THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Halfway through Friday night, I found myself remarking to those around me, “It would be nice if somebody punched somebody else so at least we’d have something to write about!”

Of course I was jesting (violence is never an acceptable option, children), I was purely making the point that the first half of Friday night’s match dragged on so long I thought I’d be stuck at the Kingspan Stadium for the next two days. There were errors aplenty from both sides on the night, the discipline wasn’t exactly exemplary either, and genuine carved out try scoring opportunities were few and far between.

In the end, a clinical edge for Ulster was what won them the game – Paul Marshall sniping over just before the break for that all-important second try and Stuart McCloskey choosing the right option in diving over instead of going wide for the fourth. That cutting edge may have deserted them a few times during the game (Williams, Arnold and Ludik all guilty) but in the end the hosts had bottled enough of it to grab the five pointer.

It wasn’t a vintage performance by any stretch of the imagination, Neil Doak himself even admitted it in Friday night’s post-match interview. But the key thing that remains is that Ulster are getting it done at home, even when they’re not quite firing on all cylinders. That’s now 15 points from a possible 15 at home, and with the away form currently falling apart it is vital that Ulster continue in this vein.

In fact, it was rather disappointing that the away form was discussed after the game.

We’re all painfully aware of Ulster’s away record in the PRO12 (just one win since February), but it is worth remembering that Friday’s night’s victory – hard to watch as it was – equalled Ulster’s longest unbeaten home record in the league. It’ll be almost two months before Ulster get the chance to set a new record when Edinburgh visit the Kingspan Stadium in early December, but for now it is a small victory.

So where were the celebrations? Where were the happy faces afterwards? Understandably, not there.

Because while we do need to take a minute and appreciate the achievement we have just equalled, there is a stark realisation that out away form will be put sorely to the test over the next month and a half – and it is that away form that will determine whether we finish mid-table or in the hunt for a top four place come May.

After a record-equalling home win was probably the wrong moment to bring up our away form, but it is apt to address it too. Munster, Dragons and Leinster constitute our next three domestic trips away and not one of them would you say you feel confidence in us winning based on how we are currently performing on the road. You’d give us more than a fighting chance in Newport in a couple of weeks, but then again you would have said the same in Llanelli and Edinburgh.

What is the main contributing factor to our away demise?

Poor preparation? I doubt it – Neil Doak has been praised for his attention to detail and his stringent planning for games so I am extremely hesitant to believe that is the case. Besides, if any player came into an away match any less prepared than a home match then they deserve to lose the game anyway, and I cannot possibly imagine the Ulster coaching staff would allow that to happen.

A destroyed mentality? Possibly. One away loss can dent confidence. Two will dent it further. Three will cause serious doubts. Four indicates a problem. When you’re going uphill it’s very easy for someone to grab you and halt your progress – when you’re going downhill then it can be very hard to get you to stop. Are the Ulster players simply in a poor state of mind? Not for me to say but it’s a possibility.

Do we play a different style of rugby we just aren’t used to compared to when we’re at home? Again, a possibility. We always seem to kick the ball a little more away from home than what we do when we’re in Belfast, and our players just don’t seem suited to that game – all you have to do is watch Friday night’s game back to see how effective Gilroy, Ludik and Trimble are with ball in hand. I’m not a master tactician, but I wouldn’t have them kicking that much.

Or option four: perhaps we just aren’t the team we think we are.

But knowing Ulster, that most definitely isn’t the case.

WRONG CALLS?

Twitter is a cruel mistress.

Within seconds of that penalty being given, social media exploded into a tirade of abuse and disgust towards South African referee Craig Joubert. Joubert’s decision to award the Wallabies a penalty was one of high contention and it was never going to pass without some angry outbursts online and in the stands at Twickenham. Whether it was the right call or not, Australian fans were jubilant. Scottish fans were not.

