It was only the second string - RWC Day 8

New Zealand swept aside the Japanese with a professional show of ruthless finishing. Lets not forget thought that the Japanese put out a second string side for this match before we get carried away. I'm also looking forward to the time where Sonny Bill gets stripped/drops the ball while running around one handed. New Zealand are rotating their side for each game but I feel, and I'm not the only one, that this could come back and bite them in the later rounds. World Cup's are of course more intense in a mental sense that any other competition but physically its not so different to a league season with games every week or so. Why can't you start with your strongest 15 from the start of the competition until the end?

Arguments against this are mental tiredness, the risk of injuries and not having young players getting experience in such a tournament. Injuries happen, nothing you can do about it; is it worth jeopardising one of your first team players? Yes. Combinations are the key to winning the World Cup. You need to know the man next too you inside out and know he can deliver when all seems lost (very dramatic I know). SA played basically played the same team throughout 2007 and the 2003 England team had been to New Zealand and beat them (with 13 men for 10 minutes).

NZ still do not have a first choice 9, England do not have a first choice 10, France do not have a first choice team, SA play with second choice players through captaincy. These are some of the biggest sides in the tournament and these issues could all be there undoing...