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This Rugby World Cup is a record-breaker.
Not regarding delivering the firstthree-peat winners, although New Zealand might take a months time.
Not regarding a first appearance in the knockout phases for hosts Japan, though that may be confirmed next weekend.
Instead, the red card against England of Tomas Lavanini was the fifth, which is much more than any previous World Cup of the 2019 tournament. And we are not yet out of pool phases.
Some would say that by introducing fresh advice for referees on high tackles four weeks prior to the championship last week, and criticising officials, World Rugby has got its timing all wrong.
They would argue that games are being ruined by this crackdown on tackles while the game is at the spotlight.
For me personally, the timing of World Rugby could not be better.
We have to leverage the point that rugby has at the moment to bring about a culture change right.
There will be the annoyance, with a few games that are unbalanced, column inches and also controversy – but these games are being watched by countless people around the globe. This is the chance to teach that lesson regarding top tackles.
When officials and players at Orientation and mini rugby grounds across the country got together this weekend, then theyll most likely have seen that the sort of tackle Lavanini put on Owen Farrell – a shoulder direct to the mind with drive and no mitigating conditions – is a straightforward red card.
Decisions like Nigel Owens in that game will have a dramatic impact on the way in which the game around the planet is performed and a World Cups store window that can make that occur.
It should have happened.
Once I was playing it was mindset and a different age. It used to be a badge of honour to receive smashed the ball off and catch up and get on with this, or even to get the mind rounds, for being a smart scrum-half or to be targeted.
90% of these cards now, dished out wouldnt have been revealed back then.
That mentality is regarded as ridiculous today so thinking about intensity and the power these players have, as well as the risks involved.
World Rugby has understood that the change must be dramatic. You leave matters up and cant tinker around the edges. It needs to be a policy change that floods in the grassroots and through the sport.
In certain ways, England have been too good for their own good so far in Japan.
They were already out. This moment, using a game to play at the pool, they are already into the quarter-finals.
Back then, they had suffered by this phase by Wales and Australia. Now, they have collected comfortable wins by margins of 32, 38 and 29 points.
That is to the credit of England card. They have put themselves in very strong positions so far, but Cup are you really likely to win the championship by winning seven straight games from 20, more or 25 points.
There is going to be a game which comes down to the wire.
Eddie Jones has questioned their skill under pressure. After they wasted a 31-0 lead over Scotland in March – a draw which followed expensive second-half lapses against Wales, New Zealand and South Africa from the previous 12 months – the Australian compared his group to a carwith hand grenades in the trunk.
Sometimes they go off if there is a whole lot of pressure. We have some of these and we have got to eliminate them he explained.
Jones brought in psychologist Corinne Reid to conducthonesty sessions in the run-up to this tournament to attempt to improve that part of the game.
That job has gone awry.
For that reason, I expect that they are given a test in the second half to drive England into fifth or fourth gear, as opposed to cruising about in third by France.
There have been some bright spots for England in their triumph over Argentina although the red card of Lavanini led to a strangely disjointed game.
The game was dictated by george Ford quite. He was clinical if he needed to be, used the runners and put the ball into space behind the Pumas defence to add territory.
It was assured and a step toward the type of performance that is top notch that is controlling I have desired to see for a time.
The blend of Tom Curry on either side of the scrum along with Sam Underhill was great. Just like Michael Hooper and Australia set David Pocock, these two are developing their ownbreakdown bromance. They dovetail which makes decisions regarding when to commit and when to stand off.
Maro Itoje went comparatively under the radar. Normally he standing across gamers and is all bulldozing runs, large hits. His performance against Argentina was unseen, but he looked assured directing mauls, producing formulaic, hitting rucks, about his business and stripping players of possession.
It is going to be difficult to get Jack Nowell to discover a means with Elliot Daly playing in the three, Jonny May and Anthony Watson.
But, in beating several defenders to enter the corner on, as he revealed, he is a game-breaker.
He has small downside, with a and work-rate that is enormous and can make something out of nothing. Added covering outside centre also.
I believe against the opposition, he could go from the beginning.
On the biggest stage you need specific types of participant -Test Match animals as my former mentor at Northampton and British and Irish Lions, Ian McGeechan, used to call them.
Nowell seems to step up. I dont believe that will differ in a World Cup.
BBC Sports Mike Henson was being spoken to by matt Dawson.
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