Poor Joubert even doubted himself. Casting a forlorn eye toward the big screen behind the posts, the referee looked like he wasn’t entirely sure he’d made the right call. Perhaps Josh Strauss did knock the ball on, but in the melee of players, how on earth was Jon Welsh to know that was the case? Surely some leeway should have been granted to the prop, who more grabbed the ball out of the fact it was hurtling toward him as opposed to picking it up to prevent Australia from getting it. An accidental offside would have been fair.

Where Joubert cannot be faulted is the fact that he did not go to the TMO. The laws clearly state that a referee can only refer to the TMO in line with an act of foul play or to determine whether a try has been scored – this constituted neither of those stipulations. Greig Laidlaw was within his rights to ask Joubert to go upstairs and check, Joubert was correct in denying him that.

What Joubert cannot be excused for is after the game.

There is not one excuse that can be made for him sprinting off the pitch at the end of the game. Yes, he made a very controversial call that will divide opinion across the planet, but there is no justification for avoiding the Scottish players after the game. It is a cowardly act, and it may have just cost him any further participation in this World Cup.

What he should have done was blown the final whistle, backed his decision-making and shook hands with every single Scottish player, commiserated them on their defeat but also congratulated them for their monumental effort in making that game one of the most memorable quarter-finals in World Cup history and wished them all the best for their future endeavours.

Instead he is now faced with an even worse backlash than what he would have received after the game.

On top of that, World Rugby have made things even worse by releasing a statement admitting that Joubert got it wrong. The implications that come with that defy logic – where are the apologies for decisions such as the Jared Payne red card? Should there be a replay because such a big decision lost Scotland the game? Do World Rugby back their referees? It’s a very interesting question as to what World Rugby are attempting to gain from releasing that statement.

In many ways it is a great shame that such an enthralling match ended the way it did. After that game we should have been on our feet applauding two fantastic teams that battled it out tooth and nail until one side emerged victorious. Instead we are debating the actions of the referee who, up until the incidents, had a very good game in my opinion.

Your heart goes out to Scotland – they poured everything into that match and ultimately they fell agonisingly short. But at the same time all credit to the Wallabies for managing to go back up the field and force that all important penalty that won them the game because in the end it doesn’t matter how they got there – all that matters is that they are in the semis and Scotland are not.

Neither are Ireland.

It’s a sorry end to what was a rather successful tournament up until now for Joe Schmidt and his merry men. 43-20 accurately reflects the dominance Argentina possessed on Sunday, and it shows just how badly Ireland still rely on their key men. Without Paul O’Connell, Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien and Jonathan Sexton, Ireland floundered and before they could even blink they were 17-0 down and the game already seemed beyond them.

Having to overcome France a week earlier probably did not help, especially given Argentina only had Namibia to defeat by contrast, but it still does not cover the fact that Ireland were comprehensively outplayed. Daniel Hourcade’s men showed a dynamic flair and attacking prowess that was beautifully artistic and which simply cut Ireland to pieces. Juan Imhoff and Joaquin Tuculet were fantastic with ball in hand, epitomising Argentina’s triumph.

Say what you want about Jerome Garces’ decision not to red card Ramiro Herrera for a potential second yellow card, it probably would not have made much difference. Argentina just had that extra motivation, that ability to gain that extra yard, and after the two early tries they had the momentum firmly behind them too – Argentina were the better team.

I deliberately did not dwell on this match too much this week (or Ulster’s at all) for the simple fact was we were beaten by the better side, nothing more to it. The fact that Ireland were meant to be the side that would come closest to wrestling the Webb Ellis Cup off of the All Blacks speaks volumes as to the gulf in class between the northern and southern hemisphere sides given that they were picked apart easily by the so-called weakest of the four Rugby Championship teams.

There’s no point in discussing where to go now. Ireland’s, Wales’ and Scotland’s players head back to their provinces. Pro12 rugby awaits them when they return empty handed and still reeling from their respective defeats – perhaps the World Cup disappointment will loom over them like a grey cloud or perhaps it will galvanise them to better things for their club teams. Who knows?

One thing is for certain: the best four teams in the world are in the World Cup semi-finals.

ASSESSING THE SITUATION

Many times in life we ask: was that worth it?

