Chris Rattue: All Blacks have issues, but rugby is the greatest when it is played like this

Rugby - the greatest game on earth.

Well, that's how I felt, after watching the mad Bledisloe Cup game from Dunedin, and the women's World Cup final from a cute, packed ground in Belfast.

All the football codes spin my wheels - football, NFL, league, rugby, even Aussie Rules in small doses.

But when you see rugby like this, with all the foot and hand skills, physicality, the overall speed, varying body sizes, tactical variables, the expansiveness, ebb and flow...the other codes struggle to touch it on one of rugby's best days. And we had a spectacular weekend.

Which is not to say there aren't a few complaints, particularly on the Bledisloe Cup front. Might as well get them out of the way.

* I am sick of the TV cameras focusing on Michael "Bleeding" Cheika, the Aussie coach and rugby's biggest toddler, when he is in full flight moaning and gesticulating wildly about the latest plot to bring him down. There should be a Cheika On-Screen Quota. The Cheika obsession ruins the flow of the coverage. (Watching Steve Hansen snoozing - just kidding - and sipping on water doesn't do much for this punter either.

* Referee Nigel Owens seemed to award a try to the All Blacks and then said he actually awarded a penalty, having ruled out the try. Rugby is naturally confusing, but that is way too confusing.

* The All Black bosses are great selectors (although Ofa Tu'ungafasi?) but are running out of ideas tactically. This year's tests, so far, represent a big warning sign. The All Blacks have one gear - Top Speed Frenetic - and it is getting them into trouble. They were out-foxed by the Lions, and have been very helter-skelter against the Aussies.

* Central to the problem is Beauden Barrett, a great footballer for sure, but he can't map out a game and control the tempo like champion No. 10s of the past. The All Blacks have an exaggerated belief in their ability to blow opponents off the park.

* Damian McKenzie is not a big test player yet. His early mistakes got the All Blacks into major trouble.

* Sabbaticals...Ben Smith. What other sport in the world arranges to remove its star players for long periods from the premier competition? Hello, is that Tom Brady. We need you to step down for two months. What nonsense.

There are some other issues, but this is not the time or the place. Because the rugby over the weekend was stunning. The game can be infuriating, and it can be a wonder to behold.

During rugby's professional infancy in the mid 1990s, it leant on and learnt from league in some regards, but the tables have now turned.

The NRL is a far superior competition to Super Rugby but league itself, the game, is too regimented, one dimensional. As a mate calls it, six-tackle-kick. There are some individuals and teams trying new tactics, and even Wayne "Boring" Bennett's Broncos have sprung to life. But the game could do with being more inventive. Unfortunately, the beleaguered Warriors are serial offenders in playing the safety-first game.

Anyway, back to the rugby.

The Black Ferns produced a brilliant second half turnaround tactically and physically to crush England, and claim a fifth world crown before a noisy crowd of about 18,000.

In one of rugby's strangest statistics, Waikato prop Toka Natua scored a hat trick in a 70-point game, while wing sensation Portia Woodman failed to cross the line. That is what rugby offers, a level of the unexpected and unexplainable which is difficult to attain in more structured football codes.

Women's rugby has come on in leaps and bounds and big hits and offloads - it was a great watch.

But the Bledisloe Cup game was the highlight for this punter, because there is a history, physicality and skill level involved which the women cannot match (yet).

For all of their obvious faults this year, the All Blacks rose from the rubble yet again to produce a stunning winning try. It was absolutely fabulous sport.

Captain Kieran Read, after a bruising 80 minutes, was central to the last-gasp heroics. He's not in vintage form, and nor are the All Blacks. But they are still a mighty force, and truly spectacular to watch a lot of the time.