KEY POINTS:
The All Blacks have looked very complete so far and the good thing is after two games they've given virtually everyone a game.
The first 10 minutes against Portugal was a bit quiet but you can expect that with players who haven't played in a few weeks. I'd say everything in the camp should be pretty good apart from the ongoing concerns about Keith Robinson.
They must think they really need him as they're keeping the faith in him and holding confidence in his fitness, but come quarter finals time and beyond they're going to really need that third locking option. You'd think if they were really worried they'd have someone over there already on standby.
Full marks to the Portugese for the way they took it to the All Blacks. Some people talk about having only 16 teams at the World Cup but it's great for the smaller nations to get a chance to play against the big wigs.
The only way you get experience is playing against better teams than yourself and that's the way you'll improve the most. For those nation it's a great experience; unfortunately they don't get a lot of money out of it all but that's the way it's always been.
In the other pools, one of the big talking points has been England, who has been shocking.
It's hard to believe that its game has gone so far backwards in terms of the basics. The players are lacking even the most fundamental skills like catching the ball. The performance against South Africa in losing 0-36 was disgraceful.
It makes you wonder with all the players going from New Zealand and other countries over to Europe, what good is it doing them? Their top players are not always getting the top level of competition with so many overseas players taking a number of positions
I don't think that's helping and I heard another comment from the English media saying the English officials in charge of the game have had their heads buried in the sand since the last World Cup and haven't done anything since. They now have a hard job to qualify in beating Samoa and Tonga.
The same applies for Ireland who were also shocking against Georgia and in fact Georgia should've won that game.
Another thing that has caught my attention was France's comprehensive win over Namibia.
Of course this result was expected but the sad point for me was Namibian No.8 Jacques Nieuwenhuis getting ordered off for a high tackle on French lock Sebastien Chabal.
I feel something needs to be done about that - when a player gets ordered off why should the other 14 players be punished?
This is especially a shame in a game like that where the outcome was pretty obvious. If someone has done something bad enough he can be punished and then the team should be able to bring a substitute on.
There seems to be a crackdown on high tackles and fair enough, but the other thing that worries me is the taking out of players close to the ball in the ruck situation. It's legal at the moment but it seems a damn sight more dangerous than the high tackle.