Most of the time the answer is yes, whether we believe it or not, and most of the time we look back on such moments with fondness once we have enough time to reflect and reminisce. It’s those times in life where, at the time, we are unsure of what the outcome has achieved for us, and that brings with it such confusion and soul-searching, but once we are able to look back we can see that it was indeed a positive thing in our life. Those kinds of moments define us.

For Joe Schmidt, this week may define him as a rugby coach.

Sunday’s defeat of France was as professional a performance as Ireland have mustered under Schmidt since he took over from Declan Kidney. They suffocated their opponents, they limited the French to speculative long shots at goal and they showed an intense physicality in the way they ruthlessly assaulted the breakdown that meant they won all those exchanges with relative ease, and aided their passage into the quarterfinals.

Sean O’Brien was immense from openside flanker. Criticised slightly for being a little subdued against Canada, Romania and Italy, the Tullow Tank put those criticisms to bed with a barnstorming performance which saw him peerless on the ground and bruisingly (no, that’s not a word but just go with it) effective with ball in hand once again.

Meanwhile, the award for the substitute with the most impact goes to Iain Henderson. On at half-time, the Ulsterman reminded everybody in the Millennium Stadium, everybody watching at home, and his coaching staff just why he should never have been dropped for this game, regardless of whether Schmidt wanted him to be saved for the quarter-final or not. Within ten minutes of coming onto the pitch Henderson stole two French lineouts in promising positions, and then proceeded to bulldoze his way through French defender after French defender on the way to another performance that drew all the plaudits it deserved.

The Irish Independent gave him a rating of 9 for the game despite only playing half of it, writing that Henderson “took over from O’Connell and took over the game”. No complaints here, that sums it up perfectly.

On the flipside, it highlights just why Schmidt will be defined as a coach now. Having gone most of this tournament with next to no injury worries, he now has a handful to deal with.

Take your pick from the group of players who were forced off on Sunday as to who Ireland will struggle to deal most without, because you could make a case for all of them. The world’s best fly half Jonathan Sexton? Talismanic captain O’Connell? Enforcer Peter O’Mahony? Try-scoring machine Keith Earls? All four are vital to the Ireland World Cup charge, and to lose even one of them would make the task of overcoming the rest of the world that bit harder.

The problem is we already know we’ll be missing one of them in O’Mahony. By the time this is published we could have lost one or two others as well (N.B. I am writing this in a mild state of depression at 10:30am on Monday with the news of O’Mahony’s injury still weighing heavily on my shoulders), and the way it is going it is all crucial players to Ireland’s successful bid who are dropping out.

In many ways my introduction is redundant. Injuries are part and parcel of the game, and no coach can pick their team around that. Schmidt was wholly justified in picking the team he did, and he will stand by the fact that it is indeed worth it. Ireland have avoided the All Blacks (until the final at the very least) and should Sexton and Earls come through their injuries as expected then Ireland won’t be as depleted as initially feared.

That does not make their job any easier.

Beware Los Pumas. Argentina have been quietly disposing of their opposition one by one with a cold ruthlessness that does not relent for anyone, and they ran the All Blacks mighty close at Wembley in their opening match too. Ireland vs. France was billed as the game to avoid the All Blacks – well the spoils of the victor aren’t exactly great either.

Where Ireland had to throw everything they had at France, Argentina had the simple task of overcoming Namibia and, as such, were able to make eleven changes to their line-up and rest most of their frontline stars. They will reach next Sunday on form, in full fitness and ready to cause an upset by dumping Ireland out at the quarterfinal stage yet again. Daniel Hourcade has drilled his men to the last degree and make no doubt about it, they will be prepared.

Ireland? They need to pick themselves up from their encounter at the Millennium Stadium, do a quick head count and then recoup and recover ahead of another brutal clash this Sunday. Even with a week’s turnaround it’s going to be a task for the players to replicate the kind of play they showed in Cardiff – but they’ll have to in order to overcome the South Americans and reach the semi-finals.

Otherwise another quarterfinal is as far as we’ll get.

