GOOD DAY
Once again for those who believe this tournament is sufficiently prestigious to be able to cope without the host team being at the centre of attention.
A considerable shift has been required for the broadcasters in particular since it became clear that their Anglo-centric approach was no longer appropriate, but the wider English public have demonstrated a far superior understanding of what a global tournament is about by continuing to offer their support. Indeed the one match for which cheap tickets appear to have been freely available was Saturday’s damp squib at the Etihad Stadium where many tickets are reported to have been sold at a loss by disillusioned England supporters who no longer wanted to go.
By contrast people continue to flood in through the turnstiles to the extent that attendance is currently at 97 per cent of capacity across the entire event, with party atmospheres generated at the most obscure of matches by a combination of travelling supporters and locals who want to be part of the event.
More than 1.8 million seats were taken up in stadiums during the pool stages, while organisers are claiming that there have been 460,000 visiting fans from overseas.
BAD DAY
For team of the tournament Japan as they tried to get their heads around the fact that in spite of having beaten the top seeds in Pool B, they are having to head back home to the country that will host the next World Cup as the first team to win three matches at this tournament and not make it to the knockout stages.
"It's complicated. Our goal was to get to the quarter-finals so I don't think there's a single player on the team who's happy with the outcome," said Ayumu Goromaru, their full-back.
"Everyone on this team is a hero. If we had reached the quarter-finals and played in Twickenham before a crowd of 100,000, it would've changed our lives. I feel like I'm out for a walk on a cloudy day.
"There's no sense of accomplishment. Everyone we met and came across in the last four years on this journey was important not only to me but to the entire team."
That message was reinforced by scrum-half Fumiaka Tanaka, who said: “The way things have turned out is obviously disappointing but we now have a goal of reaching the quarters at the next one.
"After the Scotland win (over Samoa) I really had a hard time accepting the situation but I told myself how important a third win would be for us and managed to get on with it."
In time they will come to realise just what they have achieved here, however, not least when it comes to the profiles that some of these players are surely about to develop back home in the build-up to the next World Cup.
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