1 Down.....

Panic! The slightly experimental NZ back-line did not fire in the 2nd half against Tonga and there was even a whiff of penalty try against the mighty All Blacks.....

In reality the result was pretty much as expected although the 31 point margin of victory did mean that in my work RWC comp I was 1 point out of my chosen 21 - 30 band. Nonu proved again that he is 'the man' in the NZ centre and SBW proved again why Conrad Smith (In my opinion the best centre in world rugby for years) is first choice. I know SBW made some amazing offloads but there is more to 12 than that and in the big games Smith will get the nod every single time.

If nothing else today maybe some of the AB back line proved that they are not ready for the biggest stage, Toeava left a brace on the field today and in the current AB squad you will get dropped for that, there are plenty of men not even in the NZ squad who would have finished those chances. After game 1 NZ are still favourites.

We are now less than 20 mins until kick off of Scotland’s campaign with Andy Robinson stressing that the win is the most important thing but reading further into the press conference the Scotland boss does also expect a performance to lay down a marker for the rest of the group stages.

Predictions are Scotland, France, Fiji and England. In 8 hours time England will be 15 minutes into their World Cup and I for one cannot wait for it....

See you tomorrow.