The World Cup Wrap: Mouth-watering finals begin to take shape

When the ‘Pool of Death’ was originally announced, most pundits tipped the final round match between Wales and Australia to define which of the big three missed out on qualifying.

Unfortunately for England the hangman was called into action a week earlier than expected, with Stuart Lancaster, post-match, meekly asking for a week’s clemency, so he can field a team against Uruguay, before offering his neck for the noose.

In truth, England weren’t horrid, they tried manfully and a lot of their work with ball in hand tested the Australian defence, particularly after George Ford was installed at pivot.

But, by comparison to Australia, they were largely lumbering and toothless and, denied their traditional pathway to success by a strong Wallabies scrum, were thrashed by David Pocock at the breakdown and thus were always chasing the game.

If there was a single moment that encapsulated England’s campaign it came in the 69th minute, after they had clawed back to within seven points. England had good scrum ball on the defensive side of halfway, 15 metres in from touch. They clearly needed to be in possession, somewhere inside the Wallabies half, putting pressure on.

The best they could offer however was a one-out pass to winger Anthony Watson who meekly kicked it straight into touch. It was this limp act, not Owen Farrell’s sin-binning a couple of minutes later, which signalled that their World Cup was over.

For the Wallabies’ part, this was their most complete, all-round performance in recent memory. Bernard Foley obviously enjoyed a special night for a number of reasons, but it was his incisive running for his two first-half tries which allowed his team to convert their superiority into points.

Michael Cheika’s side is visibly growing in confidence, the best XV is now known and settled, and there was a lot to like about the composure in both attack and defence. There is some tidying up required, a Nick Phipps pass here, a Kurtley Beale tackle there, but they still have far to go in this tournament.

Incredibly, despite the match throwing up any number of talking points, some scribes chose to lay into Sam Burgess, painting him as the villainous root cause of England’s woes – despite him being on the pitch for only a few minutes.

England’s post-mortem will be long and brutal, but one outcome seems obvious; give Burgess a number six jersey and an armful of Jerry Collins and Schalk Burger tapes to study and emulate, and they will be well on the way to fixing at least some of their problems.

At least the England team’s wake will have been jollied up by celebration of Joe Launchbury’s man of the match award. Seriously.

While most serious rugby followers don’t care much for man of the match awards, this one is hard to ignore. Even if he was England’s best, there’s a sneaking suspicion that Australia may have had one or two better. Like Foley for one. Pocock for another. And definitely Mario Ledesma, who right now is looking like man of the tournament.

Launchbury’s award followed hot on the heels of Georgian warrior Mamuka Gorgodze being named man of the match in their 43-10 loss to New Zealand the day before. That’s one try for to seven tries against.

This one smacked of more than a little ‘minnow sympathy’, although on reflection, perhaps that’s the case with Launchbury as well.

If we learnt one thing over the weekend, it’s that while Twitter perhaps has a purpose for smug ‘progressives’ to massage each other’s egos over environmental and social policy, as far as this World Cup goes it’s next to useless.

So that’s Pool A sorted as far as the losers are concerned (and let’s pause here also to acknowledge Fiji, who offered plenty but received no favours from the draw), but what the Pool B South Africa versus Scotland match highlighted was the critical importance of next weekend’s Wales versus Australia clash.

Assuming Scotland go on to beat a very disappointing Samoa, they will be the quarter-final opponent of the loser of the Wales versus Australia encounter. They will also be, by some distance, the weakest of all of the final eight teams, on the face of it almost guaranteeing Australia or Wales free passage through to the semi-final.

South Africa simply had too much ‘bash-em-up’ for Scotland, impressive big men Lood de Jager and Eben Etzebeth leading the charge. And while Scotland too never gave in, being described as plucky and brave is merely code for not being good enough to truly mix it with the big boys.

Japan’s World Cup dream is still alive, courtesy of a dominant victory by 25-6. Samoa are but a shadow of the side which troubled the All Blacks a few weeks ago in Apia, their ill-discipline getting them on the wrong side of referee Craig Joubert early, and things never improved from there.

Technically Japan can still qualify if they beat the USA (likely) and Samoa beats Scotland (possible, but less likely). But even if they do, the spoils remain for either Australia or Wales in what would surely be a soft quarter-final.

Scottish full-back Stuart Hogg may miss the Samoa match due to genuine injury, although if the World Cup citing commissioner is serious he should be suspended anyway, after he took a dive following an incidental challenge in the second half.

Once referee Nigel Owens figured out what was happening he justifiably embarrassed Hogg, implying he should come back to the ground later and try out for Newcastle United. But a yellow card would have been a better tool with which to shame Hogg into understanding that such antics have no place in rugby.

Assuming Italy doesn’t stage a massive form reversal overnight, Pool D was always going to be a two-horse race, with the order to be determined in next weekend’s Ireland versus France match. For the winner, Argentina awaits, while the loser goes to Cardiff to play the All Blacks. No soft quarter-finals among that lot.

Meanwhile, New Zealand lurks around in the background, like Mick Fanning’s shark, darkly menacing and nibbling away here and there, without really making a serious effort to devour their prey.

Some of their handling and timing against Georgia was so poor it was well below international standard, let alone their own lofty standards. The UK press has been quick to write them off but that’s as silly as lauding them for running through their pool matches by cricket scores, as has happened at precious World Cups.

These pool games are important and almost certainly Steve Hansen will harbour concerns and doubts that he wishes he didn’t have to. But while they matter, they don’t matter a great deal.

Frustrated by the snail-like pace of their match against Namibia, the All Blacks threw themselves into overdrive against Georgia and simply ended up frustrating themselves again, almost for the opposite reason.

They will know that the best way to utilise top gear is via a smooth progression through all the gears. They found the right pace for their game in the second half against Argentina, and when they find it again in this tournament they will return to being favourite for the title.

This match also threw up the quickest ‘box tick’ in World Cup history, the entry ‘Waisake Naholo’s leg’ getting checked off with his very first touch of the ball – a thrilling 40-metre solo run for the opening try.

That was a good as it got however, the longer the game went the more he looked like someone who has had a broken leg for the past few months. He will continue to improve, but for now Nehe Milner-Skudder appeals as the winger who can make a difference.

For their part Georgia once again showed their worthiness. It is clear from this World Cup that the IRB has a massive opportunity to do what the ICC is incapable of, which is to ensure that the international Test calendar provides for an increase in the number of matches between the so called tier one and tier two nations.