KEY POINTS:
I suppose there are a couple of surprises in the All Blacks team named for the quarter-final against France but, by and large, it looks their strongest side.
Graham Henry had seemed to indicate Mils Muliaina was his first choice fullback all along, but obviously the midfield hasn't worked out the way they wanted and they've gone for what is best for the team with Leon McDonald at fullback as well, which sits okay with me.
You could say those two haven't had a lot of rugby in the last two weeks or so but they seem to be getting by without too much rugby. Only time will tell whether all the preparation and rotation has been right on the mark.
As far as the forward pack is concerned, you'd be looking at the selection of Keith Robinson ahead of Chris Jack and say 'how have they worked that?'
But if they want to get Robinson up to speed and have three in-form locks for the semis and final, he has to start - he can't come off the bench and expect to get in form. He's had 50 minutes so far, if he gets another 50-60 minutes he'll be okay.
I think Andrew Hore is a bit unlucky in a way because he's played very well, but then you could also say Keven Mealamu is unlucky not to be starting ahead of Anton Oliver as well. Other than that, the team is pretty straight forward.
I think France is looking at the All Blacks rather than themselves too much and might've made a mistake by not to play their own type of game and trying to compete in the physicalities instead.
Also, with a young untested first-five, Lionel Beauxis, in and Damien Traille, usually a second five eighth, at fullback, it could be costly.
But 1999 is always in the back of everyone's minds and you can't get away from that. Obviously the French would rather be at home playing in front of a home crowd, but it didn't do them any harm eight years ago.
It's always been that the home team changes its jerseys, but there's no home team here so there's a toss instead. We've lost that toss, so why the hell is it taking so long? It's ridiculous. With television these days it becomes an issue, but it'd be much better if we knocked the issue on the head and got on with talking about the game.
In the other matches, you couldn't expect another upset from Fiji against South Africa, but I just get the feeling the Australia versus England game will be closer than what we first thought.
England is improving - they couldn't have got much worse - but if they get dominance up front, slow the game down and get Jonny Wilkinson to kick in behind the Australians they could be a chance.
On form you expect Argentina to come through against Scotland; they're stronger up front and the backs have showed form. Then again, they can't afford to give away penalties because Chris Patterson is kicking goals from everywhere at the moment.
