KEY POINTS:
How much better this World Cup would be if France were the sole hosts of all 48 games.
Instead, Cardiff hosted two games over the weekend and has one more on Thursday, the Welsh facing Japan.
And this week it is Edinburgh's turn and there's one ominous sign
the cup fever that has produced bumper crowds for (on paper) mediocre contests hasn't arrived here yet.
At last count, just 25,000 tickets had been sold for the 67,500-capacity Murrayfield tomorrow morning when the Scots play Romania.
"We've seen the excitement generated over in France, and we desperately want to sustain that," Scottish coach Frank Hadden said yesterday.
He'll be lucky, if first impressions are any sort of gauge.
It does not appear the World Cup has made a real impact in Edinburgh, at least not yet.
Yesterday most of the accents strolling down Princes St - the vibrant heartbeat of the city beneath the imposing Edinburgh castle - were American. Once the black-clad hordes of New Zealand fans descend on the city for next Monday's clash with the All Blacks, that will change.
This is the tradeoff for supporting the French bid when the hosting rights were being sorted out by the International Rugby Board several years ago.
It's not the first time several countries have had a share in the hosting but it is messy and dilutes interest in the tournament.
Scotland's quarter-final ambitions hang on two games. They must beat the rugged Romanians, who are no slouches at a certain level of rugby occupied at present by most of the European teams, before tackling Italy in St Etienne on September 29.
In between lie the All Blacks, but as the Scots have yet to beat them in 102 years, best they don't count on any change there. Indeed, the word is Hadden might not even put out his best XV against the All Blacks.
That's pragmatism, saving the big push for the Italians, even if it threatens to turn the All Black test into a farce and makes a joke out of pool play - which would be fitting, as much of what's gone on so far has been laughable.
The Six Nations teams have been a collective disaster in this tournament. Even France's 87-10 win over Namibia must be put in the right perspective - it was against a 14-man Namibia.
The Scots, 56-10 winners over Portugal in their opening game, have made one positional and four personnel changes for the Romanians and are aware they'll have a tough contest.
Romania could have beaten Italy in Marseille last week, only losing unluckily by six points, and their history books have entries recording Scottish victories too.
Hadden is doing his best to keep Scottish feet planted.
"People tend to be too disrespectful of countries they know little about. They have over 100 guys playing professionally in France, a lot of them at top clubs. They are big lads, and in good nick," Hadden said yesterday.
All of which is true, but if the Scots tumble to the Oaks, as the Romanians are known, it will probably only result in a collective shaking of rugby heads as merely another in a tournament of dross for the Six Nations sextet.
And what will the All Blacks learn from this match?
Probably not much, although they'll take a good look at Scotland's well-regarded fullback Rory Lamont.
