Wallabies coach Dave Rennie. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
Pundits are predicting an even World Cup battle amongst the rugby heavyweights next year.
I think it's shaping more as a chaotic lottery.
French referee Mathieu Raynal's rogue decision against Australia at the end of the Bledisloe Cup game in Melbourne turned a major international into yet another rugby farce.
All Black supporters will, of course, hail the Frenchman's stand against the scourge of time wasting and celebrate his decision as a watershed moment to sort the game out.
But that's the nature of many All Blacks fans who are only interested in winning at any cost, feel the world owes them, and design their arguments back from that point.
Unfortunately, rugby can't be sorted out that easily, and the final minutes of a test are not the place for an official to take a precedent-setting stand anyway.
The punishment dished out by Raynal didn't come close to fitting the alleged crime, the few extra seconds Bernard Foley took being deemed a hanging offence in a sport in which the ball is in play for less than half the allotted 80 minutes.
And I believe the nitpicking referee actually got it wrong himself after he rubbed out Australia's penalty and signalled an All Black scrum feed in deciding that Foley was time-wasting, as a Wallaby victory beckoned.
The only sanction I can find in the rugby rule book for deliberate time-wasting is a free kick, which makes sense because of the offence's deliberate nature. Scrums are for mistakes.
The correct ruling would have given the All Blacks a free kick allied to the option of a scrum.
I would certainly love to hear World Rugby's take on the whole matter given its momentous nature, including whether Raynal was right to order a scrum.
In making such a decision, a referee needs to get it completely right. Getting it wrong brings into question his whole mindset quite frankly.
And if rugby is about to crack down on time-wasting, it might consider removing the scrum option and demand a quick re-start via a free kick. The idea that rugby can sort out time wasting by setting scrums is of course absurd.
Raynal's burst of egomania typifies rugby at the moment, a sport of utter rule confusion and contention.
The World Cup is more likely to be decided on the random business of disputed cards and madcap decisions than it is by skill or one team's dominance.
As head injury assessments and cards (with scrum ramifications) pile up, it's hard to work out who is on the field at times, or instinctively even know how many players are on each side.
Large sections of all matches are played under advantage rulings that simply seem to encourage even more deliberate offending and more penalty threats.
The World Cup has next to no chance of being completed without mad controversies that render the whole thing ridiculous.
The game feels like it is spinning out of control, that it has lost its soul and become a 'beat the ref' exercise. Players' first task, in many situations, is simply to win a penalty.
For this argument, I would present the English round two premiership clash between Saracens and Harlequins over the weekend.
The last 15 minutes or so involved each side celebrating every refereeing decision that went their way as if they had won the World Cup.
In Buenos Aires, there was plenty to celebrate given that there were well over 30 penalties dished out in the Rugby Championship game between the Springboks and Pumas.
These penalties included one that would rank as particularly ludicrous.
A Pumas forward, running in front of his own ball carrier, crashed into a couple of static South Africans, who were then penalised by Kiwi referee James Doleman for tackling a player without the ball.
(The game did provide one major highlight - the Argentinian crowd was in magnificent form as the Pumas mounted a second-half comeback.)
On Sunday night, an old mate and I talked rugby, skipping over the weekend's alleged action to drool over Christian Cullen's highlight reel.
Watching the great All Blacks fullback in action is one heck of an antidote to the poison that modern rugby has become.
Not everything from the old days was better. But even in the darker moments fans still dreamt of the game's beauty, and the promise of golden eras lay ahead.
What rugby does now provide is endless crazy drama, arguments and fiery fodder for the masses, which has its place of course. It has become addicted to its own nuttiness, as if hooked on a debilitating sugar rush. If that is your go, then the game is in great heart, and rugby will dish up some crazy World Cup headlines.
But as a sport, it is mindless and unfathomable, with the main aim being to extract favourable decisions from a fleet of match officials who have to be overly concerned about their post-match assessments if they want to progress.
Wallaby coach Dave Rennie - robbed of an almost certain career-changing victory - was absolutely right when he claimed that referee Raynal's decision indicated he had no feel for the game.
But nor has anyone else involved, not for the game we once treasured.
The trouble is, it's hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel for rugby anymore.
On one hand, Wallaby coach Dave Rennie spoke well about the Mathieu Raynal incident. On the other, he defended his forward Darcy Swain for what most neutrals would agree was a 'dog act' tackle that badly injured Quinn Tupaea. Such is the disingenuous nature of almost all coach-speak.
Players like Swain could cost their sides dearly at the World Cup.
The big risk factor in the All Blacks is probably prop Tyrel Lomax.
He has some bad moments on his CV and should have been carded for a very deliberate lifting tackle in the Melbourne game which suggests his discipline is still an issue.
It is also time for professional footballers to take the safety requirements on board, and show more respect for their opponents.
League, for instance, still sees players commit obvious and appalling head slams.
The majority of what will be this year's league World Cup squad have been eliminated from the NRL playoffs, which is good news for coach Michael Maguire and the Kiwis fans.
It reduces the suspension and injury threats to his big-name players, and also means the Kiwi squad will be well rested after another long and tough NRL season.
Of the 18 who suited up for the mid-year test against Tonga, six - James Fisher-Harris, Isaiah Papali'i, Moses Leota, Dylan Brown, Marata Niukore and Peta Hiku - are still in action.
Maguire will also be delighted with key playmaker Brown's form in the Eels' demolition job on the Raiders.
The Kiwis' brilliant middle forward Joseph Tapine had a below-par game for Canberra but if fatigue was a factor, he should be nicely refreshed by a pre-World Cup rest.
What a strange time for tennis. Arguably the two greatest, Roger Federer and Serena Williams, have retired within weeks of each other.
All things considered, there is little doubt that Williams is the best women's player of all time.
All court surfaces considered, there's probably a very good argument that Novak Djokovic is the finest male player.
It's a close call, and Djokovic just doesn't get the credit he deserves.
Childhood impressions are hard to shake and for me, there will never be another John "Meltdown" McEnroe, the magnificent tennis artist of the 1970/80s.
But when it comes to assessing the combination of style, skill and success, the elegant Federer was the best, no doubt about it.
As for the actual best…probably Djokovic.
Fabien Galthie has picked a second-choice squad for July's NZ Tests.