So now it’s over, I can’t help thinking the build up to the Rugby World Cup was a tad greater than the event.

All the stress over streaming and whether it would work, the state of the All Blacks, and who’d play where, the reffing, the number of yellow and red cards given out, the availability of games at pubs and clubs for people to watch free to air.

Didn’t we get ourselves in a pickle about all of that?

Then boom, just like that, it’s now all over.

We didn’t win. Mind you, neither did England.

Turns out none of us really predicted or could predict it.

We threw everything at it though. I don’t recall seeing that many local media at an international occasion in a long time.. it felt like every TV and radio presenter was in Tokyo broadcasting from that Shibuya crossing at some point.

So what did we learn from it?

Well there’ll be sports nuts way more embedded in rugby culture than me who’ll be churning out their various theories for months if not years to come. But what I picked up, as a sideline punter along for the ride, was the level of sportsmanship we saw on display.

The AB’s, in losing against England, were gracious.

They were professional, gave credit where credit was due, and to my mind, seemed beyond reproach in terms of sportsmanship.

Yes there was that little press conference moment where Steve Hansen allegedly snapped at a reporter, which I think was over hyped and over reported. He didn’t snap, he’s Steve Hansen, he looks incapable of snapping.

He offered to pop outside to give the reporter an education and that’s probably all he would’ve offered. He was defending his broken hearted boys and I get that. I didn’t think he was losing his rag or having a go at the media at all. How hard must it be to show up right after a loss like that and take questions on your performance when all they probably wanted to do was go home and collectively crawl into a hole.

But I tell you what I think did showed a lack of sportsmanship: England, in refusing their runners up medals.

One by one as they walked past the official handing them their medals to put round their neck, some of them either refused to have them popped over their head and grabbed them with their hand instead, or if they did get it over their head, promptly took it off.

Why do you need to do that?  We know it’s gut wrenchingly disappointing, we know it’s not the result you wanted, but what’s the message you’re sending there? That the game’s not worth playing unless you win it?

I think a far more gracious thing to do would been to have taken a leaf out of the All Blacks book, and graciously accept the place you came.

Anything less is just bad sportsmanship.