KEY POINTS:
This week England's bus got a flat battery with the squad ready to head for training. Then assistant coach Mike Ford was obliged to make a clumsy u-turn on their league convert back Andy Farrell.
Ham-fisted doesn't come close to describing his effort.
After the awful night in
Paris against South Africa - remember 36-0, as if anyone could forget - Ford said of Farrell: "Twelve months out of the game clearly did him no favours. It's probably too late at his age to be where he wants to be."
Four days on, here's Ford again, in the form of a release from the English union: "I think he will have an impact on this tournament and even after the World Cup he has at least another two years at the top level."
And it went on for another few sentences in similarly rosy vein. You think somebody got in Ford's ear and shouted something highly pertinent?
Then Farrell, who appeals as a sensible type thrust into a mess not of his making, was pulled from a media conference. Just in case he felt like saying what he probably thinks about the clots in charge.
Those incidents could be metaphors for the 2003 champions' campaign. The sooner this Cup is over the better for England, who will then chuck the book away and start again. First up, finding players who are young, fit, fleet of foot and contain the spark of creativity so lacking this time.
England's lack of invention and spirit came to mind as Japan grabbed perhaps the most exhilarating try of the tournament against Wales yesterday.
Five players took passes in a move which, allowing for the cross and downfield movement, covered over 100m and ended with the appropriately named Kosuke Endo diving over in the corner. It was almost, but not quite, a try from the "Endo" of the world (that still belongs to France, Jean Luc Sadourny, Eden Park 1994).
One bar in the heart of Edinburgh erupted. Okay, Wales ran away with it in the second half, but in terms of getting your kicks at this Cup, think of the little guys.
Not just Japan, but Georgia's wholehearted defiance against Argentina, then Ireland, which has earned a presidential decree from Mikheil Saakashvili promising "at least" 10 rugby stadiums will be built in the next year.
And not forgetting Namibia's courage against the Irish; the Canadians giving Wales some serious gips in the early days of the Cup; and, on a different scale, Argentina tipping over France in the opening match.
Yesterday, All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith was asked the question which has been asked in umpteen different accents and just won't go away: should 2011 contain 16 or the present 20 teams?
If Smith and boss Graham Henry have strong views on the subject, they've hidden them well. Perhaps they'd just rather focus on the job at hand, figuring whatever they think won't matter anyway. However, Smith did make a pertinent observation on the topic yesterday.
"There are a lot of people obviously doing lot of good work in those countries and I'd hate to see them not encouraged to continue that work.
"I've been impressed with the teams that were supposed to get rolled over, and haven't."
If they can continue with the same spirit, the same resolve for the final week of pool play, they'll have done the chances of keeping the status quo for 2011 a power of good.
Whether that is enough for the International Rugby Board is altogether another matter.
