This exciting start can be put down to minor teams playing major teams when the major team does not fire on all cylinders. New Zealand, France and England have all failed to steamroller opposition. Granted New Zealand did in the first half and England were playing their toughest game of the pool stages, but still.
The French game may look like a walkover on paper. 47-21 they beat Japan, scoring six trys in the process. But John Kirwan's Japanese team (nicknamed The Cherry Blossoms) earned themselves a new fan who was sitting in a lounge in his pyjamas in Kent. Their spirit and doggedness really impressed and the lapse in energy at the end was entirely forgiven, during which France ran in three.
Similarly The All Blacks, who, buoyed by an entirely NZ crowd stormed the first half, and then went to sleep for the first 20 minutes of the second half. And it was delightful to watch the Tongans hammering on the door, even if all I kept thinking of was Nick from The Apprentice's anecdote about the King of Tonga's hat shop.
And this is what, in my opinion, is making the World Cup so good. Some people are disappointed that New Zealand didn't dismantle Tonga and that Wilkinson didn't kick Argentina into that numbing helplessness that he used to be so keen on. But for me, it is keeping the competition alive. I can't wait to see Japan play again, and no doubt they can't wait to play again, similarly Tonga. I do not mean to patronise the qualifiers, but to praise them, they are making the competition what it is; great!
A word, simply as I haven't mentioned them, on the Scots who held their nerve at the death against Romania and somehow found a win. Next time though just don't play at 2 in the morning! And also to Fiji and Namibia, neither of whom I am looking forward to watching face the boys in red.
Enjoy your Rugby.
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