WORLD RUGBY HAS DECIDED THE FINAL ALREADY

I have been trying to rein in my emotions writing this blog, but the decision to ban two Scots for five weeks, ruling them out of the entire tournament is a farce. It is as if World Rugby has decided it wants the top two ranked teams in the world in the final already, so is removing any realistic opposition to New Zealand and Australia over the next two rounds. The fact that the citings were declared in the first place was surprising, even more so was the decision by World Rugby to appoint an Australian to review the evidence (who play Scotland on Saturday). A kangaroo court was inevitable (ouch!).

Skippy then takes an inordinate amount of time to make up his mind, only declaring at 2130hrs on Tuesday, leaving Scotland only three days to regroup and replace two key players. It's a joke. Ross Ford has 93 caps to his name, and his battle with Stephen Moore would have been great (his replacement has only two caps), but, at his age, has now played his last RWC game. Jonny Gray, Richie's brother, by contrast is only 21, but is already a true leader in the side, calling the lineouts and having a tackle count as high as anyone.

Citing official contemplates navel

There is something awry here. Of all the players banned during RWC 2015, all the players banned for more than one week are from Tier 2 nations. I also fail to understand why messrs. Hooper and O'Brien were only banned for one week for Australia and Ireland respectively for clear violent conduct, not three weeks like the two Scottish players (reduced by two for good record). Pocock was given just a retrospective yellow card for kneeing an opponent in the back so is free to play on Sunday (remember Aus v NZ final). Maybe they have better lawyers? It smacks of a Big Four World Rugby cosy stitch up (yes I do think that). The second tier teams have consistently been up against it, not just from citings, but also from ridiculously short game turnarounds and rubbish refereeing. The decision to not award Tonga a penalty try against New Zealand was absurd - everyone knows NZ kill the ball under pressure all the time relying on the officials not having the balls to make the tough call. The fact that Richie "Untouchable" McCaw has so few yellow cards backs this up (plenty of stud marks on his back though).

We all know Scotland would have struggled to overcome Oz even with a full squad to choose from, but those who have forked out £150+ for a ticket at Twickers this Sunday (including myself) now face a mismatch . World Rugby have obviously had the shock result box firmly ticked by Japan against SA, and now want business as usual resumed. Another heroic Scottish defeat beckons.