The weekend had been billed as a repeat of the final week of the 1987 World Cup, with New Zealand meeting France in the Final and Australia taking on Wales in the third and fourth playoff.

But unlike 1987 it was Australia who emerged victorious this time around, winning a reasonably open game 21-18.

Both teams played as though they had something to prove, not necessarily just with the result, but with the way they played. And credit must be given to both teams for this, as it isn't easy picking yourself up after a semifinal loss to play a game the next weekend.

The game itself was close, but an Australian victory seemed inevitable as it wore on. They looked more dangerous with the ball, while Wales struggled to give the Australian defence the sorts of problems they've been causing other teams throughout the tournament.

Berrick Barnes was the key man for the Wallabies. After slicing through the Welsh defence to score under the posts after receiving a magnificent ball from Quade Cooper, he was forced into first five-eighth after Cooper left the field with a cruciate ligament injury.

Many had suggested that Barnes was the man to wear the No. 10 jersey last week against the All Blacks but Robbie Deans stuck with Quade Cooper which would ultimately lead to disaster. 

And Barnes showed the world just what could have been, delivering an outstanding performance, directing play well and proving dangerous running. However the key difference between Barnes and Cooper's play came in that Barnes was able to keep a level head and take the right options, while Cooper's World Cup was littered with rash decisions and poor execution.

The Australian forward pack showed signs of improvement on recent weeks, but still proved to inconsistent to gain any real dominance. It was in the backs where they were the most dangerous and ultimately won the game.

For Wales it was a case of not being able to break the Wallaby line often enough. They've been one of the more lively teams during the tournament, but they struggled to get any sort of go-forward going last night. Jamie Roberts wasn't as effective while the outside backs didn't get the opportunities to shine.

The omission of Rhys Priestland was once again noticeable as James Hook had another forgettable night with the boot and struggled to use his backs in the way Priestland had.

The biggest plus for Wales came in the performance of No. 8 Ryan Jones. Jones has been confined to the bench for the most part of the World Cup, but last night he showed everyone just how good player he is, proving to be outstanding at the breakdown in particular, as well as giving many of his trademark strong runs.

But in reality, this was purely academic. History says the Wallabies walked away with the win, but in the minds of Australians, this was anything but a win. They were here to win it all and third place will be considered a failure.

Tomorrow night the All Blacks meet France in what will be a replay of the 1987 Final to decide who will be crowned World Champions.

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For Australian star Quade Cooper, however, the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand will be short of memories he will like to keep.

Intense pressure and criticism from fans and media in New Zealand—combined with shockingly poor performances for the Wallabies throughout the tournament—have made Cooper's first World Cup an event to forget.

His rivalry with All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, which hit its highest point when Cooper kneed McCaw in the head during the 2011 Tri Nations finale, made Cooper public enemy No. 1 in New Zealand. The general consensus in Australia is that this immense pressure lead to his poor form.

After all, Cooper's performances for his club side, the Queensland Reds, lead them to the Super 15 rugby title. Furthermore, his performance for Australia in the TriNations series were of a quality level, so how could his form dip so sharply at the World Cup?

The answer may be that Cooper, with all his side-stepping brilliance, does not have the quality and mental strength to succeed at the highest level of the game at this stage in his career.

In the games against Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand, he did his reputation a lot of damage. Earlier in the year he told Australian rugby league clubs that he would potentially switch codes for no less than $700,000 per year. But after his poor performances and showcasing how poorly he dealt with all the pressure, NRL clubs have said they have little to no interest in him. And if they did, he would receive less than half of his asking price.

Maybe Quade Cooper should go to rugby league where his style of play is more suitable, or maybe too much pressure was placed by both New Zealand and Australia on a player who, while skilled, is still only 23 years old. 

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Since beating the Wallabies, New Zealand has become a land abuzz with confidence. A country brimming in the glad anticipation of seeing a second All Black captain triumphantly hoist the William Webb Ellis Trophy. All that needs to happen is a repeat of what occurred in 1987 and for us to beat the French. 

It’s been a long time between drinks. It’s a celebration the country has earned.

Here’s a foretelling of what would happen if the French were to win.

(1) The use of the word “choke” will explode. Twitter will report new record trending levels for a verb.

(2) New Zealanders will blissfully think nothing is happening in the world, as local media devote all attention to explaining the All Blacks lost.

