If you wanted extreme drama, you could view the men’s World Cup final in Paris or enjoy a trip around the world to take in the final rites of WXV2 and 3.

USA v Italy

The final minutes of WXV2 could not have been tenser.

Italy were way ahead of USA, so no worries about the final result. It was the other points that mattered, points difference. In an agonising finish all depended on the TMO’s verdict about legal grounding. Italy desperately needed one more score. The replays looked as though the camera was in Row Z. Finally Leo Colgan spotted an Italian obstruction in the build-up, so no try.

Scotland celebrate – photo Johan Rynners – World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images

The game went on. The Azzurre continued their all-out attack, but an error had to come, the Eagles defending as if their own lives were at stake.

In the stand were the Scots, hardly daring to watch. It was all a matter of that one final score. Italy were given a penalty. A kick at goal in a strong wind?. Sofia Stefan shouted for help from the stand: which option? They went for a scrum, they flung the ball around like a hot potato. When a knock-on occurred, the Scots erupted with joy; the Italians were crestfallen. The Americans realised they still have a long winding path to regain their past stature.

Now we see that the try scored by Emma Orr in the 79th minute against Japan the day before was the vital act that gave the Scots the trophy.

Watching the Azzurre play gives a lot of pleasure, the number of passes out of the tackle seemed to mount into the hundreds; wild passes were netted as if by the old mail train travelling at 60 mph. It was breathless, but it was helpful not to be an Italian fan, the tension would have been too great.

They scored some quite wonderful tries, involving multiple passing movements, sometimes lateral, sometimes direct. I have long felt they were the side most likely to make the big advance in the Six Nations. With so many newer faces brought into the team by Giovanni Raineri, the future looks bright.

For the Eagles the same bright hopes were dimmed. Their performance seemed to hold out great promise; the pack did well, the backs had their moments, but the lack of time together must be the ultimate deterrent to progress.

From the outside their best bet looks to be for Milton Haig to take over permanently. His initial approach has been to stress the historical aspect of their rugby progress. But it’s what happens on today’s training fields that matters more. If they could afford to bring the most promising players together for a lengthy period in one place – the Chula Vista Center comes to mind – things could advance rapidly. But that is asking for the moon.

For the moment Kate Zackary has to talk modestly about gradual improvements. The talent is most certainly there but not the finances. It’s a familiar story.

Result: USA 8 Italy 30
PotM Sofia Stefan

Referee: Natarsha Ganley (NZR)
ARs: Aurélie Groizeleau (FFR) and Zoe Naude (SARU)
TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU)

Final table                         W      L     Pts Diff        Pts

Scotland                               3        0         55             15

Italy                                       3        0         53             15

South Africa                        1         2         -6              5

Japan                                   1          2       -22              5

USA                                      1          2       -22             5

Samoa                                 0          3       -58             1

Here we see here the tightness of the results. The weakness of the structure is the arbitrary nature of who plays whom. Teams playing the side that finished bottom were always likely to achieve a better points difference. USA finished fifth solely because of that regulation. They scored one more try than Japan.

As for promotion, Ali Donnelly keeps reminding us (and commentators in particular) that finishing top does not mean automatic promotion. It all depends on 6N finishing spots, and anyway there’s no promotion this year. For the moment the two European sides lie comfortably ahead of their competitors. That is why the WXV came into being.

WXV3

Ireland v Spain

Result: Ireland 15 Spain 13
PotM Dannah O’Brien

It shouldn’t have been like this. Ireland were the odds-on favourites to walk off with the WXV3 trophy. But they were unable to recreate the domination they had known in the two previous rounds. Credit for that must go to Las Leonas, for whom this competition might have been invented. They disrupted Irish plans so much that it was like being back in the last Six Nations: the Girls in Green all over the place, not knowing which way to turn.

This was another agonisingly tight match. Against most expectations – mine certainly – the Irish struggled all through to achieve the narrowest of wins at the last gasp. They were far from the carefree group who had cast away dull care against Kazakhstan and Colombia. But just look at the comparative standings of the opposition.

Now they were fallible, all too often fumbling. It is to their credit that they kept fighting to the final whistle, Sam Monaghan a tower of strength as captain and reliable line-out provider. The young out-half Dannah O’Brien kept the Spaniards beyond arm’s length by the power of her left boot. Now Ireland need to develop a second kicker to vary the pattern. Too many of O’Brien’s kicks failed to find grass; an inside centre using the right boot would have created more uncertainty in Spain’s defensive alignments.

For them Amalia Argudo at full-back had an outstanding game too.

But the fact remains that Ireland were the winners of the championship, and everyone who has shared their unhappiness over the past few years can share their delight.

Overall

The point about arbitrariness (but not promotion!) is even truer of WXV3. There, inevitably, the contrasts were at their greatest. Ireland and Spain fought toe to toe. The huge gap in points difference (172/37) is quite misleading.

Final table                         W      L      Pts Diff         Pts

Ireland                                  3        0          172               14
Fiji                                         2        1           165               11
Spain                                    2         1            37               10
Kenya                                   1         2          -22                 5
Kazakhstan                         1         2         -221                4
Colombia                            0         3         -131                 0

Here the Kazakhs scored fewer points and conceded far more than Colombia, but managed to beat them head-to-head.

For the four non-European nations this tournament will have meant a great deal. They can now return home knowing far better what needs to be done to improve their lot. That goes for the coaches as much as for the players. And they will have enjoyed the camaraderie that playing in a single location has offered them.

