The key ingredients of a successful World Cup are few in number but broad in sweep: a critical mass of genuinely competitive teams, a group stage with a sense of jeopardy, a disciplinary system that works for the weakest sides in the tournament as well as the most powerful and a collective sense of ambition that gives the best wings the best chance to show the best of themselves.

No pressure on next year’s global gathering in Australia, then.
The decline and fall of Wales; the dilution of the tournament’s talent pool with the muddle-headed addition of four fresh bunches of no-hopers; the dr...