Paying the price of a lopsided draw

We may have spent all last week luxuriating in the afterglow of two of the greatest matches ever played – aka the two Paris quarter-finals – but there was a price to pay.

- ‘BRENDAN GALLAGHER

Namely this underwhelming and frankly quickly forgettable semi-final back at the same venue. It was, some would say, the semi-final World Rugby probably deserved.

That’s not to say that New Zealand didn’t play with trademark efficiency and skill when required and that hattrick hero Will Jordan did again underline his special talent but the gulf in class between the All Blacks and the Pumas and indeed the chasm in class between their side of the draw and Argentina’s has been staggering and cruelly evident from the earliest of games.

This should have been a showpiece occasion, a high octane game going to the wire and wowing both the rugby world and the casual sports fan. Alas, it was over by half time and the All Blacks were able to get most of their key players off after 55 minutes. We had hoped for so much more. Apparently we enjoyed 43 minutes of ball in play time but massive ball in play time doesn’t always produce a satisfying spectacle.

Acute Post Lord Mayor’s show syndrome (APLMSS) was always going to be an issue and the capacity crowd sniffed it from the off. Those colourful hordes of Pumas fans from their Marseille quarter-final against Wales seemed largely absent and were badly missed. Getting tickets for semi-finals when the big corporates and tour groups hold sway is often difficult and ruinous financially even if you can locate them on the black market. Nor did New Zealand seem overly supported. Perhaps itinerant Kiwis were taking a very modest punt of saving their hard earned for the final.