The opening weekend of the tournament put officials in the spotlight and showed the value of tactical versatility
The opening week of a Rugby
World Cup is always a blur of first impressions and fast-changing perceptions but, by anyone’s standards,
Japan has been something else. It is not the world’s biggest rugby tournament alone that has been widening visitors’ horizons, in a dizzying, delightful and occasionally disorientating few days.
Such unfamiliarity may just go some way towards explaining why some teams have underperformed in their opening games. Aside from a slick-looking Wales,
New Zealand and
Ireland, the beneficiaries of a horribly poor display by
Scotland, a number of teams have taken a little time to get going.