HEADING HOME

And so, just a week after we saw England lose to Wales, they are out of their own World Cup.

Let that sink in for a moment. Backed by their own fans, with no travelling to do and their national stadium to play in for every pool game (bar Uruguay this weekend), England still couldn’t get the job done against either Wales or Australia and as such will be heading home with no knockout rugby to play in their own World Cup.

And when I say heading home, I really mean they’ll stay exactly where they are.

Don’t gloss over the fact that this complete humiliation for England – they are the first host nation in World Cup history not to qualify for the last eight and they only have themselves to blame. Ignoring the increasingly bizarre decision not to allow the best openside in European rugby to play for them (Steffon Armitage of Toulon), England were tactically inept and incorrect in their team selections. By the time Matt Giteau crossed to complete the drubbing on Saturday, Chris Robshaw’s men were too tired to even chase him back, which spoke volumes as to how their challenge had fallen flat.

It will probably mark the end of a sorry reign for Stuart Lancaster. The media that backed him to the hilt before the World Cup began have now mercilessly turned on him and are baying for blood to be spilt before any more damage can be done. They have every right to, of course, and Lancaster has attempted to reduce the slight arrears by playing something of an experimental side against Uruguay, but it doesn’t hide the fact that this will more than likely be the coach’s last game in charge of his national team.

English journalists Stuart Barnes and Stephen Jones were both scathing in their assessments of Lancaster’s reign, and both raised good points – what has Lancaster actually achieved since he took over in 2011?

Arguably, not much.

Despite many impressive wins, including taking down the All Blacks at Twickenham, Lancaster has never prevailed in the big games that matter. They never pushed on from that win over New Zealand. Winning at the Millennium Stadium in the opening match of this year’s Six Nations was immediately undone by a tame defeat at the hands of Ireland. And the last two weeks have finally given the heads of the RFU enough ammunition to take him down.

In short, Lancaster inherited a side with promise and didn’t do anything with them. Robshaw as captain has proved to be a flawed decision both back in Autumn 2012 and last week, the rapid rise of George Ford (who I maintain should have started against Wales and Australia even if England had won) was neglected in favour of the conservative Owen Farrell, and the selection of the unproven Sam Burgess was crazy on two fronts – one that he was played at centre where he is yet to impress at any level, and two that he was chosen over Luther Burrell who does the same role and has the experience on the international stage.

So with those thoughts in mind, it is not unreasonable to expect the RFU to act, and to act quickly in relieving Lancaster of command. Questions have arisen over whether Lancaster was even in charge of team selection (a valid argument) and even more recently whether he was involved in an altercation with referee Romain Poite at half time on Saturday night.

Even if they do back him, perhaps it would be best for the RFU to ditch him to save face.

As for the team, there are a few things they must address regardless of who will be calling the shots come the Six Nations (Jake White is conveniently available…).

Firstly they must repair their relationship with Steffon Armitage. Robshaw’s time as captain should be over, and unless he is willing to ply his trade at blindside for his country, then his starting position should be gone too. England were blown away at the breakdown on Saturday by the combined work of Pocock and Hooper, and that alone should be the catalyst needed to welcome Armitage back into the fold. Not that they should need any more reason beyond the fact he is, by a long way, the best 7 in Europe.

They must also settle on a starting fly-half, who should be George Ford, work out what Sam Burgess’ role within the setup is, if he does indeed stay within the setup, and also take a look at Joe Marler’s scrummaging – they can defend it as much as they want, it does not change the fact that he is boring in at a 90 degree angle and is illegal. Luckily Romain Poite picked up on that, probably with a certain degree of help from the scrutiny Marler got in the build up to the game.

Can England take any positives from the World Cup? If any they can be satisfied they have a world class outside centre in Jonathan Joseph with whom they can build their back line around. His performance against Australia was enough justification to show that his absence for the Wales match was one of the reasons why England lost – he brought a spark to the backline that wasn’t there a week previous.