(3) The English speaking world will chastise New Zealand for allowing a non-English speaking team to win the William Webb Ellis trophy for the first time.

(4) Rugby fans from Australia and South Africa will send their New Zealand counterparts letters of sympathy offering comforting messages like “Hey, life never really improved when we won our second world cup. It’s no big deal.”

(5) South African referee Craig Joubert will be blamed for the loss.

(6) Rugby columns around the world will become plagued with French puns.

Headlines like the following will be blazoned across papers:

 La revolution of rugby.

 All Blacks receive French lesson.

 French foreign legion storm Eden Park.

 All Blacks upset by French connection.

 All Black entrance to heaven is bridge barred closed (think Bridget Bardot).

 French do so trois (think French captain and their winning the cup on their third attempt).

(7) Pffff. No one in France will really care.

(8) Mobile phones and Twitter will be used to organise spontaneous events across the country. Instead of flash hakas these events will be flash-sob-mobs, people assembling to cry together.

(9) Marc Lievremont will call his team “spoilt brats” for celebrating the World Cup victory.

(10) New Zealanders will stay awake 24/7 waiting for their chance to get through to radio talkback shows and share their opinions on why the All Blacks lost.

(11) You know those virals which have witty captions running over images of Piri Weepu pointing; someone will produce one which says "OK, I know, it's that way to the door."

(12) Graham Henry will retire and go fishing (in fact, this will happen if the All Blacks win or lose).

(13) Many fans (especially those from the South Island) will storm New Zealand Rugby Union offices, resolutely claiming “Robbie Deans should have been appointed and not Henry.”

They will demand Robbie’s appointment as Henry’s successor. Wallabies’ response will be “sure he’s all yours and you can take Quade Cooper back as well.”

(14) Colin Slade will be made All Black first-five. Fans would seek Colin’s forgiveness for suggesting Aaron Cruden was Dan Carter’s heir apparent.

(15) Papers will stop featuring dopey photos of Sonny Bill Williams having fun and playing pranks at practices. Actually this would be a good thing!

(16) New Zealand’s Pacific population will go back to supporting Tonga. They will be bewildered as to how New Zealand could lose to a country that once bombed the Pacific and who earlier in the tournament had bombed a game against a Pacific team.

(17) New Zealanders will stop banking at ANZ, drinking Heineken, sending faxes on Toshiba facsimiles. This will demonstrate the commercial perils of major sponsorship arrangements. No one will purchase anything that has any sort of connection to France.

(18) No one will go and watch Peter Jackson’s latest movie, Tintin; even though the character is Belgian and not French.

(19) The current National government will take no responsibility for the disastrous result. In fact, they will blame the previous government for playing a major part in securing the rights to host the event.

(20) A full enquiry into the loss will be staged. Findings will blame coaches, training regimes, education systems and the receptionist who sits in the foyer of the Rugby Union’s offices. There’ll be no mention of the fact that the loss was due to the players not being able to score enough points to beat their opponents.

Here’s to none of these possibilities eventuating!!!

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The All Blacks meet France on Sunday in a game that will decide who gets to wear the title of world champions for the next four years.

Both teams have followed very different roads to the Final, with the All Blacks playing some great rugby along the way, while the French will be slightly surprised to find themselves where they are given the way they have played.

The fact that they are in the final is quite astonishing really. They were comprehensively beaten by the All Blacks in pool play, lost to Tonga, and only got the better of Japan and Canada in the last 10 minutes of both games.

In fact, had it not been for Tonga's blunders in the last 10 minutes against Canada, they wouldn't have even made it past the pool stage. They progressed on to play an England side who have looked rubbish all tournament and wouldn't have made the quarterfinals had they been in any other pool.

The semifinals saw them narrowly beat a Welsh team reduced to 14 men for most of the game.  That was won more due to Wales failure to kick goals than France's brilliance.

And after all that they find themselves in the Final, to take on the red hot favourite All Blacks.

Of course, it would be foolish to write the French off. Look at what they were capable of producing in 1999 and 2007 against the All Blacks after looking decidedly average.

Even at halftime of both these games, it seemed the All Blacks would run out convincing winners. Yet, it was France who walked away with the victory on both occasions.

Why then is it such popular opinion that the All Blacks will cruise home on Sunday night?

