They say lightning doesn't strike twice but Australia's Super Rugby strugglers face a second straight humiliating season whitewash at the hands of their relentless New Zealand rivals.
The NSW Waratahs' gut-wrenching 24-21 loss to the Blues in Sydney and the Rebels' 55-10 capitulation against the Crusaders in Melbourne extended Australia's near-two-year drought in trans-Tasman encounters to 38 matches with no let-up in sight.
The Waratahs, Rebels, Brumbies and Queensland Reds are now a collective none from six against Kiwi outfits in 2018 - and they haven't even ventured to New Zealand yet.
It's been more than three years since an Australian team won across the ditch and, with only three of the remaining nine regular-season trans-Tasman clashes to be played in Australia, a repeat of the disastrous 2017 wipe-out is now very much on the cards.
After blowing a golden opportunity to snap the embarrassing streak, Australia's conference-leading Waratahs must pick up the pieces from their loss to New Zealand's last-placed Blues and somehow compete with the defending champion Crusaders at their Christchurch fortress on Saturday.
"They're a far more complete side and they're very strong on both sides of the ball, attack and defence," Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson said.
"The stats bear that out. They're the best defensive team and very potent with the ball, particularly off their lineout platform.
"So it's a tough task."
The Waratahs then host the Highlanders and travel to Hamilton to face the Chiefs on successive Saturdays in what, despite the enormity of both challenges, appear to be Australia's best chances of jagging a win against any of the Kiwi heavyweights.
The only other trans-Tasman showdown still to be played in Australia is the Brumbies' home game against the high-flying Hurricanes in the penultimate round.
The beleaguered Blues' final two trans-Tasman matches this season will both be in Auckland, but coach Tana Umaga is refusing to entertain the thought of New Zealand sides sweeping Australian opposition again.
"I'm not going to say anything around that," Umaga said on Sunday.
"We've still got a very good Rebels team to come and a Reds team that is playing well.
"Like anything, these streaks are made to be broken. It's just when (not if). The more you make of it, the more it plays on your psyche."
Tellingly, though, Blues lock Patrick Tuipulotu admitted the frightening prospect of being on the first Kiwi team to fall to an Australian side since May, 2016 served as a huge motivator.
"A sense of relief," Tuipulotu said when asked what Saturday night's win felt like.
"For me, when I heard of that streak, that pretty much fired me up in the days leading up to it."
While the Waratahs travel to Christchurch with a four-point lead over Melbourne in the Australian conference, the Rebels play the Brumbies in Canberra later on Saturday night in a must-win clash for both teams.
The Reds, eight points behind the Waratahs, return from a bye to take on the Sunwolves in Tokyo.
