development at the IRB.
Return on investment
"It's something that we've been looking at for the last couple of years and the objective is to get these Unions seven to 10 elite level games each year."
Over the past few years, as part of its strategic investment initiative, the IRB has introduced a number of new tournaments, such as the ANZ Pacific Nations Cup and the Pacific Rugby Cup, the Nations Cup and the Americas Rugby Championship in an effort to bridge the gap in terms of competition for all these Unions.
"Creating a regular November window for each of the Unions to have another three or four games against other Tier Two Unions or Tier One 'A' teams will provide them with more competition," added Egan.
"There are a lot of competitions already out there in the regions and we feel we're meeting the needs of the Unions at the moment, but we always keep our structures under review and involve the Unions in our discussions.
"Between our IRB Junior events and those others we're investing about £9 million a year and we have to make sure that we're getting good value for money for those tournaments, and that they're meeting our strategic initiatives.
Portugal v Namibia
This weekend, as an example, Namibia take on Portugal in Lisbon, giving them an ideal opportunity to warm up ahead of their African Rugby World Cup qualifying final matches against Tunisia on 14 and 28 November.
The match also, however, gives both Unions the rare opportunity to play a side of similar standard from outside their own continent.
"It gives us an oportunity to benchmark two Unions against each other, who are not far removed in the IRB World Rankings (Portugal 20, Namibia 25) but are from two different regions with different rugby cultures.
"Both of those Unions are implementing high performance programmes in partnership with us, so it will give us a very good opportunity to test two similar Unions.
"It has happened in the past. If you look at the Nations Cup format, in the last three or four years we've had Uruguay, Namibia and Argentina A there to play against the likes of Romania and Georgia and Russia, but there is the need for these teams to play sides from outside their region, and hopefully these November matches are a step in the right direction and we want to see this replicated going forward."
Building for future World Cups
Egan is also at pains to point out that many of the players participating in these matches are amateur, which creates another layer of complication.
"I think what we and everyone need to understand is that a lot of these countries have their own regional competitions and that a lot of the players are amateur, so for them to go on an overseas tour that could take two or three weeks is a big issue. They're having to take time off work and can only be away from home for so long.
"We provide funding and help with strategy and advice, but at the end of the day it's the Unions themselves who've got to make this work.
"I must say that at the moment they are working very well. You look at Samoa and the academy they've established, and Canada. There are a number of countries who have big challenges, like the USA in meeting their demands in terms of geography, but on the whole we're very pleased.
"I think we saw good results at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the big challenge now is that the Tier One Unions will know what to expect from the Tier Two Unions, so we've got to make sure that all those who qualify for the World Cup in 2011 are well prepared.
"We're working with the ones who are already qualified and as the new Unions qualify - we'll know who gets through Africa and Americas in the next few weeks - the challenge is to work with those and get them well prepared for 2011."
