I thoroughly enjoyed that final. No real investment in it and yet I was on the edge of my seat at times. I was waiting for the All Blacks to choke, but they didn't. In the end a result which seemed to be fair to everyone involved, if a little hard for the French to grasp. The ABs did deserve to win that tournament, right from the off, and needed to in their own back yard. The French didn't deserve to win before the match, yet on the day they brought a great game and made the whole thing exciting. That probably was the Bleu's one great game of the tournament, but the ABs were ready for it.
I've enjoyed the whole tournament, and think that apart from the odd little bits of schedule niggles the whole thing went really well. Samoa perhaps deserve a place in the tri/quad-nations, and perhaps more than Argentina, though I expect the Argies to become a force in World rugby over the next eight to ten years, as their inclusion will repair their base of players. Perhaps someone could suggest having two tiers to the Southern Hemisphere tournament, with one team going up and one down each year. Okay, so the top three would always be the same, but the experience of playing them would get shared around.
Four years time, in England, and I'm expecting a Northern nation to lift the cup. No idea who, but I think even England might soon grasp the idea of building a squad over four years to attack the tournament. The English and the Irish need to start over. The French will be very interesting during the 6N. I wonder if we will see a settled team? As much as Marc Lievremont made outside observers scratch their heads, his coaching team and many of the players believed he was superb, and the way he understood their psyche to galvanise them was impressive.
All in all a great tournament. Roll on February! (And December, though that's a more local affair...)