Simply put, there is no way the they will lose. This All Blacks team is just too good and they want it too much.

In both 1999 and 2007, the team looked flat and took the foot off the accelerator, giving the French a sniff, which is deadly. But this team is different.

They will be up for anything, as was shown by their win over Australia where they defended and defended, even in the last minute with the Australians pressing, the All Blacks stayed strong. It speaks volumes about the motivation of this side.

France on the other hand, seemed content with holding Wales out in the second half, much the same trap the All Blacks have fell into in past World Cups.

The game itself will be decided up front. Both teams have excellent loose-forward trio's which will be key. But to make these men effective, dominance up front is imperative, which is where the tight five becomes crucial. 

France won't be a push over in this department. But it's just hard to see anything getting the better of this All Black tight five that has contributed so heavily to their successes in recent years.

If this dominance is gained, the All Blacks will be able to unleash their dangerous back line and will be too much to contain.

Defensively the All Blacks are too strong to try to break numerous times and France's only hope remains in holding them out and sneaking one or two tries.

But realistically, it seems unlikely, especially on the back of the five try rout they received just four weeks earlier, which saw them fall off too many tackles to expect to win.

While a win will suffice, the feeling in New Zealand is that they want a good win. Many people have stated that they would like to see the All Blacks win by 20 points or more, which will leave no doubt in anyone's mind who the better team is.

It's been 24 years. But if all the signs are right, it's only going to be another three days before the All Blacks finally recapture the trophy that has eluded them for so long.

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In New Zealand, the hype mill is starting to produce oodles of confidence that the host nation is finally going to win another World Cup. Following the magnificent performance the All Blacks gave in their semifinal victory over Australia, the mood of the country has changed. The tense atmosphere that sat over the nation prior to the TransTasman clash has become an air of inevitably, that the win over the French will of course come.

For the All Blacks, their record in previous World Cups shows that such confidence can bear unfortunate consequence. The reality for the French is that history will play no part in Sunday’s game. Not even recent history. It would be wrong to predict an All Black whitewash solely on the basis of the two nation’s semifinal performances.

In scanning different rugby website I’m struggling to find articles which give France any hope in this week’s final. The one exception is this article that was posted on Bleacher Report yesterday.

However the reality is that I’m only accessing English content. The experts whose columns I’m reading mirror the Anglo-Saxon heritage of the game. However there’s a significant cultural difference that needs to be interpreted when considering French chances in the final.

Suffisance vaut abondance is the French equivalent of enough is as good as a feast. In all their games the French have just done enough. The reality of this tournament is that accuracy and the ability to grind out a win have been the guardians of success.

The French have brought a lesson to rugby, something football has known for years, that winning World Cups is not about consistency in performance. A result is a result. Sometimes a result does not even need to be a win. Tournaments are about creating enough advantage to string a sufficient number of results together.

The French are being criticised for the unconvincing way they’ve made it to the finals. However it’s this apparent weakness that could turn out to be their strength. For throughout the tournament they have shown this innate ability to just do enough.

Here is a team that has made the finals without necessarily having played their best game. In fact it could be argued that the French have not even played one good game, a full 80 minutes of rugby. Their success has come from three patches of effort:

(1) their opening 10 minutes against the All Blacks in their pool game

(2) scoring a late try against Tonga (thus securing a bonus point)

(3) a rousing 40 minute (first half) performance against England in the semis

So in total we’ve seen 60-70 minutes of “winning” rugby from the French in this whole tournament. What if the French were, and if they have the ability, to play 80 minutes of rugby this week?

In a press conference on Monday, All Black coach Graham Henry claimed that the French “can be the best in the world on their day.”

It’s this unpredictability that must gnaw at Henry and his colleagues. He knows the French are capable of creating a random concoction that will baffle the All Blacks and make a mockery of the strategies he’s devised.

The All Blacks play Australia at least twice each year. So there exists a high level of familiarity when these two nations come together on a rugby pitch. Beyond the tests, the individual players are vying against each other in Super15 games and other competitions.

Repetition in fixtures provides comfort to coaches, as they develop a better understanding of the relative strengths and flaws of competing teams. This accumulated knowledge allows skills and strength to preside over a possible surprise in strategy.

