KEY POINTS:
Judging by the number of oversized men at this World Cup incapable of doing anything other than hurting people, the Northern Hemisphere teams are devoted disciples of power rugby.
In these early World Cup rounds it has been bash, bash, bash from the Six Nations and, when that hasn't worked, they bash again.
Even France, once the irascible maestros of rugby so beautiful it could melt the heart of a gang leader, now run only straight lines with not enough guile or skill to outwit a brick.
Northern rugby has lost its way and just how badly might become apparent by the semifinals - where there is a real chance the four teams still in business will be Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina.
Even if France, England or Ireland spring to life these next few weeks, those men running the game here have to re-think how they are playing.
When they go looking for ways to turn things around, they shouldn't gloss over the multi-national flavour of their domestic leagues.
Earlier this year, All Black assistant coach Steve Hansen suggested heavy poaching by European clubs of New Zealand's best players was detrimental to English and French development.
The claims were met with scoffs in the north and to be fair, Hansen's contention did sound more of a plea from a man who was edgy at the increasing ease with which European clubs were luring All Blacks with plenty left to give.
But the same point was made this week by Hansen's fellow All Black assistant Wayne Smith, and this time there was no ulterior motive, nor sense of exasperation at New Zealand's player drain.
Smith spent three successful seasons coaching Northampton Saints so he's seen first-hand how the influx of infidels to the English and French leagues has corrupted the development of home-grown players.
"Invariably a lot of the flair players, the agile players, the explosive players aren't English and I think that is a major problem," said Smith. "They are buying from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa all the stars - the No 8s, the 10s, the wingers - where are they going to produce their own?
"They always ask us about where we are going to be with this player drain but we are fine, because we are developing players. But where are they going to be? They are not developing players because all ours are taking their spots. That is a major issue for the Northern Hemisphere."
Smith also believes this drive towards exclusively muscular football has been partly driven by a misinterpretation of how England won the last World Cup.
Sir Clive Woodward's side were certainly packed with big, physical, uncompromising athletes and for much of the last World Cup, they relied on direct, up-the-guts rugby.
But there was much more to England than that and Smith wonders if some countries have tried to emulate the English style without fully understanding the depth of their ability.
"There might have been a perception about England at the last World Cup that they only had power and size and played a game of attrition. I think that failed to look beyond what they had done in the previous two years.
"They played some of the best rugby ever seen in 2001 and 2002. It's easy to look at them as World Cup winners and say that was the way to go. I think some teams have looked at that and haven't recognised the need to develop the game as well."
If history is an accurate guide, then the cyclical nature of rugby means those countries that bomb at this World Cup will analyse the winner and build their 2008 gameplan on that of the newly crowned champions.
The new champions, well, the new champions might be the All Blacks. Maybe. And if that is the case then those who set down the path of ultimate flattery, that is imitation, should realise the All Blacks have not neglected skill development while completing their copious conditioning work this year.
"Even in the conditioning window there is a balance of conditioning games, they are all on skill programmes," Smith said.
"We put DVDs together that identified which skills they need and they report back on those. They have provincial and franchise skill programmes. It was all co-ordinated and it was a balanced build-up."
