Until then, a reliable foliage forecast is that researchers will spend their time seeing red, while everybody else simply enjoys the technicolor, sylvan swansong of the autumn.
But after injuries to Kyle Eastmond and Leon Pryce, and with utility back Jonny Lomax a doubt with a quad injury, Smith could make a dramatic Saints swansong.
O'Sullivan will not want to start to dissect his team just yet, but Cardiff could be the swansong for a number of players who have given their all over the past four seasons under his command.
Although his swansong proved lacklustre in comparison with the rest of Jordan's career, his presence in Washington has drawn sell-out crowds, basketball fans keenly aware that they are watching the curtain fall on a sporting icon.