KEY POINTS:
Ireland punches above its rugby weight yet the sad prospect for the British and Irish game is that their lead act at this year's World Cup is unlikely to offer more than the odd annoying kick to the shins when it comes to finding the Webb Ellis Cup
winner.
Ireland celebrated a Triple Crown triumph after beating Scotland by a point at Murrayfield yesterday morning, yet their game is as dated as the Triple Crown concept itself.
Heralding the winner of the Six Nations sub-competition - Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England - is like momentarily fending off Helen Mirren in order to plant a statuette in the hands of a pantomime act.
European rugby - world rugby in fact - may never have been at such a low ebb in terms of the gap between the penthouse and an over-filled poorhouse, which includes the multimillion pound colossus that is England, the world champions.
Australia is lurching from crisis to crisis, with the shaky foundations exposed now that the superstar crust has thinned. Should Australia sink without trace at the World Cup, some fear the game will plunge in the same direction in a country where Aussie Rules often rules, soccer is on a high, and league dominates a few backyards.
South Africa look best placed to test the current All Black supremacy if - as the former Wallaby coach Eddie Jones suggests - they can lay siege to the New Zealand lineout. The Springboks have enough threats in the backline to take advantage should the All Blacks falter, although they probably still lack enough quality to turn a game with their outsides.
As the All Blacks click through the gears in their Polynesian-powered racing car, the rest appear to be trundling about in an old bus.
New Zealand rugby is turning itself inside out chasing a world crown that is an over-glorified monument named after a young man who never existed.
By everyone's reckoning, Ireland will meet the All Blacks in the quarter-finals at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium in a much anticipated duel of the hemispheres.
Rather than being cheered, Irish supporters might only fear for Brian O'Driscolls' men having watched them stumble to victory over hapless Scotland.
Much is being made of the vainglorious reconditioning of the All Blacks engine, whereas a mere oil check and windscreen wash would be enough to ensure most opponents are wiped out.
The frightening truth for rugby is that if the All Blacks get their formula right, and Australian rugby continues to spiral downwards on the back of ageing stars and inadequate rookies, then the game is getting dangerously smaller in real terms.
The Six Nations is full of beached whales, headed by woeful Wales. The tournament is a stage for rugby blubber of mainly dubious former glories who have spent this year's tournament calling each other closer to a World Cup grave.
Ireland were supposed to harpoon Scotland but, having sunk a few early spears into a struggling foe, the men in green spent much of the game under threat of being dragged to the bottom of the deep blue. Not the least of their worries was a scrum under stress.
European rugby is dreadfully short of dynamic backs and loose forwards, the reason their clubs rely on blockbusters from Downunder.
With the magnificent Paul O'Connell leading the Irish pack, they would certainly test the All Blacks at times. The three apostrophes - Ronan O'Gara, Gordon D'Arcy and O'Driscoll - have enough guile to find chinks in very good defences. The problem is that if the line is breached, the Irish backs and supporting forwards lack the combination of wizardry, speed and power to do much with it.
The pride of British and Irish rugby right now, the men in green, could manage just one try - from a charge down - against a Scottish defence that evaporates on the flanks.
European rugby is in poor health. What, for instance, would any of the British sides give for Doug Howlett, the almost outdated Blues wing who was in smashing form at Eden Park on Saturday night, who is only a rough bet for the World Cup squad.
The match between England and France had yet to be played at the time of writing, but the world champions are no closer to deciding their World Cup lineup. A rigid team list and game plan is the heart and soul of English rugby strategy yet they have spent the championship shuffling deckchairs in the retirement home.
It is impossible to see the World Cup winner coming from outside of France, South Africa or New Zealand, and the latter's favouritism grows by the day.
A South African triumph would come via heavy industry backed by deadly goalkicking and the odd spark - maybe from Bryan Habana's wing - as the hammer crashed down on the anvil.
For the old romantics, try France. They are not the France of old, it is said, under the doctrines of Bernard Laporte. Even their laissez faire dealings with the media, an absolute joy in an over-regulated area, are said to be changing for the worse. The strange events also include an inconsistent French scrum.
But they can be geniuses in the lineout, and French rugby sides will break from any game plan on the back of a surge as keenly as English sides stick by their blueprint. Come the World Cup, a solid French loaf could emerge as a scrumptious croissant.
As for the All Blacks, they are near certainties, with an awesome scrum and explosive loose forwards and backs to burn.
While the rest of the game smoulders, Graham Henry's All Blacks have piled logs on the fire and are set to blaze away. In the World Cup aftermath, the problem may be what to do with the ruins.
High
Doug Howlett's spot tackling at Eden Park - and watching Isaia Toeava catch on.
Low
The Six Nations. A snore and a bore.
