Tuesday 27 October 2015 10:00, UK
Australia bend the rules, David Pocock's brilliance at the breakdown and New Zealand keep their nerve; Stuart Barnes casts his eyes over the World Cup semi-finals and looks ahead to Saturday's decider.
1. Australia may be celebrating their place in Saturday's World Cup final but at least England can say they held their bureaucratic nerve and did not budge on the principle of not selecting overseas players.
Both Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell have played tremendous support roles in the Wallabies' march to the final. Should we congratulate Michael Cheika or criticise him for bending the rules as previously applied in Australia?
2. Well, I was absolutely right in my belief that the winners of Pool A would meet New Zealand in the World Cup final. Where I was wrong was in backing England to be the winners of that particular pool.
Australia didn't have a scrum and Wales were playing one-dimensional rugby when I did that expensive piece of business with my bookmaker.
Wales are still one-dimensional and if Scott Sio hadn't turned up along with Mario Ledesma, Australia wouldn't have a scrum... what I didn't anticipate was the reverse gear England found up front along with the unyielding determination to stick with principle and not select their best player.
3. One of the greatest players in the history of the game is going to need a little help from his friends at the breakdown.
Richie McCaw is up against the best-organised back row in the business and, at this moment, in David Pocock, the single most influential player on the planet.
New Zealand have only lost three games since they won the last World Cup. The most recent of them had Pocock's imprint all over it.
4. The Wallaby back row forward (he wears No 8 but he is infinitely more than that) doesn't so much tower over the rest of the tournament as squat low. The long back and the short legs give him the perfect frame to practise his terrorising techniques at the tackle point.
Out of this world against England and Argentina, the greatest testament to his tournament however comes in Pocock's absence. The match against Scotland would not have boiled down to the referee had he been playing.
5. Had Pocock not been playing, who knows what might have happened in Sunday's semi-final?
Argentina played the major part in their own downfall by playing too much rugby too deep but it took a deadly lesson in the art of turnovers to seal Australia's fourth final.
6. New Zealand have never won a World Cup outside of New Zealand and Australia have never won a World Cup outside of Britain and Ireland.
You can make of that what you will; it means absolutely nothing to me.
7. New Zealand kept their nerve when the weather turned and South Africa arrived at their usual ultra-competitive peak.
Twenty years ago I saw the Kiwis collapse under the pressure of expectation in South Africa, and eight years ago I watched them forget to think and drop a goal to take them into the semi-final at the expense of France.
It was noticeable that Dan Carter dropped a goal at 7-12 during a period of play when New Zealand managed South Africa's extra man with great maturity.
8. Maturity would be the appropriate word for New Zealand's performance against their great rivals.
The Springboks are not France and as the rain poured down for only the second time on this tournament (in the games I have seen and I have seen most of them but if I missed a shower in your vicinity, forgive me, please) Twickenham was a very different place to Cardiff with the roof closed.
The Wallabies wavered in the rain a week earlier; the All Blacks factored it in and recalibrated their game. They are not about to lose a match on the basis of pressure; Cheika and his men are going to have to do it themselves. They won't be given the assistance Argentina offered on Sunday.
9. The Pumas reminded me of England; not for the fluency of their attacking play [a memory of England but one that goes back to last season] but the naive way in which they refused to play the territorial game.
They have been one of the most attractive features of this World Cup but a little less beauty and a little more old fashioned Argentine beef would have been their best hope of making the final.
They have a young coach, a young team, a team that will largely play together week-in and out in the revamped Super Rugby competition....Argentina are going to be a threat in Japan.
10. Congratulations to Nigel Owens on his appointment as World Cup final referee.
Okay, so at the time of writing it has not been announced. I haven't heard a word yet so there's no embargo breaking going on here but don't we all know the identity?
We have known it since he refereed the greatest rugby game of this decade, the epic All Black Springbok game in Ellis Park 2013. All that could have stopped Owens was Wales making the final.
New Zealand, with their fast pace will be more than pleased, anyone but Wayne Barnes will have done them... and I am not referring to France 2007.
According to an article I read in an Australian newspaper, the Wallabies went into Sunday's semi on the back of 12 straight wins with Barnes officiating. I knew they were six for six since the last World Cup but taking the report on trust, well that is some record. Argentina couldn't make it unlucky 13.
The best of luck to both teams, the officials and to those of you [us] with a ticket for the game. Enjoy it! It's the end of the Test road for some of the modern greats of the game and Australia are out to ruin the farewell party.
There are some stellar international careers coming to a close and what more appropriate stage than a World Cup final?
