Five thoughts for week 3 of the Rugby World Cup

Crystal ball-gazing

Predicting the two Pool A qualifiers for the last eight out of Australia, England and Wales is just about an impossible task with so many permutations still possible ahead of the third round of matches. But it’s very possible that all three nations could end up losing one game, underlining the importance of bonus points and the points difference column to the final equation.

Here’s another scenario. Exeter’s Henry Slade, a rare attacking talent whose only role to date for England appears to have been holding the tackle bags in training, will be given a belated first World Cup appearance in his nation’s final group match, against Uruguay, whose midfield he will cut to shreds — cue an outcry along the lines of ‘why the heck wasn’t this bloke given a chance before?’.

Irish eyes

They’ve barely made a ripple so far. Joe Schmidt’s side aren’t exactly flying under the radar — defeating Romania in front of a Rugby World Cup record crowd of 89,267 at Wembley most definitely precludes that. But they’ve certainly been able to get on with business quietly and effectively, securing comfortable fuss-free wins over Canada and then the eastern Europeans as they continue to build nicely for a clash on October 11 against France, with the winners avoiding New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

And, while so many of their rivals have been horribly disrupted by injuries, Ireland are, touchwood, in rude health, with the luxury of selecting from a virtually fully fit squad. Somehow, they have to date never qualified for a World Cup semi-final, but that is surely about to change this time around.

In general

After two rounds of games, it’s safe to say that the tier two nations have made real progress in the last four years.

Sides such as Romania and Uruguay have closed the gap in terms of fitness levels and they’re also well coached and organised in defence, with the result they can absorb far more pressure before cracking.

There’s been only one shock so far — Japan’s startling success over South Africa — but at the same time we have seen more contests at the pool stage and final scorelines have been closer.

The challenge now for governing body World Rugby is to help tier two teams make further progress by strengthening their international fixture lists between World Cups. And for sides such as Georgia and Namibia to also invest time and energy in their attacking games.

Tartan test

It wasn’t perfect, but South Africa did much to answer the critics with a resounding 46-6 defeat of Samoa to get the show back on the road after their Japanese nightmare.

Next up is a fascinating clash on Saturday against a Scotland side flying high with two bonus-point victories under their belts and with the advantage of playing usefully close to home territory in Newcastle.

The Scots have undergone arguably the most dramatic transformation of any of the front line nations, twice securing five-try wins. Don’t forget, this is the same side that back in 2011 went try-less in three of their four outings.

No one is expecting the Scots to run in five more against the Springboks, but there’s certainly potential here for an upset, particularly if Vern Cotter’s side get stuck in early on and make their chances count.

And finally

Referees often come in for so much criticism that it’s worth pausing to consider what an excellent job they’ve done so far in this World Cup.

Yes, there was a bit too much faffing around early on with TMO referrals, but since then, in general, officials have made good use of the technology available, kept games flowing and, very importantly, got all the big decisions right.

I would still like to see the ball put in straight down the middle of a scrum, with hookers battling for possession. But it’s not something I’m going to complain about, particularly as refs have rid the sport of the dreary spectacle of scrum after scrum collapsing and being reset thanks to the widespread and very welcome use of the unwritten law of common sense.

— The writer is a freelance journalist and rugby expert