TOILETS in Japan always flush in a clockwise direction. That is because the site of the next Rugby World Cup is in the Northern Hemisphere. I know this for a fact, because a reader helpfully spelled it all out to me back at the time of the football World Cup out there and South Korea in 2002.

Glossing over the fact that I successfully backed Brazil to win the competition, he correctly pointed out the flaw in my logic. Writing off European sides for their previous failure to win a World Cup in the southern hemisphere didn’t exactly hold much water when Japan was in fact north of the equator.

Brace yourself for another fun Japan fact: while it shares the Pacific Ocean with New Zealand, in fact Yokohama is also almost exactly equidistant between Christchurch and Dublin. I mention this because it will essentially serve as neutral ground should New Zealand and Ireland, the two favourites to claim the Webb Ellis trophy, meet there on Saturday November 2 with the honour of calling themselves the best team on planet rugby on the line.

It might have taken the erratic officiating of Craig Joubert for it all to come to pass, but you might recall the 2015 World Cup ending with the big beasts of Southern Hemisphere rugby occupying all four of the semi-final places.

So what exactly should we make of a series of autumn internationals in the oval-ball game in which Northern Hemisphere sides suddenly seem to have found the whip hand? Surely the sport hasn’t been turned upside down just 12 months out from its global showpiece?

If history tells us anything, it is that timing your run is everything when it comes to a World Cup.

By this time next year, the five-week slog in Japan will have been and gone, and a new champion team will have been anointed. But a fair amount of evidence is certainly accumulating in the latter part of 2018 which suggests that the Southern hemisphere stronghold might just be susceptible.

Let’s start with Ireland, where the Joe Schmidt project will culminate this time next year. They were perfect during the autumn internationals, embellishing a run of 17 wins in their last 18 Tests which stretches back to a defeat by Wales during last year’s Six Nations with a thrilling, morale-boosting 16-9 win against the All Blacks themselves, even if Steve Hansen’s men retain the ranking of world rugby’s top dogs by the skin of their teeth.

The Welsh were no malingerers either. Warren Gatland’s side quietly racked up four wins from four, including victories against Australia, South Africa and Scotland.

Then there is England, in whom reports of their demise appear to be greatly exaggerated. Eddie Jones, apparently fighting for his job at the start of the Autumn, is now presiding over a unit who were a point away from joining Ireland in the list of teams to take New Zealand’s scalp. They signed off for the year with a dismissive 37-18 victory against Australia.

If France, who found themselves leapfrogged by Fiji in the rankings after the Pacific Islanders racked up a historic win in Paris, were the exception which proves the rule when it comes to this sudden display of northern hemisphere hegemony, where does it all leave Scotland?

Well, with wins against Fiji and Argentina, and defeats against Wales and South Africa (however agonising they may have been), the truth is that this was pretty much a break-even Autumn.

Results are never the whole picture - there was valuable game time for guys like George Horne, Adam Hastings, Sam Skinner and Jamie Ritchie, some big success stories and a few areas where improvement is required. Victory appeared tantalisingly in their grasp against a South Africa side who they could face in the quarter final if they can get out of a pool which involves Japan and Ireland.

But given this resurgence in Northern Hemisphere rugby – even making allowances for home advantage and tired touring party legs - Gregor Townsend was right to point out after the Argentina match that 2019 could be as strong as any Six Nations in history. If we can make a splash in that arena - particularly in home matches against Wales and Ireland - then no-one will be inclined to flush our hopes of World Cup glory down the toilet.