I am up here in London until the end of the year when I will finish my 17 year run by returning to Gods zone.
I can tell you the England fans pain at watching Robshaw make 'that' decision that led directly to a loss against Wales was palpable here in London. I'm in the west not far from Twickenham and you could have heard a pin drop among the English fans.
Eddie Jones worked his magic over a second string Springbok side who were in horror as they watched history unfold before them. The greatest rugby giant killing in living memory and the neutrals stood as one to applaud the Japanese team for their incredible effort, courage and belief.
Then we went to Cardiff to watch the AB's in the quarter final against France and the sheer very public jubilation among the Welsh folk there that not only were Wales in the quarter final, more importantly England were not. The Welsh were overjoyed.
The AB's laid to rest quite a few ghosts that day, not least the memories of 2007 at the same ground.
"Allez les Blues... ah no... 62 !"
Then the dawning in the minds of all the northern hemisphere fans that the semi-finals didn't contain any of their teams... something was going on in the southern hemisphere that is giving the southern teams the edge... but what was it... "...surely it can't be that paltry little Rugby Championship with the ridiculous home and away format can it?"
This world cup has given the northern hemisphere (excepting Japan) plenty to think about and ruminate upon.
WE just witnessed the most successful rugby world cup ever and the southern hemisphere teams all did themselves proud.
The Boks showed their calibre and their spirit in the semi's, they didn't give the All Blacks an inch, the Aussies made the final with a suspect front row and essentially a brand new coach, they put the hosts to the sword at Fortress Twickenham with a classy display along the way and the Pumas did great work getting passed Ireland and securing the semi final berth.
The obvious highlights as an All Black fan were being able to fully discard the notions that we are chokers, flat track bullies and survive as glory boys in the running game but lack talent with the boot.
Eight long years of gloating rights never hurts either but there is still truck loads of rugby in the intervening years between RWC's. Maintaining the standard is critical to greatness. It's so hard to keep the winning going particularly when the Boks and Aussie are coming back stronger, the Pumas are getting better every year and Eddie Jones is waking the sleeping giant. If Wales can play like they did in the last 10 minutes of their game against England they will be a nightmare for anyone to handle.
Any of these teams can beat any of the other teams... but will they?
The RWC answered many questions, but it also closed the door on what went before and started the next chapter with more questions... what will an AB team missing 6 long term stalwarts look like?
Will Cheika continue his incredible improvement of the Wallaby team?
Will the Boks pick the right combinations form their prodigious stock of eye watering young talent charging up through the ranks.
Will England keep on developing at the same speed and intensity under Eddie Jones as they showed during a successful Grand Slam ?
Can Wales shake off Gatlands defence first mentality and exhibit their natural confidence to play whats in front of them? Can they win a series in New Zealand
Can Schmidt turn Ireland's fortunes around and bring them back to their best?
Will France start the long road back to being an international danger to other teams instead of themselves?
Which big scalps will the Pumas take this year? Is it the year where they will break their duck against the All Blacks? They're good enough.
Then next year we have another awesome Lions tour to look forward to...
The RWC is the pinnacle of international rugby and it sparks off with a crescendo of the last four years before sending everyone home wondering what the next 4 years will bring in terms of results and developments.
The RWC is awesome and well done on a great hosting job.
My personal highlight of the RWC, and this is what makes World Cups great, was in Cardiff, travelling to the ground early before the AB vs Frogs quarter final at the Millennium. We wanted to get a feed and a few pints of guinness before heading into the stadium. Sitting in the back of the cab with a Kiwi mate and an Irish mate, the driver slammed on the anchors and brought the car to a shuddering halt. He said,
"I won't have any swearing in my Taxi !!"
We looked at each other in confusion and I turned to him and said, "Nobody swore mate."
He replied, "I heard it, somebody said SWANSEA !!"
Brilliant!
