If the World Cup has lacked something amid some horrendous mismatches, it certainly has not been colour.
That was blatantly obvious in Saturday's Pool B crunch tie between France and Scotland at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney.
Each one of the 11 grounds used throughout this tournament has been like an artist's pallet - a Harlequin-esque clothesline.
It was a cultural mix of suave Gallic blue and mad Gaelic tartan.
 Scotland fans brought some of the game's colour |
It was good humoured before, during and after a staccato game that saw France rout Scotland 51-9.
The vociferous support echoed around this stupendous Olympic auditorium, which couched a full house of 80,000-plus with comfort. The match itself was not particularly colourful.
Tension and nerves played a major part early on with neither team exuding their true ability. Scotland never did in the end and it was the 1999 beaten finalists who had the edge at the break turning around 19-6 to the good - and deservedly so.
The second half, well, they just strolled up the gears, and are once again looking ominously good for another productive World Cup campaign.
Scotland, on the other hand, showed little cutting edge, were devoid of ideas and had to rely on three Chris Paterson penalties to show for their efforts.
Frederic Michalak, meanwhile, had caressed over three penalties, a drop goal and a conversion by half-time and by the end had collected 26 points.
The killer punch for Scotland was the 34th minute try, which was crafted and finished by the back-row with an Olivier Magne surge, good support from Imanol Harinordoquy, who subsequently gave the scoring pass to Serge Betsen.
It could have been worse for Scotland when Fabien Galthie was twice roughed up - once by Simon Taylor and then Glenn Metcalfe. Neither was serious, but each time the player just side-stepped seeing yellow from Irish referee Dave McHugh.
 Scotland struggled to match France everywhere |
You could see why they were trying to stop the French skipper. He was simply magnifique.
He simply teased and tested the Scottish defence on a humid evening that had finally recovered from the afternoon's thunder and lightning storm.
Just to rub it in, he scored France's fourth try when a rare heel against the head saw him dart into the corner and win a bonus point to ease France into the quarter-finals.
Before that, Les Bleus were already moving out of sight with full-back Nicolas Brusque tapping over a dropped goal and Harinordoquy and Michalak adding tries.
A burst of pipes could be heard on the upper deck of the stands in an attempt to bring the cavalry over the horizon, but it was all too late for the Scots.
They were long since beaten before Brusque grabbed his second try right on the final whistle with typical French flair and sleight of hand.
Now Scotland will have to regroup and stay fully concentrated for what could be a make or break game against the flamboyant Fijians next Saturday at the Aussie Stadium.
MMIX
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