The ethnic origins of the English are never more pronounced than in a sports stadium. The have a Germanic attitude to law and regulations quite different from that of Celts who populated the rest of Britain and Ireland. Thankfully, the settlers of Britain's former colonies bequeathed us a more Celtic mindset that says rules are necessary but not sacred, they should be ignored in situations where to do so serves a higher purpose like a free-flowing game.
I watched the cup opener between England and Fiji with mounting dismay. It wasn't the frequent stops for a television ruling, or even the sin-binning of Fiji's lively halfback for flinging himself across a maul in a vain attempt to stop a try. We are sadly accustomed to yellow cards ruining a game for something so trivial.
The rulings that began to sicken me were the penalties being awarded against tacklers who were landing on the wrong side of players they had hauled down and could not instantly roll away. It was quickly evident that referees for this World Cup are under instructions of zero tolerance at the breakdowns, even when a tackler was under a pile of players and had no way to roll away.
Inevitably, when players noticed this they started preventing opposing tacklers rolling away, particularly if play were in range of the posts. In sport as in life, regulations rigidly enforced produce the opposite result to that intended. Instead of free flowing, games were going to get contests of penalty kicks.
I despaired all weekend at the idiocy of rules impossible to obey - then got up to watch the All Blacks on Monday morning. What a revelation.
As Argentina started strongly and came at us, the All Blacks all made their tackles and not one was penalised. Somehow they all managed to fall on the right side of the ball.
They must have watched those first matches and gone out to their training field to work out what you had to do in every angle of collision to stay onside. The only one to fall on the wrong side during that first half against Argentina, and he did it only once, was Richie McCaw. It looked like he was just checking that it mattered, and it did. He was penalised.
The team had worked out how to play under the rigid enforcement of the tackle rules and rugby is going to be better and faster as all teams at the World Cup work out how they do it. But the pace is going to suit the All Blacks most of all. No wonder Steve Hansen seemed more satisfied with his team's performance that day than the scribes thought he had a right to be.
I wish he would talk more candidly about their techniques. They can hardly be a secret kept from opposing coaches who watch them play. It is probably modesty rather than security that prevents him explaining the things they do that lead and define this game.
The pace and spirit in which they play has been transmitted to Australia and all Pacific teams including, now, Japan. New Zealand coaches have taken the same spirit to Wales and Scotland but it is taking a long time to reach the hosts of this World Cup.
There was a telling moment in the opening match when Fiji was penalised and a mic picked up its captain's protest that an England player was killing the ball. "Ho ho," said the English commentator, "that's a bit rich. That's what they are all trying to do."
A World Cup is always a test of rugby's soul. Referees seem determined this one will not be won by slowing the game and the All Blacks have ensured they will not be beaten by penalties. It promises to be magnificent.
