The life Japan injected into the Rugby World Cup by beating South Africa last Saturday could ultimately help Ireland’s cause because the Japanese are the story now and that means some of the spotlight is taken off us. Ireland’s hugely impressive start in Cardiff suggested we are in rude health, physically and mentally, and eventually those signs would begin the inevitable dark horses chatter. We could do without too much of that until we have sneaked into a semi-final.

We couldn’t do much more than beat Canada in the manner we did. Tellingly, we answered their solitary try with one of our own almost instantly. Players like Iain Henderson and Luke Fitzgerald put their hands up for permanent inclusion; that’s the competition for places a team needs in the middle of a World Cup – not at the start or finish.

So Joe Schmidt will be happy with week one, happier still there was no major injury concerns out of Saturday. Romania this Sunday offer a similar second-gear test – one that will see the team changed considerably. Johnny Sexton proved his match sharpness so we can expect himself and Conor Murray to get more time on the bench on Sunday. The same is true of Paul O’Connell – Devon Toner will get a chance to keep Henderson honest and Jordi Murphy should also get a start.

At full-back, Rob Kearney might also see limited action, with Simon Zebo getting a chance to impress, while Tommy Bowe is due a run-out. Robbie Henshaw needs some game time too. These are Schmidt’s semi-dilemmas. He must keep his frontline 22 or 23 players ticking over while making sure all the squad members see some proper action between now and the French match.

It’s a first-world problem for the Schmidt and there is little doubt but that he has had plans in place for addressing the first two games for quite a while. The fact he can put those plans in place with everyone seemingly fit is a serious bonus.

Speaking of Italy and France, their game didn’t quite catch the imagination last weekend. It will be remembered as a bruising but necessary 80 minutes by the French. However, in the not-that-unlikely event of us drawing with France on the final day of the group phase, they may regret not scoring four tries and earning a bonus-point win over Italy.

Of course, Gallic form lines are notoriously unpredictable. This is the side that should have won the last World Cup after losing to Tonga in the pool stages. No, Ireland’s management will have paid more attention to Italy and the game they tried to impose on the French. That game was tactically limited and very narrow – hardly surprising given their lack of options, but ultimately easy to defend against for a top-tier side like Ireland.

Will there be that much improvement in the Italians between now and Sunday week? Not a chance; we’d have to fall off the pace considerably for them to seriously trouble us. That is a truism regardless of whether their inspirational captain Sergio Parisse is passed fit or not for the game against us. That’s the good news – we hit the ground running and all is rosy in the garden.

The bad news was the game between Argentina and the All Blacks on Sunday evening. Regardless of whether we top our group or not, we’ll be playing one of those two and each will have taken much out of that game.

The Kiwi management will be delighted with the wake-up call in a game they were never going to lose, while Argentina showed enough to suggest that they could pose serious problems later on in the tournament against a team a little bit short of the New Zealand standard. That’s us and France.

Schmidt and the Irish squad will have watched the game and for the first hour or so might have been getting nervous because if Argentina had done a Japan on it, how would we have gone into the French game knowing that a win would mean we’d have to face New Zealand, and a chastened New Zealand at that? What’s worse is the French would have been in the same boat and we could have had the first scoreless draw in World Cup history. Really.

The games are scheduled to come thick and fast and that too will suit Argentina who can pace themselves a bit better over the coming weeks ahead of their quarter-final. They looked like a horse who just didn’t see out the three mile, two furlong battle in the Cheltenham Gold Cup but France or Ireland represents a three-mile trek around a flat Kempton in a King George.

New Zealand will improve and they will thank Argentina yet for that savage contest.

The craic looked good in Cardiff, London and that other rugby stronghold of Brighton at the weekend. My favourite image of the opening days was of an Irish supporter in green carrying a red-and-white jerseyed Japanese fan around on his back among thousands of Irish fans in Cardiff – all celebrating the Japanese victory as if they’d just won the World Cup. These are just some of the many wonderful attributes of this Rugby World Cup – and it not even a week old.

Here’s another: Ireland versus Canada was a foregone conclusion yet the Millennium Stadium had over 65,000 people in attendance – an estimated 40,000 of them Irish. It really has taken off quickly.