Friday 27 October, Scotland v Japan; KO 14.00 (local time, 13.00 UK time)
Friday 27 October, Samoa v South Africa; KO 16.30 (local time, 15.30 UK time)
Saturday 28 October, USA v Italy; KO 17.00 (local time, 16.00 UK time)

An immense amount hangs on this climax to the second-tier tournament; not at the top end, but the basement. There is no promotion to WXV1 this year (great relief to the side finishing last there!), but relegation lurks in this group. The match in question is between the two Ss, the Boks and Manusina.

Currently the (simplified) table looks like this:

                                Pts Diff

Italy 10 points           +31
Scotland 10                +24
Japan 5                         +9
USA 5                             0
Samoa 1                      -32
South Africa 0           -32

So just one bonus point separates the bottom two.

The Boks have suffered a triple loss, Tayla Kinsey and Luchell Hanekom with injuries that force their withdrawal. Aseza Hele’s red card means she is unavailable.

Despite the precariousness of their position, the Boks have two things in their favour: playing in front of a home crowd (bigger than last time, let’s hope) and their menfolk disputing a World Cup final the same weekend.

Both sides have leaked 30+ points in their two games, but they were against sides ranked a distance ahead of them. Now that they meet together, vital ingredients will be discipline and concentration.

Manusina have the distinctive talents of Oceania teams in freeing the ball and running. They have a big pack, but not all of them are blessed with pace. The Boks too have powerful forwards, and have tended to concentrate their efforts on establishing domination there, with Libbie Janse van Rensburg adding a powerful boot to the argument.

Sitting right in the middle of the pack are the Eagles. It’s revealing to hear their respected captain Kate Zackary, talk about building for the future. It would have been preferable if that process had begun at the start of the year, to profit from the developments Rob Cain had put in place. But Milton Haig is only now getting to grips with the program, and even an experienced coach like him needs more time to refine the team’s game-management. Even so, it is disappointing to see them struggling to dominate matches. With so many accomplished players in the squad you would expect to see them faring better.

At the top of the pile, the most Italy and Scotland can hope for is establishing boasting rights; promotion to the big time comes next year.

Both are in buoyant mood. The Scots will face a different type of opposition from the Eagles last week. But they have met the Sakura recently, and suffered an unwelcome home loss to them in Edinburgh.

At least they will know what they are up against. Lesley McKenzie has done a good job in advancing Japan’s game over the past few years, and now she has the experience and expertise of Simon Middleton to assist her.

But the Scots are a revelation these days, playing with a fluency and confidence that must delight their supporters. (Apologies for a recent error: they have five wins on the spin, not four.)

Precisely the same is true of the Azzurre. By the way, they dedicated their win last week to Melissa Bettoni, who gave birth to Aura and Charles.

Nanni Raineri was pleased with most aspects of their performance against the Springboks, but he couldn’t understand why they switched their emphasis to taking on the opposition up front. There was no need for that; they had the beating of them elsewhere. It will be vital or them to stick to the agreed plans against the Eagles; it’s a crucial match for them.

So the question is who can squeeze the better result out of two tight matches.

My non-existent pocket-money is on the Scots. When were they last top of the pole?

Unlike the six in WXV1 they don’t divide neatly along geographical lines, indeed they come from five different continents, which is gratifying. So a decision had to be made about dividing them into their two pools.

It works out like this: Italy (ranked 8th), Samoa (16th) and Scotland (9th) will play against Japan (10th), South Africa (12th) and USA (7th). Inevitably there is a wider divergence in rankings than for WXV1, due to World Rugby’s wise insistence on spreading opportunities right across the globe. This is the effect of enlarging the next World Cup to sixteen teams. WR needs to allow more nations the chance to aim for the top of the pole. WXV serves that purpose.

It brings with it the pleasure of rarity value. Only Italy and Scotland will have played more than a handful of matches against each other, thanks to the Six Nations. Each of the six wants, above all, to compete more often at test level. This is their chance.

It’s next to impossible to compare the various leagues each of the six promotes at home. The results from this tournament will give the administrators a better idea of how matters stand in their own parish.

Fascinating too is the massive difference in population size. But size does not equate to popularity. So the smallest of the six, Samoa Manusina, may well boast the most passionate supporters of the game.

And they meet the biggest, the USA, in Round One.

So this group has the attraction of unpredictability. Scotland proved too strong for South Africa when they went on a rare tour there. But the Boks are advancing fast.

Samoa, like the other island groups of Oceania have suffered badly from a lack of competition. This is their big chance to start playing regular tests against worthy opposition. Like Fiji in WXV3, they should profit enormously. They have done themselves proud by holding the African champions to a 17-all draw at Hermanus near Cape Town; another warm-up match to prove WXV’s worth.

At the other end of the size scale, even the Eagles will benefit greatly from being together on tour for an extended period. This is an important opportunity to fine-tune their efforts.

The Scots are in a similar position to the Welsh, riding on a wave of confidence after lengthy periods of losses in the Six Nations. They have greater depth of talent than for a long while.

The Azzurre are yet another squad to have enjoyed far too few test matches, beyond their regular diet of 6 Nations games. Their home loss to the Sakura at the end of last month must have come as an unpleasant shock.

It would be a surprise if the results turn out neatly in accordance with current rankings. In that respect they differ excitingly from the top tier. WXV2 comes to resemble a real forcing ground of talent.

Opening Bouts:

Friday 13 October: Italy v Japan, Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch
Friday 13 October: Scotland v South Africa, Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch
Saturday 14 October: USA v Samoa, Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch