"Hold on! Things just got interesting."

IT’S crazy to think that only two weeks ago I had Australia pegged as dark-horse favourites for World Cup glory...

...New Zealand the most likely to fall to pieces under the Kiwi strain...

....Wales to struggle in a Pool of Death...

...and the Springboks, Tri Nations flops, never to show signs of world champions form for at least another four years.

Since two weeks ago, everything has changed.

The pace of this year’s tournament has upped several notches. Teams we expect to win have done so with interest.

Scotland and Italy hold hope they could still reach the final eight and cause an upset.

New Zealand put in the best performance of the tournament by thumping the French, their World Cup nemeses from the north.

England continue to win but don’t look extraordinary.

All of a sudden, it feels like a World Cup.

Ireland’s win over the Aussies was the wake-up call.

Not for New Zealand or South Africa, however, who simply soldier on and dismantle anything in their paths.

It would be shameful to lose just to opt for a perceived easier route to the final.

They both could face the old enemy once again in place of Ireland, who they both would have expected to sweep aside with ease.

But instead they could be combined in a mini tournament of the three super-powers - a fight to the death to see who gets a chance for the ultimate prize.

If all goes to plan, we could be in for one hell of a final furlong.

But alarm bells were ringing above the hemisphere. The Irish win over Australia seems long ago now, but only because it has clicked the switch in the minds of their Six Nations comrades, who have only just realised they are now in a tournament they can surely win, and started to take matters seriously.

To their credit, Wales have stormed the tournament from its outset, albeit they may still be pondering whether their loss to South Africa in the opening round was so terrible after all.

Wales could still have beaten Australia if things were different and Ireland were on course to play South Africa in the quarter finals instead. But we live in a parallel universe.

As the tournament grows, you get the feeling it’s not necessary about who is best on paper, but who can survive the storm ahead and maybe, just maybe, have a crack at the jackpot.

It’s interesting to think that one game can change the whole mindset of a tournament.

Going into a test match with a southern hemisphere heavyweight is traditionally soul destroying. No one ever believes you are going to win.

Have Ireland proved us wrong? Has a shift really occurred? Or was it a one off?

Either way, doors have certainly opened. It’s cliché, but hindsight is a very special thing.

Things could still change again in the next 72 hours, but without it, everyone will feel a World Cup final is still in their grasp.

Get ready for a rocky ride in the next few weeks, because, unless I am wrong, there’s a feeling this tournament has only just begun.