It’s a slap in the face for England, its players, its fans and its head coach. In the build up to this World Cup England were overhyped and overestimated and they have fallen remarkably short of everything that was projected for them, and now they have to deal with the aftermath of one of the biggest disappointments in its sporting history. It will hurt, and it will take a lot of time to recover, but it starts now, even in the midst of the misery that will be heaped onto them.

And this week, there’s no reason for Robshaw to hold his head high.

THE GREAT GAME

On Saturday night we saw a perfect example of rugby at its finest.

I’m going to put my neck on the line and say Wales were terrible. They were toothless in attack, with their main weapon being a sound retreat 10 metres behind the gain line each phase, their kicking game was errant and they were bested up front by the English pack. They had no right whatsoever to win that game, they were second best in pretty much every area.

Yet they did, courtesy of two people.

Dan Biggar should be awarded the freedom of Wales for that flawless kicking display because it was, without a shadow of a doubt, what kept Wales within touching distance of England. If the Ospreys fly-half had had a bad night with the boot then England probably would have been out of sight and won handily. As it was, Biggar kept popping the pill between the posts and always gave Wales a fighting chance of stealing something at the death.

The other is Chris Robshaw.

This will probably be debated until the end of the World Cup (and rightly so), but my opinion, for what it’s worth, is that Robshaw bottled the decision and it cost England very badly. England already had the bonus point secured against Fiji so they were one step ahead of Wales – they did not need to go for the four points. And whenever you consider that Robshaw had the also flawless Owen Farrell to call upon to kick for goal, it makes the decision even more bizarre.

In the big games, you take your points. The sense of bravado that whispers in your ear will only make you foolish and greedy, and with 80,000 England fans roaring him on, Robshaw stupidly gave in. He ignored the pleads of Farrell who was confident he could make the kick and he ignored the fact that if Farrell did score then England had a minute or two to get back up the pitch and manufacture a drop goal or force another penalty.

And most importantly of all, he ignored the fact that a draw would level out the two sides on points, while the loss puts them three behind Wales.

This is the side of the rugby you don’t see. Most times when a team goes to the corner instead of taking a kick at the posts, they will pull it off and rumble a maul over the line. But England’s cataclysmic error will serve as a stark reminder that it is by no means a given. It’s not called a “risk and reward” strategy for nothing.

But let’s be fair, Wales’ defence was exemplary. Every single defender hit the maul as if their lives depended on it and with one collective push they managed to force the English pack sideways and off the field, wrapping up the victory. For a side who were poor for most of the game, that moment alone was worthy of the victory.

I don’t blame Robshaw for trying it. The odds were in his favour – England had dominated the physical exchanges all night and with the crowd swelling behind them even I would have put money on the chariot rolling its way over the line to a raucous cry from the crowd. Had it come off Robshaw would have been hailed a hero and have taken all the plaudits after the game for having the mental strength to kick for the corner.

That, however, does not mean it was the right decision.

Still, it’s a learning curve for Robshaw, right? Wrong.

Anybody remember England’s ill-fated Autumn Series back in 2012? Game one, Twickenham: England, trailing Australia by 6 points, were piling on the pressure as they reached the last ten minutes of the game and drawing repeated penalties from the Wallabies. On that occasion, Robshaw elected every time to go to touch, turning down kickable penalty after kickable penalty in favour of going for the try. Eventually their efforts were fruitless, and they lost 20-14.

Fast forward to a week later – same venue, England vs. South Africa. England were trailing by 4 and had a very kickable penalty with two minutes to go, and it was Mr. Robshaw who was to make the call on what to do. This time he decided to go for goal, much to the dismay of the crowd, England lost the restart, and ultimately the game, 16-15. He was rightly criticised after those matches.

You would imagine those decisions were right at the forefront of Robshaw’s thinking when England were awarded the penalty on Friday night, and that’s probably what ultimately resulted in his downfall. Back in 2012 he was torn apart by the media for making the incorrect calls. This time he’s been torn apart for exactly the same thing.

All three times he’s made the wrong decision.

