The World Cup has started and right now I can comfortably say this is the best first round I've ever seen at the tournament.
We had drama, pressure, expectation and more but what has been most encouraging in my opinion was the performance of what we call the minnow nations,and in particular Japan. Those teams usually get very little from their pool games - in fact they normally get thumped - but that certainly is not the case this time. Ireland and Wales put some points on Canada and Uruguay respectively, but the majority of games were very close. It means the game is growing up.
Everyone is talking about Japan and their victory over South Africa. That was an incredible performance and it came at a good time for the big nations as they now know that any complacency could end their tournament. Georgia's win against Tonga was less of an upset, but it still showed that the so-called lesser nations are learning and have the capacity to shock.
It means the World Cup has been set alight and not only in the so-called Pool of Death. All of the pools have offered drama, even New Zealand's, with Georgia winning and Argentina pushing the All Blacks.
There are so many teams who can make the quarters and that's good for rugby and an indicator that you can't have an off day. South Africa had one, but that might turn out to be a good thing for them. Of course, they can still finish on top of their pool, but if they don't they could avoid the All Blacks in a semifinal - instead facing Australia or England which for them could be a godsend.
As for Argentina's performance, well when I sat down in my hotel before the game writing out their team list, I knew they had that in them. No8 Leonardo Senatore was back. No12 Juan Martin Hernandez was back. Wing Juan Imhoff, who scored a hat-trick against the Boks, was back. In fact, the team who faced the All Blacks in Christchurch recently was a shadow of the one which fronted at Wembley.
I agree with coach Steve Hansen, that, long-term, that match will be good for the All Blacks. Why? Because they had to problem solve. They were down on the scoreboard, had 13 men at one stage, and yet they got the job done. It's a testament to how good this team is. If there is a negative it is that they were rusty and you can't be at this tournament. They are one of the only teams that haven't played a warm-up match and they were a bit jittery.
The point when I felt that they had their normal synergy and rhythm was when Sam Cane scored his try. Before then they didn't have that quality of finishing, but Cane's try had them back to their normal selves, the way they normally play. It was all about linking and handling under pressure. It was a quality try and that's what they will need to keep doing to win this tournament.
