It has been a special couple of months, surpassing even the spectacle and drama of 1995.

Back then it was ultimately all about the hosts as the image of the Rainbow Nation was formed, whereas this time the hosts were all but irrelevant and it was about the creation of a global sport as World Cup final tickets were reportedly valued at £60,000 and people in countries with little interest in rugby watched live coverage of matches and bought up official England 2015 merchandise.

World Rugby has had its say with its glittering ceremony, then, but after 43 consecutive days of reporting it felt as if elements of every previous tournament were reflected in the events of this eighth World Cup. So, paying tribute to fond and not so fond memories of close to half a century of great moments, here are the Ferrie Files Awards.

The 1966 North Korea Award* commemorates what probably remains the biggest shock in football World Cup history when one of the eternal powers of the sport were beaten in a pool match by a team from the Far East.

And the winners are... Japan, of course, who perhaps only failed to match their neighbours’ achievement in getting through to the knockout stages because of the scheduling, but showed courage and imagination in overcoming South Africa on an opening weekend that set the tournament up perfectly.

The 1987 What Took You So Long Award commemorates the fact that it was not until 57 years after football instituted its World Cup, 33 years after the other rugby code held its first version and even a dozen years after staid old cricket came up with a format, that rugby union got around to staging a tournament.

And the winners are... New Zealand and Australia, joint hosts back then who were expected to meet one another in the final, but failed to do so thanks to Serge Blanco’s cavalier French side. It is astonishing that it has taken another 28 years for the Antipodean rivals to come together in the showpiece… but it was worth the wait.

The 1991 ‘Big Gav Award’ commemorates, well, that foot-shooting miss! Scotland’s only opportunity to date to reach the World Cup final which went abegging when, with HeraldScotland's Craig Chalmers having kicked the goals that won the previous year’s Grand Slam, the great full-back had his shot at glory with a penalty from virtually in front of the posts against that same England team and we all know what happened.

And the winners are... all Scots of course, shared evenly between Richie Gray or Tim Swinson, for calling a pressure lineout to the tail when deep in his own territory in wet conditions, Fraser Brown, for throwing it too high and/or Dave Denton for slapping it down inaccurately, John Hardie for failing to tidy it up properly and Jon Welsh for reacting the wrong way in playing at the ball when in an offside position. Those still howling with complaint at that analysis need only look at how the teams that progressed closed out games when they were defending narrow leads.

The 1995 Invictus Award commemorates the joint efforts of the great South African President Nelson Mandela and the Afrikaner rugby captain Francois Pienaar, whose ambassadorial work inspired a Clint Eastwood movie.

And the winners are... appropriately jointly, Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, the two outstanding players in the history of the sport who bowed out of international rugby (though McCaw gave himself some wriggle room) in a manner befitting their greatness by making history with the first team ever to hold onto the World Cup.

The 1995 Jonah Lomu Euro-Trampling Award commemorates the way in which the man whose records of 15 tries in World Cup matches and eight in a single tournament that year remain unsurpassed, announced his arrival on the scene by running over the top of Irishmen, Scots and Englishmen in what had looked an unstoppable charge to the final, prompting questions in the South African parliament as stopping Jonah became a national obsession.

And the winner is… Julian Savea who matched his great compatriot’s eight tries in the course of the tournament, with France suffering most memorably this time around as he registered his second hat-trick of the tournament, albeit the moment which most rekindled memories of Jonah’s way of dealing with opponents involved a player whose rugby background owes more to southern hemisphere than Europe since Scott Spedding, who was dumped on his rump for the last of those Savea tries, is a South African who qualifies for France on residency. Not that Savea could care less either way.

The 1995 Suzi The Waitress Award** commemorates what many Kiwis still believe was the World Cup-costing contribution of a mysterious woman who disappeared into the night never to be seen again after allegedly poisoning the All Blacks a couple of days ahead of the World Cup final.

And the winner is... These awards could not fail to recognise that along with those Scottish errors we witnessed another intervention some construed as criminal, worthy of spawning conspiracy theories and demands for ridiculous reprisals after a match-turning contribution before the perpetrator ran off into the night never to be seen again. Presumably someone who knows where he is holed out will have to come to Scotland to pick up this award on Craig Joubert’s behalf.

The 1999 Christophe Dominici Comeback Award commemorates the little French winger’s wizardry when he repeatedly danced his way through and around the odds-on favourite All Blacks in the second half of a joyous semi-final.

And the winners are… Romania for setting a new World Cup record with their recovery from a 15-point deficit against Canada, one of many fine contributions from the eastern European representatives, the only entirely homegrown teams at the tournament, another of their highlights being the wholly correct decision to give Mamuka “Gorgodzilla” Gorgodze the man-of-the-match award for a breathtaking solo performance during their ultimately heavy defeat at the hands of the All Blacks.

The 2003 Wilko Award commemorates the greatest moment in the 2015 host nation’s rugby history when Jonny Wilkinson’s left foot dropped the goal which ended Australian hopes in the final and took the Webb Ellis Cup to Europe for the first and only time.

And the winner is… The man who has usurped him as the most efficient points scoring machine in Test history, that man Carter who killed Australian momentum at a key stage in the final with an even better left-footed drop goal which all but ensured that the All Blacks could not lose in normal time before he then knocked over the penalty from close to halfway which secured victory.

The 2007 Tom Brady Award commemorates Wayne Barnes’ acknowledgement of another of this era’s great manoeuvrers of ovoids, by introducing into rugby union scope for the occasional right to allow a huge forward pass in a key move when he ignored a glaring one as France scored the try that turned the quarter-final against the All Blacks their way eight years ago.

And the winner is… By rights it should go to Nigel Owens who spoiled an otherwise near-perfect refereeing display in the final by allowing a huge forward pass in the move which eventually led to the penalty that let Carter stretch the lead importantly to 9-3 late in the first half, but he should really have been helped out by his touch judge on that side who was bang in line and was… Wayne Barnes.

The 2011 Tip Tackle Trauma Award, commemorating the decisive moment in the semi-final which saw heart-broken Wales captain Sam Warburton red-carded for his clumsy challenge on Vincent Clerc, wrecking his side’s chances.

And the winner is… Ben Smith, the All Blacks full-back who watched with growing horror as the Wallabies reduced his side’s lead from a rock solid, cup in the bag 18 points, to just four with most of the last quarter to go during his 10 minute absence for up-ending Drew Mitchell. Special mention again to the superb Owens who, had he been a lesser individual, could have seen the chance to make a point on behalf of the Welsh nation, but instead had to be persuaded that it was worth a sin-binning.

*We are still in England where it is apparently the law that even the most tenuous connection must be sought to mention the year 1966 in any World Cup context

**The events of the 1995 tournament are recognised three times because it was, prior to the last two months, the best-ever rugby union World Cup