Team of the tournament

It's very tempting, from 1-15 to put All Blacks' in here. They did, after all, win so as a team they were the best.

But after a close semi-final, close 3-4th play-off and close final it's pretty clear that's not fair to a lot of class players.

As usual for me, I'm going to look for what I consider to be consistency through the tournament wherever possible, and cluster players by groups to some extent.

Front Row:

This is an almost impossible choice. How many sides wouldn't welcome Woodcock, Mealamu, Franks, Poux, Servat and Mas, Jones and Jenkins (at least) into their front row. Add to this, those first choice players were occasionally beaten in a game by their opponents, but occasionally beat them too. Even Australia showed up in the 3/4 play off.

Woodcock gets the nod for me, that try being the icing on the cake. Jenkins on the other side - rarely beaten in the tight, plus tackling and carrying all around the park. Mealamu just edges Servat. Mas and Franks unlucky to lose out, and although Jones didn't make the cut, Wales certainly need him.

Second Row:

Again a hard choice. Chateris made Wales have a line out again. The other Welsh locks didn't let their side down, but seemed to rotate a bit too much for consideration. Nallet always looked good. Thorn and Whitelock started every match and never looked bad. Horwill led Australia well and Sharpe looked good when he played.

I'm going to give the nod here to Thorn and Whitelock. The AB line out never creaked when the ball was near them, and they stole ball from everyone.

Back Row:

An embarrassment of riches here. Warburton, Pocock, McCaw, Dusatoir all competing for one place. Harinordoqui, Read and Faletau for another, Lydiate and Kaino for the third.

McCaw gets one berth. He beat Pocock round the park in that semi while it was close with Dusatoir, more consistent through the whole tournament gets him the nod. Warburton loses out for a nod here thank's the Alain Rolland. But he (and Brussow) will be fighting Ritchie's crown over the next few years. Faletau just gets the nod at 8. He looked too good against France with and without Warburton to lose it to Harinordiqui, Read missed too many matches at the beginning, although he was probably the 8 of the knock-out stages. Kaino at blind-side. He was immense throughout the tournament.

Scrum-half:

Weepu wins here. All the others deserve a consideration - Yachvilli, Phillips and Genia would grace almost any team. Weepu gets it for me for taking the rotating junior 10's and making it work for them and the All Blacks. Yes, his kicking was off in the final, Yachvilli kicked well for France. Genia's movement of the ball was largely good. Philips certainly impressed. But Weepu picked up the potentially shattered hopes of a nation watching Carter collapse in pain, put them back together and dragged his various mates over the line.

Number 10:

Who to choose here? No one finished with their first choice. Cooper played most games, but looked really subdued in two critical games - bad against SA and NZ. Carter is still the class player. Cruden looked good in his 2 matches, but only played 2. Parra stood up in a relatively unfamiliar position and looked OK until the final. Priestland looked good, and Wales certainly missed him.

Priestland it is. He played more than any of them except Cooper and didn't have a bad game while he played. I think Carter and Cruden in years to come will be a devastating 1-2 for NZ, and not sure that Dan will be the man come 2015 any longer, but Priestland has had a great introduction on the biggest stage.

12 and 13:

Australia struggled to keep their centres playing too much for any to get onto the list when everyone else had their first choice play throughout. Sorry to you all - especially Barnes who probably deserved more time. Smith or Davis in one slot; Roberts, Rougerie or Nonu in the other? Before the tournament I would have said SBW would be on the list, but he didn't play enough, although he looked good when he did.

Roberts is an easy shout to my mind. He always looked dangerous, he made holes for others to exploit and put them through them reliably. Nonu had a quiet game or two, Rougerie to quiet in the pool stages.

Davis or Smith is harder. They both looked solid in all parts of their game, doing what was asked of them. Davis just edges it because he seemed to look more dangerous on attack - how much of this was playing outside Roberts I'm not sure but it's enough for me.

Back three:

Because they're so often interchangeable these days I'm picking all three as a group.

Fun and games here. Clerc - joint top try scorer? Williams who attracted attention every time he touched the ball and still scored some nice tries? Jane who looked so awesome under the high balls? Kahui who played there a lot and never looked bad despite playing out of position? North? Halfpenny? Dagg - who more or less kept Muliaina out of the XV when fit? O'Connor can't be overlooked either, not just for his kicking. Australia suffered a bit here with the poor form of their forwards and Cooper, the wings seemed too quiet, full back changed too much with centres getting crocked.

Clerc, Jane and Dagg. Clerc for the attacking edge just beats Williams and North. Jane for his amazing defence under the high ball, around the park and his ability to attack from there. Dagg... beating out Muliaina is no mean feat. He just edges Halfpenny despite the skill and long range kicking the latter brings.

So there we go.

9 All Blacks, 5 Welshmen and a Frenchman. A few Aussies that can consider themselves unlucky, injuries and the bad form of others pulled them down a bit.

Wales will be the side to beat come the 6N it appears...