World Cup follows script all the way

The 48th and final match of the 2011 Rugby World Cup may not have satisfied the desires of those who wanted a free-flowing exhibition, but it was firmly in keeping with tournament tradition that it produced such a tight and fiercely contested match.

In fact, as two of the previous four finals had ended tryless, and two had been level at the end of regulation time, we should probably hail the All Blacks’ one-try, one-point victory as one of the more decisive results of recent times.

At the finish, the overarching feeling around Eden Park might have been one of relief, but that sentiment will be erased when the record books are written.

All that mattered was that New Zealand won. Glasses will have been raised around Auckland last night to the spirit of Thierry Dusautoir, the footballing excellence of Aurelien Rougerie and the audacity of Francois Trinh-Duc, but their contents will quickly have obliterated any consideration but the All Blacks’ victory. France played heroically -- and lost.

You could say France saved their best for last. You might add that New Zealand saved their worst. I have long been suspicious of the theory that the All Blacks’ repeated failures at the World Cup rested on some sort of psychological flaw, but the hypothesis was gathering strength the longer yesterday’s game went on.

It was only in the last three minutes, as fine a piece of closing-out as you’ll ever see in rugby, that they found themselves again.

Were New Zealand lucky? They were certainly riding their luck at times. A harsher referee might have taken a dim view of the contact between Richie McCaw and Morgan Parra that ended the French fly-half’s involvement -- or, for that matter, any number of high tackles by All Blacks players.

But argue as long as you like over whether New Zealand were the better side on the day; there is no question that they were the best side in the tournament.

So the monkey has been taken off their backs. Their demons have been slayed. Graham Henry can sail off into the sunset -- or to his luxury house on Waiheke Island, a few miles from Auckland -- his status as a national hero now secure. Good for them, and good for him. But what else has this World Cup taught us?

Sadly, one of the first conclusions is that New Zealand fans are not the equals of their team. The barracking of Quade Cooper, the New Zealand-born fly-half who threw in his lot with Australia, was outrageous. There is an acceptable level of schadenfreude, but this was petty, graceless, malicious and obscene,

In which light, we should probably rein in our desire to dance on the grave of England’s World Cup effort. If anything could go wrong for Martin Johnson’s lot, it did.

After Mike Tindall’s unfortunately conspicuous clench with an old flame, Manu Tuilagi’s dive off a ferry, the lecherous remarks of three players to a female hotel worker and some catastrophically bad selection, it was almost possible to feel sorry for our friends in the south. Almost. Let’s not forget they beat our lot as well.

And yet, the suggestion that the tournament reinforced the superiority of the southern hemisphere was hopelessly flawed. Wales were the team of the World Cup. Ireland produced one of the games of the age in wiping out Australia in the pool stages. France contributed to a magnificent final. The gulf between the two ends of the rugby planet has closed.

Sadly the gulf between the best Test referees and the worst is still wide open. I have profound reservations about the overuse of television match officials, but Wayne Barnes’ decision not to seek a ruling on whether James Hook’s penalty against South Africa had gone over was indefensible.

So, too, Bryce Lawrence’s performance in the Springboks--Australia game, which meant the wrong side won. Against that, Alain Rolland’s dismissal of Wales flanker Sam Warburton against France was both courageous and correct.

It’s hard to feel completely satisfied with a tournament that, in terms of the teams that made it to the knockout stages, went entirely according to plan. Nor could you celebrate the expansion of the game’s worldwide appeal when the four sides that reached the semi-finals were the same four who did so at the inaugural World Cup, 24 years ago.

Argentina will reach the big time next year when they join an expanded Tri Nations tournament. The next focus should be upon the Pacific nations -- Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. In Europe, too, second tier teams like Georgia and Romania deserve a better competitive structure. And they certainly deserve better scheduling of their World Cup matches than they had to endure this year.

Scotland? One to forget. Their tournament produced a couple of narrow wins against minor opposition and a glut of errors in the matches that mattered. Selection was wayward at times. They gave us sweat, but they were bereft of inspiration. After three games without a try, what else can you expect but an early flight home?

Andy Robinson has said that he cares not a jot where the points come from. It’s not how, but how much for him. But in this case it just wasn’t enough.