Today's English Cup showpiece between Harlequins and Newcastle positively demands that credit be given where it is due. Step forward all you gallant men and women in marketing and ticket sales who have managed to almost sell out Twickenham for two sides whose home gates average less than 5,000.
Inducements for next season's England Test against Romania were a shrewd move and Jonny Wilkinson's impact on the youth market should never be underestimated. But the truth is that fans and players respond to knockout rugby like no other formula.
Harlequins outhalf Paul Burke, for example, may not enjoy Wilkinson's current profile but his desire to win is fiercer than any. The 27-year-old has been incredibly unfortunate: he was en route to the Virgin Islands for his honeymoon in 1998 when he picked up a copy of the Daily Mail at Miami airport and discovered his club Bristol had gone bankrupt.
Burke had just signed a contract extension and was due to assume the captaincy; instead he had to tell his new bride Hilary, who acts as Keith Wood's PA, that she had just married an unemployed rugby player.
He was understandably relieved when Cardiff stepped in to sign him, less so when the following year they lured Neil Jenkins from Pontypridd. A switch to Harlequins last summer was a sensible move for all concerned, only for disaster to strike against Dax in late October. "I made a tackle, someone's knee came in and my forearm just snapped like a stick," he recalled this week. His recovery was delayed when the titanium plate inserted in his left arm started to bend and an allergy to his stitches caused an infection.
Still, now he is back, 85 regulars from his parents' pub, the Windmill in Hampton Hill, will be there to toast him and maybe, just maybe, the sporting gods owe him one today, four years on from the last of his 10 Ireland caps.
It is too simplistic to paint this as merely Newcastle's young fliers against Quins' determined pack, for there are enough big-game men on both sides to make a mockery of league tables. The Quins back five has a hard edge, particularly when Garrick Morgan is roused. If his barely fit former Queensland team-mate David Wilson fails to last the course, however, the Falcons will fancy their chances.
It could just be a classic, weather permitting, and Quins have only to recall their sublime semi-final win over Leicester to know what can happen.
If all Newcastle's backs had played as often as Wilkinson at Twickenham, they would be strong favourites. In contrast Quins can boast more than 200 Test caps in the shapes of Wood, Leonard and Wilson alone and Burke will provide a steadier hand than Craig Chalmers did in the semi-final.
"Everyone's talking about Jonny, which is good," says Mark Evans, Quins' chief executive turned coach. Wilkinson, however, does not miss out at Twickenham very often.