Henry must also face up to the eccentricities of his French counterpart. Marc Lievremont has proved there is logic to his madness. The surprises he’s thrown have caused confused days in New Zealand, for many of his charges and supporters of French rugby alike.

His skills have been derided by his inability to unify his squad, but again division may be okay in French culture. French football coach Raymond Domench suffered the same criticisms in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but similar to Lievremont was successful in getting his team to the final.

There was no surprise that the All Blacks bullied the Australians upfront, suffocating their backs of quality possessions. But we can expect more resistance from the French forwards than what the Wallabies offered. The French loose forward trio all played significant parts in the 2007 Cardiff victory.

The notable unpredictability the French forwards have brought to this tournament is their discipline. They have played in a controlled manner, well lead by their captain Thierry Dusautoir.

There’s probably been no better display of leadership at this World Cup than with how Dusautoir handled the Sam Warburton spear tackle on Vincent Clerc. He ordered his forwards to retreat, to not take justice into their own hands and allow referee Allain Rolland to manage the situation.

In many ways, All Blacks fans are better off looking at the Argentina game as a guide to what to expect from the French. France will offer similar stubborn Latin resistance up-front in the forwards, but they also have a capable backline who have the potential to put together eloquent passages of play.

The late withdrawal of their fullback Kurtley Beale caused problems for the Australians.  With Beale’s injury, the Australian lost of one the game’s best counter-attacking fullbacks. In moving Adam Ashley-Cooper away from his usual centre berth, the Wallabies also lost a penetrative midfielder. In Maxime Medard and Aurélien Rougerie, France have both these roles covered.

The French are also in a position to learn from the mistakes Australia made. In their semifinal victories, the All Blacks revealed a lot more of their game than what the French did. Expect a different approach to the kicking game from Les Bleus, more variety rather than continual high kicks to Cory Jane.

It’ll be interesting to watch the strategies that will fuel this final unfold. My expectation is that the All Blacks will win this. My hope is that the final will be a great contest and not the foregone conclusion many are predicting. It will be good to see the All Blacks tested once again, so that last week’s semi does not remain this tournament’s final.

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For anyone who is unsure of what the role of the openside flanker is, he is usually the smaller, faster flanker, responsible for covering the larger side of the field at the scrum. He has to be a fearless defender and a solid ball carrier, as well as being talented at the breakdown.

This area is the most important of an openside's duties. A true openside is the one "competing" at the breakdown for the ball in a number of ways, not necessarily legally. New Zealand’s Richie McCaw is one of the best at this, not only turning the ball over, but not getting caught using all sorts of nefarious tricks to steal the ball back.

England currently lack this sort of player when Lewis Moody is injured. Moody is a player capable of doing all of these things, but he is too often injured to be relied upon as the primary option. For England to be capable of taking on the tougher northern hemisphere sides, let alone the tougher Tri-Nations sides, they need consistent play at this position.

There are a number of solutions to this. The first is to try other options at No. 7. The issue here is the number of players who play at a high enough level in order to play international rugby for England. Hendre Fourie has had a few games in an England shirt but is not really an international seven, having been hampered by injuries for much of his recent career, and at 32 he is not a long-term option either.

Tom Rees would have the job held down but has been beleaguered by injuries since breaking out onto the scene for London Wasps. One can only imagine the player he could have been, having gone almost toe to toe with Richie McCaw on the 2008 tour of New Zealand as well as being considered as a potential captain. At 27, one can only hope his form picks up and the injury bug stays away, even if just for a short while, so as to let us see what he can really do.

Steffon Armitage has never been given much of a chance to show what he can do for England. His size makes him a dangerous ball carrier and gives England bulk in rucks and mauls. However, in his appearances at club level for London Irish, he has played solidly and looked good at the breakdown as well as carrying the ball.

Another short-term option is to convert a blindside or No. 8 to the position. This truly is a short- term solution, as each position in the back row has different responsibilities. Blindsides and No. 8's are very similar in size. They are both big ball carriers going forward and often jump in lineouts. In defense, they are meant to make tackle after tackle, knocking the attackers backwards. While opensides do this as well, the difference is often in terms of size and speed.

Blindsides are often the biggest of the back row, as they are required to fill a narrow channel off of the side of the scrum. This often comes at the expense of speed, which is required for an openside, who can have large expanses to cover. A quick comparison of size and weight give an idea of the difference.

