Pool play is over and despite a few games being cancelled due to the typhoon the only country with a justifiable grievance is Italy who could have made the quarters had they beaten the All Blacks and in fact they would have topped the pool if they had won with a bonus point. This was an outcome which almost certainly would not have happened but, it seems harsh that Italy were denied the opportunity to try.

Some things that have caught my eye

* Without doubt the team with the greatest impact has been home team Japan with outstanding wins over Ireland and Scotland. I like the way they are playing at present with ferocious but fair defence and players running hard from depth with the ball in hand. Japan are a credit to coaches Jamie Joseph and Tony Brown and their support staff.

* I have been impressed by the competitiveness of some of the `minnows’ – Sundays game Uruguay v Wales was a prime example with the score only 7 to 6 in favour of Wales at half time before Wales ran away in the second half to win 35 to 13, which included a converted try scored in the 84th minute.

* Some of the `minnows’ players have also impressed. For example in the All Blacks game against Namibia I thought the Namibian 12 (second five) was outstanding in all aspects of the game and he was possibly the best player on the paddock. He never stopped trying on attack or defence.

* The referees were largely a disappointment with the much maligned Wayne Barnes looking easily the best of them while the two Australians Nic Berry and Angus Gardner have been disappointing. Having said that I just hope the All Blacks do not get a French referee from here on in because they are even worse. The job of the referees has not been made easy by the emphasis the controlling body has put on some areas of the game and I will have another post on their likely impact in the playoffs – it could be huge.

* Argentina and Scotland have been the biggest disappointments with Fiji not far behind.

Sparks Coverage

Problems at our place have been minimal with really only the loss of picture for the last 7 or 8 minutes in the Australia v Fiji game and the loss of sound for short periods in a couple of other games. The worst aspect has been the slightly convoluted process of switching from the channels we normally watch to the World Cup games.