Thoughts after round 1

The fans

I have to say the fans have been great. Anyone sitting around at home can be proud of the lads and lasses in NZ. I've been to more than one city and the fans have been great. The Irish fans in New Plymouth were great, a sea of green on the way to the ground, and a great group at the game. I'm sure the same is true for the other venues.

The venues

I think they've generally been pretty good. The exexption being the semi related transport problems on Auckland trains, and overcrowding at the waterfront bars on the opening night.

The teams.

The minnows have exceeded expectations. I suspect it may become harder for them as the tournement goes on. The lower seeded teams have a much harder draw (less time between games) and doing well is probably going to be a double edged sword (you wont be taken for granted next time). That's great from a tournement perspective. Teams like Romania, Tonga, Japan and the US have raised the stakes from 4 years ago.

The top teams have struggled to exert dominance, with the exception of 1/2 a game by NZ, France and Australia.I'm not sure what to read into it. The key games between England-Argentina and South Africa-Wales were tense and closely fought, which is great.

Refs

A mixed bag really. The IRB issued a directive on the eve of the cup. The refs acted accordingly and many top teams got pinged defensively (e.g. NZ, Australia, England and South Africa). I'm not sure what to make of them. I've mellowed a bit since the game (although I think the scrum issues would have disapeared in the NZ-Tonga game if he'd got Taumalolo to pack sqaure). Plenty of other issues in other games. Barnes probably unfairly singled out for failing to ask for the video ref for a wales kick (his assistant refs had the best view in the house).

The balls

Got a right slanging in some areas. The fact is the teams played with them in the 6 nations and have had plenty of opportunity to practice.

The press

I usually slag the press. I'm going to give them a general thumbs up. There have been articles and angles to please most people. Whilst some journos have been openly one eyed, enough have been broad minded enough to be refreshing (e.g. Kiwi journos turning on there own for Barnes bashing, English jounos looking at the discipline issues, rather than slagging Lawrence).

The next round

Should be some cracking matches. It's hard to go past Australia - Ireland or Samoa -Wales. But plenty of other matches look good.

Main thoughts for me concern the fact that all these top class kickers are having problems - This has potentially affected a number of outcomes and it would be a shame if it somehow scarred the tournament. I appreciate its the same for everyone but in essence it may become a leveller to some extent. As a point of information I have noticed that Hook, Wilko and others really give the ball a thump whereas Steyn tends to stroke and glide the ball over. I think this minimises any deviation at impact which appears to be exacerbated with these balls. I think Steyn was 100% v Wales. Anyways its all there and its been worth the 4 year wait already

rubyguby
Thats a very good point about the balls as it highlights the fact that some teams have to rely on kicking goals for their points

if there was a points table it 'd loook something like this:
5 points
New Zealand +31
France +26
Australia +26
Fiji +24
Scotland +10

4 point
Ireland +12
England +4
South Africa +1

1 point
Wales -1
Argentina -4

Zero points
Romania -10
USA -12
Namibia -24
Japan -26
Italy -26
Tonga -31

Samoa,Russia,Georgia,Canada yet to play