Tom Croft, a blindside, is 6'6" and over 18 stone. Lewis Moody is 6'3" and 16 stone. As you can see, the size gulf is relatively large between the two positions. Selecting other players out of position could be shown up against top opensides such as McCaw, Schalk Burger or Stephen Ferris.

The final solution is to turn to youth. There are plenty of blindside flankers being developed in the English game, but few opensides. This is in part due to an emphasis placed in England upon having size in the pack, often at the expense of speed and guile. However, there are two potential Test sevens currently in the Aviva Premiership: Calum Clark of Northampton and Matt Kvesic.  

Clark recently moved to Northampton and has immediately found himself thrust into the No. 7 shirt. Composed on the field, Clark is young and makes mistakes at times, but were he to receive a full Test cap he would be able to seek comfort in the sheer number of Saints within the England set up.

Kvesic, however, has not seen much starting time in the Premiership. However, he did shine at the 2011 IRB Junior World Championships, with the England side reaching the final. Kvesic has good hands, good speed, an incredible work rate, is intelligent at the breakdown and seems to be a born leader, having previously captained the England Under 18’s. Kvesic also fits the prototypical build of an openside flanker at 6’1” and 16 stone, five lbs. If Worcester keeps giving him regular first team rugby, we could be seeing a potential starter for years to come.

England will have to look to Clark and Kvesic to come good in order for England to have the seven spot locked down. However, this will still take a couple of years as they develop. Armitage and Moody could be potential stop gaps at the position before one of the younger players takes over the spot. This will be crucial if England wish to retain their status as a top Test rugby nation.

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While the victory against Australia was laudable, historic even, one cannot forget that Ireland have been on something of a downward trajectory over the past two years since their epic grand slam win in 2009, despite unearthing some fine talent and the good performance of its provinces.

So without further ado, here are three things I think Ireland could do to put us back on track and, hopefully, on to another grand slam or two before the next World Cup.  

Blood Young Players and Ease Out the Veterans

Without being too damning, in the great battle between youth and experience that was Wales versus Ireland, youth won and then some.

With many of the older players ending their World Cup careers, why play them in place of youngsters in preparation for the next World Cup? There's a lot of low-hanging fruit here with the likes of David Wallace, Paddy Wallace, Donncha O'Callaghan, Geordan Murphy, Gordon D'Arcy and Ronan O'Gara all about to exit stage left after fine careers.

Younger players like Donnacha Ryan, Jonathan Sexton, Andrew Trimble, Devin Toner, Sean O'Brien and Kevin McLaughlin should now be considered for full-time starting roles. O'Brien seems to have nailed one down with his top-notch performances, thankfully. Hopefully Sexton and Co. will follow.

The bigger question will be how to replace Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell—not easy. Not likely even.

I would like to see Trimble tried at outside centre. His passing skills are terrific; he has remarkable acceleration from standing starts, great movement and he can finish.

As for O'Connell, I think this could be tough, as locks tend to be molded over time and with experience—so the sooner we get started blooding Ryan and Toner, the better.  

Sort Out Halfback

 I personally have no idea what Kidney has been doing at half-back this past year. In the past eight games we've had five different half-back partnerships. Kidney has been in charge for three years and doesn't know who his best pairing is.

No other coach experiments this much in this vital area where split-second understanding between teammates are crucial (leaving Looney Lievremont aside). His defence of "picking horses for courses" shouldn't get much traction.

On the two occasions we've gone with the European Cup-winning partnership (Eoin Reddan and Sexton) from the start, we've beaten England and Australia handsomely.

He also dropped Tomas O'Leary completely from the squad prior to the tournament, calling up uncapped rookie Conor Murray—for test starts.

Has Kidney got a problem with an all-Leinster back line than no amount of rubbish form from Munster players will dissolve? Probably.

The lack of trust in Reddan in particular remains questionable. With due respect to four-cap Murray's fine contributions relative to his age, it remains to be seen whether his slower ball distribution and lack of experience even at provincial level can be overcome. To date, his performances against USA and France hardly merited dropping Reddan, who has done well when coming on.

O'Gara on the other hand is more of a slam dunk. He is 34 years old, and as the Welsh, French and South Africans have shown time and again, limited in pure rugby ability (as opposed to footballing, say. It's crucial Sexton starts, no questions asked, to improve his confidence. But it's Kidney, and so we might see Munster's schoolgirls in there before we see a Leinster partnership again.