It does call into question his role as captain. True, the Wallabies and Springbok defeats did not matter in the long run as they were just Autumn Internationals, but this one does and it looks likely that it may result in them becoming the first ever hosts of a Rugby World Cup to go out at the pool stages (provided the excellent Australia do indeed win this weekend). An international captain has to keep a clear head and be able to make the correct decisions under pressure.

He has not.

But chin up Chris. You’re not out yet.

BRAVE BLOSSOMS

The Rugby World Cup is celebrated under the motto “The World in Union”.

This week, the world is indeed in union. In their celebration of the incredible performance put in by Eddie Jones’ Japan.

Do not try and downplay what the Japanese have achieved for even a moment because it is quite simply one of the biggest shocks there has ever been in the world of sport. Imagine Accrington Stanley defeating Real Madrid. Imagine Zebre beating Toulon. Remember the unknown Ben Curtis winning the Open Championship in 2003. Those are the kind of shocks that this result is on a par with.

And to make it even more incredible, the Japanese turned down a shot at goal that would have given them a very honourable draw. It would have gained them respect across the globe, it would have humiliated the Springboks and it most definitely would have been seen as a shock result. The world sat poised on the edge of their seats for the inevitable penalty that would result in honours even.

Instead, Michael Leitch chose history.

Put yourself in the Japanese captain’s place. Would you have chosen to scrum that last penalty instead of kick for goal? I doubt it. But Leitch had the guts to say let’s go for it. We’re a man up, we have the crowd screaming for us and we have the momentum. A draw isn’t enough. We want the win. One move is all that’s needed.

And they got it.

Cue rugby clichés galore from media outlets – giant-killing, David beats Goliath, the minnows triumph. You name it, it was probably published somewhere. That said, the clichés are fully justified – ten places separated the two sides in the World Rankings before the game yet on the day they looked like two sides who were evenly matched.

Put that down to the never say die attitude of the Japanese and the shortcomings of the Springboks. Every time the Springboks took the lead Japan were right back at them hanging onto their coat-tails and bringing themselves back into contention. Not once in the game did it look like the southern hemisphere side were going to get away from their opponents. Many other sides would have given up at several points in the game. But not Japan.

Meanwhile the Springboks were found wanting in several areas, none more so than in their predictable tactics. It is quite telling that, although they scored four tries, not one of them was courtesy of an intelligent break or a clever bit of play, it was simply route one rugby up the middle. Lood de Jager and Adriaan Strauss scored nearly identical tries where they simply flattened all before them – a tactic that will not work in the later stages of the tournament when the Springboks are met with stronger defences.

And it pains me to say this but Jean de Villiers was off colour.

The man has been a remarkable servant for the Springboks over the years, but his inclusion in the team was questioned before the game and is now being questioned even more afterwards. Damian de Allende, who was superb during the Rugby Championship, sat on the bench while de Villiers struggled on the field, further bemusing South Africa fans across the world. Yes, de Villiers brings leadership to that team, but whenever you have your most experienced side ever on the pitch do you really need that leadership over the talent on the sidelines?

Whatever Heyneke Meyer’s logic, he got it wrong and he is paying the price for it. A strong backlash has arrived on the English shores from South Africa (with the harshest criticism coming from their Minister of Sport of all people!) and now they must respond. I feel that the “South Africa are no longer feared” line is a little over the top and I am still convinced they will win their pool, however they will need three big performances to convince the rugby world that they are serious contenders.

As for Japan, I’m inclined to say they’ve spent all of their energy on taking down the heavyweights and probably will struggle for the rest of the competition – I really hope that isn’t the case but it tends to be the case with most of the smaller nations. What we can say with confidence is that their victory on Saturday will go down in rugby history regardless of what they do for the rest of the tournament.

And they have every right to enjoy it.

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON

There is a stark contrast between the mood in Ulster last week and this week.

Last week we were sitting pretty after one round of Pro12 action – five points bagged and second place in the table looked very nice, while the performance against the Ospreys was good enough to take some accolades too. Neil Doak would have undoubtedly been delighted every time he stepped onto the training field this week and you wouldn’t have blamed him if he had a spring in his step and a glint in his eye.

