A team to beat the All Blacks

So, saving the very best until last, New Zealand were that good after all. Given that in the demolition of France the opposition weren’t really trying, Saturday was the best of the double world champions. Everything was wrapped up neatly, a proper medal and send-off for Dan Carter, a fine farewell for St Richie, Non’u, Conrad Smith, Mealamu and whoever else is headed into the sunset.

In the end, the common perception that the Northern Hemisphere was lagging desperately behind the Southern – an easy one to make given there were no NH teams in the semi-finals – was possibly just the rest of rugby lagging behind New Zealand.

After all, given a little better luck with injuries, Wales would surely have beaten South Africa in the quarterfinals and, given some composure and a decision or two, Scotland would have beaten Australia.

The perceived imbalance is skewed because of England and France’s frankly pathetic displays, caused by a myriad of reasons as well as playing style, and Ireland’s shock capitulation to Argentina.

That can be mostly explained by Ireland’s own desperate luck with injuries, a bit of a lack of strength in depth on their part and perhaps a slight overestimation of the abilities of their coach Joe Schmidt.

New Zealand, meanwhile, were out on their own, although I’m very sceptical to the suggestion that they can withstand this series of retirements with nary a blip.

Every team of the tournament is awash with All Blacks, unsurprisingly. So, instead of piling the praise on them, let’s pick a team to beat them.

Back three: Ayumi Gotomaru (Japan), Santiago Cordero (Argentina), DTH van de Merwe (Canada): Gotomaru was the revelation of the first two weeks of the tournament, DTH a revelation to all but those who have been watching him for Glasgow these last six years and knew he was the most underrated strike weapon playing in European rugby. Cordero is Shane Williams for a new generation.

Centres: Damien de Allende (South Africa), Matt Giteau

(Australia): Muscle and guile in partnership. Giteau’s swift exit from the final left the Wallabies without their fulcrum.

Half-backs: Nicolas Sanchez (Argentina), Greig Laidlaw

(Scotland): Tempted by Handre Pollard or Dan Biggar, but noticed that their backlines hardly saw serviceable attacking ball during the tournament. Sanchez narrowly gets the nod over Bernard Foley. And an apology: I may have suggested sometime, even quite recently, that Laidlaw should be replaced as Scotland scrum-half. His performances against the USA, Samoa and Australia were exemplary.

Front row: Alasdair Dickinson (Scotland), Agustin Creevy (Argentina), Ramiro Herrera (Argentina): WP Nel got all the attention but “Dicko” is the reason Scotland’s scrummage has cemented the last two years.

The Pumas had the best scrummage in the tournament largely due to Herrera, and Creevy is not only the hooker and leader but also one of the best in the game at getting over breakdown ball.

Second row: Lood de Jager (South

Africa), Leone Nakarawa (Fiji): de Jager is just 22, outstanding in the lineout, a tireless tackler and a great ball-carrier; the standard to which our own excellent Jonny Gray aspires. Leone and his telescopic off-loads are just the best fun to watch on a rugby pitch right now.

Back row: Michael Leitch (Japan),

David Pocock (Australia), Taulupe Faletau (Wales): I’m going to put Pocock, now officially the best rugby player in the world, where he should be at open-side to accommodate the excellent Faletau. And Leitch is captain of this team for his general excellence and his decision to go for the try and glory in the epic game against the Springboks.

Scotland have to continue advance

It’s odd being Scottish (no Trainspotting here); the tournament was better than many feared but in the end was nearly so much better.

It’s back to domestic issues hoping no momentum is lost. There are some issues to clear up, and two have already been done in re-signing Finn Russell and Jonny Gray to contract extensions at Glasgow. Gregor Townsend is also due an extension, but Toony is an ambitious man – quite rightly – and may fancy trying his hand in England or France. It’ll take a good deal to keep him at Scotstoun.

The other issues are the Warriors qualifying for the last-eight in Europe at last and Edinburgh finishing in the top six of the PRO12. No more excuses are acceptable, both teams have the quality and the depth of squad required.

And the spring? My usual pre-Six Nations pessimism hasn’t kicked in yet, but given the disarray of England and France post-RWC, Scotland have to be looking for three wins, minimum.

Given a good run without injuries to key men – and they’re pretty well covered in some places even for that – Scotland should be seriously competitive, at last, in Cardiff and Dublin.

It’s a good place we’ve reached in the last month.

But it has to be just the start of something even better.

The perceived imbalance is skewed by England and France’s pathetic displays

Is the gap between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres actually a gap between the All Blacks and everyone else?