Loose Pass

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with minnows, record-breakers, travesties, the north-south divide and a first World Cup prediction...

The result of the weekend? Australia's sensational second half against France? New Zealand's gritty resolve against Wales? South Africa's bounce back from Edinburgh's disappointment?

All have their merits. But in case anybody didn't notice, the final World Cup spot was determined this weekend, as Romania smashed Uruguay 39-12 in Bucharest on Saturday.

A closer game was expected after the tight 21-21 draw in Montevideo a fortnight ago, but in front of a crowd that bordered on the rabid at times Romania were good value for their win, which preserves their 'ever-presents' status at all World Cups since the tournament's inception. They scored five tries, including an early penalty try that was the turning point of the game, while Uruguay could only muster two second-half efforts after the game was done and dusted.

The Romanians join a tough pool, featuring England, Scotland, Argentina and Georgia, a pool in which the forward contests will be immense in every game.

"It is a hard job that we start now, the hardest job starts now," said coach Romeo Gontineac.

"We will try to construct a very competitive team for the World Cup. This team that played today and the group we have, hopefully we will have 50 players until the summer to make a very good squad for the World Cup.

"I feel like I am flying now, it feels very good. It is a pleasure being a coach to see the team play exactly as you train them, to the game plan. I am glad and I congratulate the boys, they had a very good game. All of them, the 22 that we had today and the other guys in the 31 that stayed together, I congratulate all of them."

And for Uruguay, whose squad's average age was considerably younger than that of their hosts?

"It was one step too far. It was not our moment. We have a young team that needs some more international competition and needs to keep on working like this and maybe the next one," said coach Gonzalo Camardon.

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Elsewhere in the 'second division' of internationals this week, there was controversy galore in Tblisi as Georgia scored an 89th-minute try to overcome the USA 19-17.

In fact it seems Georgia have had the rub of the green two weeks running, with their narrow win over Canada the week before also tinged with mites of controversy.

Legit or not, one thing's for sure, the other members of Georgia's pool will not be looking forward to facing these lelos one bit come next September. And it seems that should you be unlucky enough to have to got to Tblisi, you will not be able to buy a win

As for the controversy, we'll let you decide...

- v Canada

- injury time win v USA

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Congratulations also go to Dan Carter, who became - officially and in all columns and with all questions about Lions tours answered and everything - the wold record Test points scorer of all time.

He also completed another challenge last week in the run-up to the Scotland game. In training, he and a couple of others were challenged by Adidas to punt the ball onto the crossbar from 40m...

Well, could you?

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Out comes the shortlist for the IRB player of the year and now on and on the debate rages. Of the published list - Matfield, McCaw, Pocock, Harinordoquy, Muliaina and Beale - the obvious choice is McCaw once again.

But in a year where Carter broke the afore-mentioned points record and Will Genia exploded onto the scene, we found Kurtley Beale's name up there something of a surprise, being as he spent a fair part of the year wondering where his best position was.

Injuries and missed Tests notwithstanding, the omission of Juan Smith was however disappointing. Twice our man of the match for the Boks this November and a one-club/province man his entire career, added to Smith's attention to quiet determination and ceaseless graft for his teams and you have a man who pretty much epitomises what rugby ought to stand for at every turn.

Both Cheetahs and Boks were left scrabbling around for vastly inferior replacements for a couple of months earlier this year when Smith's father passed away, an event that left Smith distraught. The lift to both sides when he returned was tangible.

Victor Matfield's reputation precedes him, but is there anyone who would deny had a dip in form during the Tri-Nations? Beale has impressed on several occasions, but can be infuriatingly inconsistent. Not Smith on either count. It's a bad call to leave him off.

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Punditry and incisive analysis award of the week goes to the BBC's Jonathan Davies, whose appraisal of why the Welsh could not even create a meaningful crack in the New Zealand defensive wall, while the All Blacks seemed able to run through the Welsh at will, was nothing short of spot on.

"There's nobody running straight, nobody cutting back and nobody running an unders line to keep the All Black defence from drifting," he said, adding that "whenever New Zealand get the ball they run straight, keep the Welsh defence tied in and use the space outside."

He could have been commenting on any of the three Tri-Nations teams against their northern counterparts this weekend past though; Australia's demolition job of the French defence was entirely due to the Wallabies' ability to run straight and handle faster while South Africa did create far more chances to score than England, even if their handling was not up to scratch.

Northern hemisphere coaches need to have a look at that. At the moment, they are streets behind.

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So the World Cup pools are sorted, and the race to be the guy who gets the predictions right is upon us.

So here goes:

Pool A - New Zealand, France, Tonga, Canada, Japan: Winners - New Zealand, Runners-up - France

Pool B - Argentina, England, Scotland, Georgia, Romania: Winners - England, Runners-up - Scotland

Pool C - Australia, Ireland, Italy, Russia, USA: Winners - Australia, Runners-up - Ireland

Pool D - South Africa, Wales, Fiji, Samoa, Namibia - Winners - South Africa, Runners-up Wales

Quarter-finals:

Australia v Wales - Australia
England v France - England
South Africa v Ireland - South Africa
New Zealand v Scotland - New Zealand

Semi-finals:

Australia v England - England

South Africa v New Zealand - New Zealand

Final:

England v New Zealand - ???

Loose Pass compiled by Richard Anderson