What a weekend it was. Although it is understandable that losing sides will trot out the old 'blame the referee' chestnut there was a lot to get excited about in the matches themselves.
South Africa - The oldest truism in finals rugby is : If you don't take your chances you cannot expect to win. Regrettably the seeds of our exit were sown in the Samoa match when Frans Steyn suffered a tournament ending shoulder injury. South Africa had three 'points scoring options' prior to this Sunday : Goalkicking up to 50m via Morne Steyn, try scoring my any means possible and goalkicking beyond 50m via Frans Steyn. The loss of the third option before Sunday probably proved defining.
If we are to post-mortem the Springboks in the 2011 campaign we will probably conclude the following :
1.) Although John Smit did probably play one season too long it was more the persistent attempts to retread him as a prop ( and the consequential disruption to the front row in preparatory matches ) that did the damage. Wasting Bismarck DuPlessis on the bench for long periods was criminal as Matfield was an adequate on-the-field leader.
2.) Persistent calls via Keo.co.za for the selection of Butch James as our first choice flyhalf were possibly correct. Morne Steyn seldom, if ever, threatened the advantage line and was a liability on defence.
3.) Fourie DuPreez was probably the biggest disappointment of the tournament and some of his errors proved crucial. He looked slow, frail and hesitant throughout.
4.) Persisting with Bakkies Botha was pointless. The last time he put in 80 minutes I was still a young man. Furthermore - the attrition we suffered at lock ( starting with the loss of Bekker before the tournament ) was unfortunate.
Nevertheless I felt we played a lot better in the tournament than we have this whole year and can feel relatively disappointed that we did not progress.
New Zealand - I think New Zealand were OK whilst not overly convincing against an Argentina who played with a lot of heart. The latter should improve hand over fist in the years ahead when they join the 4 (?) Nations.
It appears that the hosts now have a serious problem at flyhalf. Slade may well be gone. Cruden is just too inexperienced at this level. Moving Weepu to flyhalf might prove fatal as he is too slow and too likely to think and behave like a scrumhalf ( which is what he is! ) under real pressure.
I also think the All Balcks attempt to be too expansive too early and appeared to get a little headless when they failed to breach. In their favour they did largely hold onto the ball well in the collisions.
NZ meet Australia next week in what should be a humdinger. Whether Australia will have recovered from making 145+ tackles against South Africa will be offset by the enormous mental pressure the hosts will be under at this point in the tournament. They are unlikely to get quite such an accomodating referee next week although Pocock's value cannot be understated.
France - Massive improvement with glimpses of the old magic against England. Be careful of placing too much importance on the result as England have 'plodded' the entire tournament and deserved to exit.
But France do have the forwards to match anyone. Their backs are perhaps not quite as influential and they too continually tinker with the flyhalf position.
Wales - The biggest bolters of the competition and deserve to make the finals on their performances to date. If they beat France and Australia beat NZ then collateral form through SA should almost make them favourites for the cup!
They have the best performed centre and scrumhalf in the tournament. Their pack is adequate and I personally feel that fullback Halfpenny has been the most courageous player in the tournament to date - having never flinched under the high ball and a succession of thunderous hits. They also have the strongest resources at flyhalf where Stephen Jones can be called in to close out a game and provide deadly goalkicking ability as well.
They have also reminded us that rugby is a game for young men..............
Don't be surprised if we are not as fortunate next weekend with the weather. It too also still has a role to play.
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