I’m now left with that deflated feeling one tends to get at the end of a party or on the night of December 25th – what am I going to do with my weekends now? I guess I only have a few months to wait until the Six Nations.

The competition really has been the story of the underdogs.

• England, after suffering a 36-0 defeat to South Africa in the pool stage, go on to reach the final.
• Argentina shock France on the opening night…
• …Then they wipe the floor with them in the 3rd place playoff
• Fiji steal a 38-34 win from Wales to knock them out of the tournament at the pool stage.
• Georgia come within a whisker of beating Ireland.
• Tonga’s amazing comeback (and near victory) against South Africa 30-25

The list goes on. It really has been quite amazing to watch, especially the better-than-expected performances by the so-called “minnows” of the rugby world cup against the established sides. I was in St. David’s Centre in Cardiff when Portugal scored against New Zealand, to an enormous, rapturous ovation by the Welsh AND Australian fans in attendance. The perceived gulf of standard between the minnows and the established nations is narrowing, but such sides really need to be in regular competition against other good teams. Once every four years simply isn’t good enough.

What happens next? Well, Wales have a friendly against the newly-crowned world champions South Africa in November. Wales, whose form has been disappointing at best, are without a coach. I am debating picking up some tickets to the game. The probability of witnessing a hiding is high, which would make this an unattractive prospect if I was a fair-weather supporter. Alas, I’m not.

France v Argentina - What an upset! France, hosts of the World Cup, and in the first game of the tournament – in Paris – choked big time, leeting the Argies win a hard fought game.

New Zealand v Italy – Let’s be clear: Italy aren’t bad at all. Yet New Zealand walked it. Hopefully they’ll choke at a crucial point and be denied the World Cup yet again, despite being heavy favourites from the start.

Wales V Canada - The first half of this match hurt to watch. Wales, who were 1/100 favourites before the game started, leaked three tries en route to being on the losing side at half time. James Hook seemed struck by stage fright, and the introduction of Gareth Thomas and Stephen Jones finally turned the game around.

England V USA – England, the defending champions no less, were bossed about by the Americans and rarely showed any inclination to put some real points on the board. The commentators, meanwhile, went on about how they thought it was a psychological ploy to make the South Africans think they have an easy time this Friday. England aren’t that clever.

Ireland V Namibia – Either Ireland were really awful or Namibia played a great game. I haven’t decided

Scotland v Portugal – A dull performance from Scotland brightened up by the obvious joy that the Portuguese took in just being at the World Cup.

Samoa V South Africa – Brian Habana is simply outstanding, I feel that Samoa’s heavy loss might have turned out a little different if it weren’t for him. A hard-hitting game, I’m sure they’re all incredibly sore today.

Australia V Japan – Australia racked up a truly enormous score against the Japanese, utterly dominating and looking a massive threat to the Welsh on Saturday. (I’ll be there.)