End 10-man Leaning Rugby

This is why dropping O'Gara will be crucial in the coming months. All four semifinalists play attacking wide rugby. This isn't a coincidence, and aside from South Africa's brief peak during the height of the ELV era (which favoured forward-driven teams and made fetcher flankers like Heinrich Brussow even more potent), New Zealand have shown an unprecedented dominance of world rugby (even by their lofty standards) by—you'll never guess it—playing rugby.

It's a bit predictable at this stage knowing O'Gara will never attack the gain line, carry or pass out wide, thus limiting the team's back options outside the set piece.

The shambles at half-back means the ball is going through to the backs more slowly and guys are getting hit into touch—if by some miracle the ball does eventually make it out wide. You can count on one hand the amount of go-forward ball the centres are getting per game as we box-kick and garryowen ourselves to oblivion.

While Ireland's pack is, I think, one of the best in the world, modern rugby cannot be won just by running into people in the tight (again and again and again), so despite the best efforts of O'Brien and Stephen Ferris, I think Ireland will need a new game plan that doesn't rely too much on these two totem poles.

Back play isn't an area where Ireland have traditionally excelled, however, but one idea could be to model game play on Joe Schmidt's Leinster (who theoretically have less talent to choose from, but still play better rugby) or Australia, who were in similar position from the last World Cup, looking to ease young blood under Robbie Deans. 

Turning Ireland into a grand-slam winning team again will be difficult. But as the provinces have shown in recent years, success should be natural to Irish rugby. We have great fans, decent infrastructure and great players. Now all that's needed is some vision from Kidney.

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When it comes to rugby there exists a fierce rivalry between Australia and New Zealand, that has been stoked over the years. These two nations first played against each other in a battle of nations in 1903. A match the New Zealanders won 22-3 in Sydney.

So in total these countries have contested 142 games of test rugby. 

New Zealand 96 wins (68 percernt)

Australia      41 wins  (29 percent)

Draws          five ties     (3 percent)

So when it comes to rugby, New Zealand is actually the Goliath over its larger neighbour.

When it comes to games played in New Zealand, the statistics show even more dominance with the All Blacks having won 76 percent of their home games against the Wallabies.

The game is being played at Auckland's Eden Park. Legendary Australian winger David Campese, believes this a prospect too hard for the Australians to overcome. The last time the Australians won there was in 1986. That's 12 attempts offering zero success for the Wallabies. The last time the All Blacks lost there was in 1994 against the French.

Then there's the battle of the coaches. Many New Zealanders fervently believed that Robbie Deans should have been made All Black coach in 2007, when incumbent Graham Henry failed in the quarterfinals (against France) in his first World Cup campaign. Such was the disdain shown at Henry's reappointment that many of Dean's one-eyed supporters vowed to never cheer for the All Blacks again.

When it comes to Trans-Tasman clashes, Henry has shown an ability to out craft his Australian opponents. His record is an exceptional 18 wins from 22 contests. That's a resounding 82 percent success rate. Not all these games were against Wallaby teams with Deans at the helm.

Deans has had 14 cracks against his former countrymen. You can take that one step further, against his former team, as Deans played for the All Blacks in the eighties. As coach, he's won three games for the Wallabies. Robbie's comfort lies with the fact that he's won two of the last three battles.

However, these are but numbers. Statistics that mean naught in the heat of the battle. Even the pride, the tradition and the legend of the game will play a minor part in the ferocity of what will be a titanic semifinal. The All Blacks have never beaten the Wallabies at a World Cup. Two losses in two semifinals, in 1991 and 2003. Further proof that these games create history rather than fall on history.

So what are the best clashes between these two teams? What stories do they offer?

Here's five games from five different decades. That offer some context into the history of this game.

Begin Slideshow

Every self-respecting Taff—male and female—is a rugby union fan. And to see our boys (and most of them are little more than boys) playing so brilliantly over in New Zealand makes me immensely proud.

Even if Wales lose to France in this weekend’s semi final, the team have done the nation proud. I mean, there are only three million of us—or one Dragon for every 17 St Georges or 21 Joan of Arcs.

As a little Principality attached to and overshadowed by England, we don’t have a lot to shout about. So you can’t blame us for making a song and dance when we show the English up. Even if it’s only at tiddlywinks.

