FIRST of all, I have to say that I’m glad that one of my picks, France, made it to the final of the World Cup, and I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t actually win it.

I thought that the final was absolutely gripping and a fantastic advert for the game of rugby – when the haka was taking place, I thought that was worth the entrance fee alone and I was off my seat.

I don’t really buy into the notion that certain teams deserve to win because of what’s happened in their history and I feel it was a game that France could have won.

The referee, Craig Joubert, made a few 50/50 decisions that could have gone the other way and the last 20 minutes was thrilling as France threw everything at them.

But you have to say that New Zealand were worthy winners – they’ve been the number one ranked side in the world for a long time.

If the favourites won easily every time in sport, then we wouldn’t bother watching and I’m glad that it was a close game.

In the end, you have to say it was a good tournament – New Zealand is only a small country but they hosted things well and it was good to see that the gap between the weaker sides and the tier one sides was closer.

The only criticism you could have is the fact that it felt as if you had to wait a long time to see the big boys play again in the group stages, while some of the other sides were out again in midweek.

But everything else was fantastic and even though the score was always quite low in games, they were still gripping to watch.

As an England fan, it’s a shame that the off-field antics took away from everything else in the tournament and made it a little bit disappointing.

When you look at a side like Australia, I always felt that they were about 18 months ahead of us and the tournament probably came a bit too soon for some of England’s players.

We’ve definitely got the players in this country and when you look at the likes of Courtney Lawes and Tom Wood, they’re the future.

It’s just all about what Martin Johnson wants to do now and if he chooses to step down.

I don’t think that we can reward failure and there’ll have to be a reshuffle of his backroom staff but Martin is a loyal person and he may not be pleased about that.

But second chances can sometimes lead to success and you can see that with the New Zealand coach, Graham Henry.

Clive Woodward kept his job in 1999 and then, four years later, he won the next World Cup with England.

Changes have definitely got to be made at the top and we do need to rebuild but sacking Johnson may not be the thing to do.