Then we went to Wales.

Let’s not try and kid ourselves – Ulster were poor. The fact that we were unable to defeat a team who were down to 14 men for half an hour of that game is a horrendous one to analyse in the cold light of day and shows how we struggled to really make any sort of an impact on the game. The Scarlets did have a decent game, let’s not deny them that, but at the same time we didn’t exactly make life too difficult for them either.

Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves either. After all we are only two games into the season and given our opening two fixtures I’m sure most fans would happily have taken five points from them before the season began, so it’s not exactly time to panic just yet. Besides, the Parc y Scarlets has become one of the more difficult away venues to win at too – any win would have been an impressive performance.

So how about we just take a step back and remain calm. There are still 20 games left in the season to change things around and a lot of rugby to be played and a lot of players to return to the province before the year is out. Stuart McCloskey is still dominant in the centre, the driving maul looks destructive and we have Treviso up next so not everything is going against us.

Even contrast our start to our likely play-off rivals. Scarlets and Munster lead the way having both taken victories from their opening two games, Leinster and Glasgow sit alongside us on five points from their two games, while the Ospreys have been stunned in two damaging defeats and sit a lowly eleventh with just a solitary point to their name and no tries to speak of. By comparison, we haven’t done too badly.

Instead we can now turn our focus to the long-awaited start to the 2015 Rugby World Cup!

Time seems to have gone in slow motion since the warm-ups started but now we’re finally into the meat of things and Friday night heralds the beginning of rugby union’s showpiece at Twickenham between England and Fiji, and for the next month and a half people who have never even heard of rugby suddenly become the biggest fans in the world.

The All Blacks are, of course, the favourites for the Webb Ellis Trophy as per usual, however their usual ability to mess it up on the biggest stage will always factor in and could allow either the Springboks or the Wallabies in behind them. Still, they do have the ability to win the World Cup (as displayed in 1987 and last time out in 2011) and it will take a monumental display from another side to take them down.

Of the Northern Hemisphere sides Ireland look best placed to mount a challenge to the All Blacks, however on home soil you’d back England to have a strong run at the trophy too. Wales’ hopes probably died with the losses of Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb, and France, although strong when it counts, are still far too inconsistent to be any sort of a threat to the sides from Down Under.

Ireland need a big start against Canada to get the momentum back in their favour. Back-to-back defeats to Wales and England, while not overly detrimental, were not ideal and Joe Schmidt will be eager to get his side back in a winning mindset ahead of the big games against Italy and France. If they can get on a roll by the time they take on Phillippe Saint-Andre’s men in the final pool match then it will take an impressive performance to stop them.

So prepare yourselves to watch the best in rugby battle it out to be the top dogs in the world! Will the All Blacks batter their opponents black and blue? Will the Springboks sprint past their rivals? Will the Wallabies find a scrum good enough to overcome the odds? Or can a northern hemisphere side shock the rugby community and keep the Webb Ellis this side of the equator?

Get ready to find out!

Elsewhere

- I feel so sorry for poor Connacht – it’s not often you score four tries in a match and still end up on the wrong side of the scoreline. Still, it’s their own fault for giving Glasgow a 24-point head start because whenever you do that you are asking for trouble. Glasgow, meanwhile, are looking rather frail.

- The juggernauts at Toulouse have finally been taken down by lowly Pau. Despite not being overly impressive in their performances, Toulouse were unbeaten in three Top14 games before ex-Munsterman James Coughlan led Pau to a gritty 9-6 win, a result that many in France were predicting was only a matter of time. Toulouse are in Ulster’s Champions’ Cup pool.

- With the announcement that Richie McCaw will be delaying his decision on retirement until after the World Cup, there’s no doubt Mourad Boudjellal will be getting his chequebook out and licking his lips. There’s every chance McCaw would be lured to a short stint in Europe to finish his career, and a big money move to Toulon would be ideal. He’d have to be a dope to go anywhere else…