I had a dream. I was therein Paris on October 21 after the Final - and I want to share with you the happenings of the biggest sporting event of the year.

POOL A: No major upsets here, although the Samoans were very competitive against both the Boks and the English. South Africa comfortably accounted for the Islanders, although the English were pushed a lot harder, but it was their composure that narrowly won them victory in the last 10 minutes. Tonga defeated Samoa as they had emptied their tanks against the big nations. USA failed to win a game. The English were sensational against the Springboks, playing to their strengths and gaining parity in the set piece. But ultimately South Africa offered more in attack and won by 10.

POOL B: The great upset of the pool was the Wallabies losing to Wales. The Australians led for most of the game but two late tries to the Red Dragons gave them a two-point win. But Wales were then beaten by Fiji after being on such a high. Australia were in gear against the lower nations, and recorded huge wins over Fiji, Canada and Japan. The Wallabies qualified top of the pool of points difference.

'A huge brawl breaks out towards the end of the game and police rush the field to split the players. Springboks coach Jake White resigns at the post-game conference'


POOL C: No surprises here as the All Blacks clicked into ominous gear, right from game one, posting at least 50 points on every team in the pool. Scotland narrowly defeated Italy after the Azzurri caused big problems to the Scots' set piece.  Unfortunately Portugal and Romania were the whipping boys of the pool.

POOL D: France qualified top of the pool and were not troubled by any team. Ireland failed to qualify after being out-muscled by both Argentina and France.  The Pumas seemed competitive against the French but were run around by the quicker home team. The Irish played well, but were not let into the games by the respective stronger forward teams. The fall-out in Ireland is huge.

Quarter-final 1 - Australia v  England: The Wallabies have to dig deep after the English run up a 13-point lead and turn to complete defensive mode. Two drop goals to Matt Giteau and Stephen Larkham cause the momentum shift as the Wallabies score a try in the last 10 minutes to seal victory

Quarter-final 2 - All Blacks v Argentina: The Pumas come out like men possessed and keep the New Zealanders scoreless in the first 20 minutes.  Their recklessness leads to a red card for a blatant spear tackle on Byron Kelleher. This causes the floodgates to open, and the All Blacks run out 30-point winners.

Quarter-final 3 - South Africa v  Wales: The Welsh, full on confidence after their Wallaby victory, keep the South Africans close.  However, the Springbok finishing is ultimately the difference, as is the Welsh inability to score tries. The Boks ultimately win by 15.

Quarter-final 4 - France v Scotland: The mismatch of the quarters. Scotland are never in the game  and score only two penalty goals.  The French look in imposing form and run out comfortable 25-point winners.

Semi-final 1 - Wallabies v All Blacks: For the first time in the tournament, the New Zealanders unleash Kapo o Pango, complete with the controversial throat-slitting gesture.  They also introduce new tactics across the game, utilising a rushing defence, fierce gang tackling, and completely dominate the Australians at the scrum and ruck.  After trailing by 24 points at half-time, the Wallabies stage a mini fightback, but there is no way the New Zealanders are losing this one. Dan Carter finishes with 30 points as the All Blacks win by 18 points.  John Connolly and Stirling Mortlock are gracious losers, admitting they were never in the game.  Euphoria englulfs New Zealand as the Kiwis reach the final.

Semi-final 2 - France v South Africa:  An epic struggle sees the two teams play each other to a standstill.  With 75 minutes gone, the scores are tied, but an 80-metre try from the French near time leads to a great win.  A huge brawl breaks out towards the end of the game and police rush the field to split the players. Springboks coach Jake White resigns at the post-game conference.

FINAL - All Blacks v France: The two teams start slowly, with neither willing to give an inch. The French begin to play with more width. This ultimately works in the All Blacks' favour as they begin to flood players into the French rucks out wide, and score two turnover tries to lead at half-time. The French fightback is ferocious, and thoughts of 1999 begin as they score 15 unanswered points to take the lead with 20 minutes to go. From here the All Blacks effectively shut out the game, adopting a game plan to pin the French in their own quarter and cause turnover through aggressive defence.  A Jerry Collins try from a pushover scrum in the last five minutes wins the All Blacks the game.

Prediction: All Blacks world champions, France runners -up, Wallabies beat South Africa for third place.  Player of the tournament - Dan Carter.

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