Since everyone associates Wales with rugby, male-voice choirs and sheep, we should at least be half-decent at scrummaging and singing (I’ll pass on the sheep bit).

So it was sad that on one of the rare occasions we excel ourselves in a major sporting arena, the UK media chose to relegate the achievement to also-ran ­status.

Monday’s Daily Mail devoted the back SIX pages of a 72-page paper to England’s losers. Sports fans had to turn to Pages 66 and 67 for the first mention of Wales.

The Sun’s website the same day featured FOUR separate stories about England and nothing topical on Wales.

It was the same on TV, where most of Sunday’s news bulletins focused on England’s thumping and only mentioned the far superior Wales-Ireland contest as an afterthought.

By this weekend, the English media will of course have jumped on the bandwagon and be screaming about Sam Warburton’s brilliant Brits flattening the Frogs.

It’s just like the Andy Murray scenario. The media suck up to the Dunblane racketeer before tournaments as "Our Andy, Britain’s best." This, despite the fact he is on record as saying he’d support any team playing England.

Then, when edgy Andy makes his customary semi-final exit from Wimbledon and other major tournaments, he reverts in Fleet Street’s eyes to the status of ‘sweaty sock’ (that’s Jock in Cockney rhyming slang).

That’s one of the reasons why most Celts have a ‘we love it when England lose’ mentality, whatever the sport.

I don’t go with that. If Wales can’t win, then ­another British team has to be the best alternative.

But I totally understand the thinking of people like Welshman’s son Gareth Evans, a Scot spending his first holiday in this region.

"I wasn’t even born in 1966, but I’m fed up hearing about what England did," he says. "I hope Wales win the World Cup if only to shut the English up."

I somehow think that if the Scots had become World Champions in 1966, Bannockburn would be a distant second to the Mighty Macs for the next 10,000 years.

I was lucky enough to have good friends among the great Welsh rugby team of the ’70s (which is still revered as one of the finest the game has known).

Sadly, rugby legends like Gareth Edwards, Phil Bennett, Gerald Davies and JPR Williams never won the World Cup…Primarily because it didn’t exist until 1987.

That Golden Era team was brilliant because virtually a whole team of world-class players all arrived on the scene at the same time.

A quarter of a century later, history seems to be repeating itself. Wales skipper Sam Warburton and his fearless youngsters are ready, willing and able to paint the Rugby World Cup red.

Pessimism note: Please be gentle on me if France win!

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Many have cited the All Blacks' World Cup history as a reason that they won't win, calling them chokers. That may well be the case, and incidentally, two of these chokes have come against none other than the Wallabies. However, history also says that the All Blacks are very hard to beat in New Zealand, and at Eden Park in particular, where they haven't lost since 1994, and haven't been downed by the Australians since 1986.

The loss of Daniel Carter was obviously a huge blow to their chances and the odds of a so-called choke shortened immensely when the news was announced. 

However, the team still boasts many class players and are more than capable of winning, provided they use the right strategy to beat this Australian team.

This strategy is to play a tight game, smashing them up front and suffocating them. 

While this isn't typical of the way the All Blacks play the game, it will most likely be the best approach to take, at least at first.

When the Wallabies beat the All Blacks in their last game before the World Cup in Brisbane, the win came from a lack of physicality at the breakdown from the All Blacks, and a tendency to want to go wide straight away. When they took it to them up front, the Wallabies looked fragile and the All Blacks came roaring back into the game.

So, it seems rather obvious that this is the way the All Blacks need to play the game this weekend. They have the most physical and mobile forward pack in the world and will dispirit the Australians should they be able to get on top of them early. 

This isn't to say that they don't have good backs, but going wide straight away isn't the way to go, as it's far to predictable and easy to close down, as has been the All Blacks' problem in past World Cups. The problem with easy pool games is that there can be a tendency to want to do this, as you will get away with it against weaker teams.

By gaining this dominance up front, the job of Aaron Cruden will become that much easier, and the loss of Carter will become less pronounced. They will then be able to unleash the likes of Nonu, Smith and their outside backs. But only once they've done the hard work up front first.

They've done it before, and it's been proven. The second half of the last meeting between the two sides provides the blueprints for how to beat the Wallabies, how well they execute will determine whether or not they emerge victors.

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