Summing up

We asked our Rusters on their last day to sum up their thoughts on the Rugby World Cup and otherwise.

Granite Grant Logan:

It was a brave decision to give the World Cup to Japan and one that paid off.

Time was – and it was not so long ago – that the All Blacks and Wallabies were putting 90+ points on the scoreboard against Japan but this time the Brave Blossoms beat Scotland and Ireland.

Half the nation was watching, no mean feat as sumo, baseball and soccer are more popular.

With Wayne Smith coach at the Kobe Steelers, Steve Hansen going to Toyota and Brodie Retallick and Dan Carter playing for the Steelers alongside Andy Ellis there for 7 years now, they are building strong foundations at club level.

I hope the Brave Blossoms get competitive international rugby too and would like to see them play the Polynesians and the winners take on the Bledisloe Cup winner.

Sandra McDonnell

The wiseacres said any team could win and England v All Blacks would be the real final, wrong on both counts.

I think New Zealand would have beaten the Boks but England never rediscovered their semi final form and prowess.

Derek Williams

Japan organised a terrific World Cup but we could have done with more close games.

I enjoyed Japan v Scotland and Ireland, England were as good against New Zealand as they were bad against South Africa but wales v Australia was my favourite game.

De Toit was my player of the tournament.

 

Tom Hollingworth

When Sepp Blatter took football global, graft swiftly followed.

Japan produced a fabulous and honest World Cup – the first in Asia and now I would like to see World Cup tournaments played in USA and South America

Nancy Bright Thompson

Occasionally the logistics let us down.

Tokyo is an urban sprawl of 17 million inhabitants but Kyoto was serene.

 

 

Bob Tickler

Language is a huge problem for us Gaijin.

You can neither converse nor comprehend but worse you cannot fathom street sign or labels.

I wondered how starved POWs in WW2 must have felt as the Jap wardens barked orders in a language they could not understand and were exposed to starvation and unimaginable cruelty.