Television calls the tune
While viewers at home settle into the sofa watching advertisements for beer in television's 90-second break between the anthems and the kick-off, the players are having to pace themselves. Breaking away from the line-ups after singing their anthem, they have been caught adopting their starting positions only to have to wait, statue-like, for a minute before the referee gets the nod from TV bosses.
Balls worries are ... balls
Thanks to Jonny Wilkinson's first-night woes we found out more about the World Cup ball than we ever planned. Rubber-compound panels here; co-polymer bladder there. But the Scotland No 10 Dan Parks booted the subject dead, despite missing three penalties against Georgia in the rain of Invercargill on Wednesday. "The balls certainly aren't to blame," Parks said. "I missed two from long range because I hit them too hard. The next two were sweet."
Feeding frenzy is unchecked
Before the tournament the referees' manager, Paddy O'Brien, re-affirmed the "five key areas" of officiating, including players arriving through "the gate" at the breakdown, which caused problems to England among many others. But the crooked feed is a different matter; it appears a matter of whim as to when a chuck into the second row is whistled up.
Safety still comes first
Staying with the breakdown but giving the referees a break, the contrasting halves of Australia v Italy last Sunday told a story. When the Wallabies were busy diving over rucks, sealing the ball off and generally killing Italian ball, there was little that was free-flowing. When both sides became committed to rucking and counter-rucking at the expense of losing their safety-first structure, the match opened up. Players who are prepared to play without fear take the onus off the referee. Don't hold your breath for much of it later in the competition.
Complaining is a global pursuit
An Englishman travels 19,000km from the Olympic city of London to New Zealand and guess what? They are all moaning about dodgy transport and the cost of the stadiums. Aucklanders stuck on trains on opening night have been given a hotline to ring to claim compensation, and Dunedin residents will bend your ear on the lack of consultation over the building of the $190 million indoor stadium that has put a few quid a week on everyone's rates.
The eye in the sky is not infallible
James Hook's missed penalty against South Africa - and that is what it was, according to the blokes with the best view under the posts, the assistant referees - highlighted the fallacy that television pictures can always prove marginal decisions one way or the other. One view from a TV camera that may be placed up to 50 metres away cannot possibly be definitive.
Minnows are still minnows
Pundits had rushed to proclaim this World Cup as the one in which the smaller nations closed the gap. But none of the bottom 10 teams have defeated any of the top 10 to date, and since Friday we have had Japan, Romania and Fiji thrashed by New Zealand, Argentina and South Africa. Much has been made of some sides' quick turnaround between matches, as with Georgia playing Scotland last Wednesday and England yesterday. "I don't disagree with a lot of the comment," said Martin Johnson, "but the Georgians will have no sympathy for us and we'll have none for them."
Style could be hosts' undoing
The suspicion that the All Blacks took one look at Japan's mostly second-string line-up and pulled Richie McCaw out of the firing line is unconfirmed. Graham Henry's squad rotation is under intense criticism - many would like to see the best XV or most of them running out every week - but another prevailing conviction among locals and visitors alike is that the All Blacks' style of play, as much as any injuries that might befall McCaw or Dan Carter, could be their undoing. It is a kind of union-league hybrid - always going wide, with no great set-piece structure - and it could be vulnerable against the forward-dominated sides, even if New Zealand's skill and organisation in the backline has no equal.
- Independent
