Irish scrum unsettled without Hayes

Donal Spring/Rugby Analyst: After the first series of games I question the value of having 20 teams in the World Cup finals. Of the eight games played, four were non-contests.

While the winners and their supporters may have enjoyed themselves, rugby in Italy, Georgia, Uruguay, and to a lesser extent, Fiji will have gained little from the experience.

I would suggest the IRB consider splitting the World Cup into two divisions, which would give the weaker nations a realistic chance of winning something. I cannot see what benefit they gain from these thrashings.

The results all went according to predictions with nothing close to a surprise. The most significant thing from this first series could well be the injuries suffered by New Zealand.

The loss of Tana Umaga, Carlos Spencer or Joe Rokocoko would be a serious blow even to the All Blacks. Losing more than one could be very significant in the long run especially as the strength of this All Black side has been their back line.

Clive Woodward was taking no chances with his front-line players and was very quick to take them off in their match against Georgia.

Australia looked very impressive in the opening phase against Argentina. It is interesting how Eddie Jones has picked the best 15 players available to him even when this has meant playing people out of position such as Matt Burke and Elton Flatly.

I thought they were going to put a huge score on Argentina and I believe would have but for the injuries suffered by second row David Giffen just after half time. Fortunately it is not as serious as it looked but it affected their appetite for the game as they seemed to shirk hard contact for a long period afterwards and also kicked a lot of ball away needlessly. They will be better in the remainder of their pool games and certainly by the time they play Ireland.

The IRB should immediately ban lifting at kick-offs, firstly because it is very dangerous and has always been so. Secondly, because it is totally unnecessary; and thirdly, because it gives an unfair advantage to the receiving team over their opposition.

I would also like to see lifting banned outright. This will not happen in the foreseeable future in the lineouts, where it has become the accepted norm even though it has destroyed the skill of jumping. Some of the coaches seem to have taken action in this regard themselves, as there has been little or no lifting in the games played since the Giffen incident.

Australia's opponents in the opening game were Argentina, the team of greatest interest to Ireland. Frankly they were disappointing. Their lineout was a shambles, particularly in the first half when they had a huge number of crooked throws. The wind may have been a factor and they will surely rectify this before they play Ireland.

Leinster's new signing, Felipe Contepomi, was not hugely impressive and his place-kicking was poor. He will be lucky to hold his position as his rival Gonzalo Quesada's place-kicking is of a different standard. However, they may both be accommodated in the side.

The Irish team and management will be happy to have the first game over with. They looked very nervous at the start but had settled well by the time the game finished.

Fortunately Romania didn't score a try early in the second half when a ball rebounded off an upright, which would have brought the score to 28-15. That could have made the task far more difficult. The Romanian forwards were very impressive and in prop Balan and open-side flanker Ovidu Tonita they had the best forwards on the pitch.

When one considers the number of players who did not travel for financial reasons it is clear that given economic conditions similar to the main rugby nations, the Romanians could be a real force again.

I have painful memories of playing against them with Munster at Thomond Park when they thrashed us by over 30 points before drawing with Ireland 13-13 the following Saturday. They regularly beat France in those days when we couldn't do it.

Like the Argentinians, their place-kicking let them down badly even if Ionut Tofan didn't seem particularly concerned. His casual style is in sharp contrast to most kickers nowdays.

The Irish scrum looks unsettled without John Hayes. It is vital he plays against Argentina even if only for the scrum. His lack of match fitness is secondary.

The forwards need to be tighter as a unit. I know it's unfashionable to criticise Keith Wood but he plays more like an extra back row than a member of the front five, which contributes greatly to the looseness of the unit. The gap between Shane Byrne and himself is far narrower than generally perceived and this will be obvious by the time the tournament is over.

Wood is more important to the side for his captaincy and this gives him the edge over Byrne. Brian O'Driscoll gets enough attention from all our opponents without having the extra burden of leadership to contend with.

The team that started on Saturday, with the addition of Hayes for Marcus Horan, clearly looks the first choice, even though I would prefer Ronan O'Gara to David Humphreys when we are playing against the top nations because of the Munster player's better defence.