On the positive side, the tournament was superbly organised and well supported by the people of France and the foreign supporters who invaded the country. And the rugby wasn’t bad either.
Winners South Africa probably deserved their success (right), and certainloy had more of the game's outstanding players than any other team.
RWC 2007 won’t have done the French tourism economy any harm, and it did a lot for the game of rugby as well.
It also showed that the lesser nations have a perfect right to play in the finals and that even the best team in the world is beatable.
Countries like Japan, Georgia and Tonga did themselves proud, while virtually without exception, the other also-rans will have gone home with m ore positives than negatives to work on, not least the fact that their game will improve after playing against the best in the world.
Anybody who still thinks the number of teams taking part in the finals needs to be reduced should be shown the video of the small fry in action to remind them how much they gave to the tournament and how much they would be missed if they weren’t there.
There were quarter-final shocks for two giants, of course, when favourites New Zealand and powerful Australia were beaten by France and England respectively as the balance between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres was put on a more level footing.
So rugby isn’t the predictable game many might have thought.
There were negatives, of course, including feeds at scrums which were so crooked that some of them saw the ball’s first bounce in the second row, while forward passes are also an issue that needs top be addressed.
The game is so fast now that even if an international sprinter was to turn to refereeing, he would struggle to keep up.
However, calls from the likes of Australia RFU boss John O'Neill for rule changes to make the game more attractive just because there were no tries in the final are about as constructive - and as interesting - as his racist verbal attack on England earlier in the tournament.
Overall, though, RWC 2007 was a huge success for the IRB and hopefully the powers that be all over the world will now try to cash in by ensuring that the smaller nations can continue to develop and the exposure the game was given during the tournament does not go to waste as more spectators and more young players realise what the game has to offer. 

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