Appropriate that a match involving France should throw up some existential issues.
In walloping Namibia 96-0 on Thursday night at the Vélodrome in Marseille, the hosts of the 2023 World Cup underlined their wonderfulness in what effectively became a training ground gambol.
But the 14-try demolition in front of 63,000 frothing fans at the Vélodrome exhibited the seeping sadness that infuses the World Cup: it really is such an elitist gig.
The nine titles have been a carve-up between the former British colonies of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.
England - whose public school playing fields spawned the sport 200 years ago - have only once managed to win the Webb Ellis trophy - named after the supposed inventor of the game.
Hit
France have been beaten finalists three times. And their chances of reaching a fourth final took a severe hit during the rout of Namibia when star player and all-action skipper Antoine Dupont left the field early in the second-half with a face injury.
The 26-year-old scrum-half, who was deemed world player of the year in 2021, underwent surgery on Friday night at Toulouse’s CHU Purpan. France team supremos are waiting to discover how long he will be absent.
Head coach Fabien Galthié defended his decision not to substitute his captain fantastic earlier.
"You can say we shouldn't have sent him out for the second-half but the thing is these players want to play and actually they need to play."
But while Galthié and the partisans wail about title pretensions, at the other end of the food chain, the 'tier two' countries continue to labour.
Galthié's words about prime specimens neeeding to be kept oiled and shiny could be just as easily applied to the likes of the comparative cloggers turning out for Namibia, Georgia, Romania and debutants Chile.
Change
They will forever stew in their slough of despondency unless they face the Duponts of the planet on a more regular basis to glean the necessary improvements to raise standards in their own relative backwaters.
World Rugby, which runs the sport globally, also require the improvements to avoid the array of one-sided matches. What does Ireland 82 Romania 3 show? Or Italy 52 Namibia 8?
Namibia are light years away from challenging a nation that is improving but struggles in the annual European championships against England, Wales and Scotland.
France – operating at a level above that trio – exposed Namibian limitations gruesomely as did New Zealand in their second match where it ended 71-3.
"What I can take away from the game is that there were just too many moving parts for us," said a still stunned full-back André van der Bergh more than two hours after the France match.
"We haven't played together a lot and don't have that much Test match experience as well in the last four years. We ... just ... it's just too much moving parts, man."
Develop
Veteran teammate Pieter-Jan van Lill was as blitzed but more eloquent having suffered such maulings at three previous World Cups.
"The thing is with the small tier two countries like us is we don't get enough exposure to playing against tier one nations.
"It only comes at the World Cup and you can't grow as a team if you don't play against a higher level.
"I'm not saying that the tier two nations that we play against are not a good level, I'm just saying we don't have exposure and that's the only way we can grow as a nation.
"I think we can develop all the tier two nations," the 39-year-old added. "I know it's tough. I know all the tier one nations are in different hemispheres and different time zones, so there's not a quick solution to that."
But a solution needs to be found by the time the World Cup rolls into Australia in four years otherwise the competition will lose any sense of meaningful jeopardy.
"Some changes are due to performance, others due to injury and others to give players exposure in a rugby World Cup," conceded Chile coach Pablo Lemoine before his side's game against England in Lille on Saturday.
Work
"We are in a tournament but also working ahead to the next four years and we have to give everyone game experience as we do not have opportunities to play against the tier one.
"To improve, we must take advantage of these opportunities." A stark critique of the not so international rugby complex.
And for about 20 minutes, Chile frustrated the 2019 runners-up. But England eventually racked up 71 unanswered points.
"At the beginning of the game we were competitive then the indiscipline and pace of the game made things difficult for us," said Chile forward Javier Eissmann after the game
"If we want to be a competitive team in these instances, we need more games against this sort of opposition. What we lack the most is experience.
"What Chilean rugby needs now, like Uruguay, for example, is to have constant competition with higher-level rivals. Play teams like Japan, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga – to provide that rhythm of play that we need to be competitive."
Fiji will carry the banner for the tier two brigade following their 22-15 win over Australia in Saint-Etienne on 17 September.
Should Wales beat Australia on Sunday night in Lyon, Fiji will reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2007 if they see off Georgia next Saturday in Bordeaux and Portugal on 8 October in Toulouse.
Success
Success will vindicate the assertions of Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui whose side ran an admittedly sloppy Wales team close in Bordeaux. Following the 32-26 loss, he said that Fiji were close to a significant result.
"Obviously when you're playing against the best teams and you're playing against them consistently, you're improving as a team, your combinations and all that.
"I think when you ring fence the matches for the developed countries, the rich get richer and the poor stay a little bit the same," said Raiwalui.
"We had great preparation for the World Cup. We played in the Pacific Nations Cup and then France and then England. It's something that we don't normally get – a couple of Tests with developed nations in a row – and then playing Wales.
"So it's like anything, if you do things at the highest level, you prepare at the highest level, you always improve."
