Last night tens of thousands of French supporters were wondering why on earth they were crossing the muddy waters of the River Taff in Cardiff rather than sauntering past the Seine. As tournament hosts, France should have been playing New Zealand at Stade de France not the Millennium Stadium but they have paid the price of buying the Celtic votes.

If the International Rugby Board have learnt anything from this it is that one country should host the party. The first World Cup in 1987 was divided between New Zealand and Australia and was a pathfinder in every way. You won't find New Zealand, hosts in 2011, sharing it and that will give them a huge advantage, should they need one.

In reaching the quarterfinals, the southern hemisphere heavyweights, the All Blacks, Australia and South Africa, qualified with an ease and efficiency that eluded everybody else bar Argentina.

None of the pool winners lost a match and they did, inevitably, pick up bonus points en route to the knockout stages, although not even New Zealand, who scored on average nearly 75 points in their four pool games, could earn more than four.

For the first time in the World Cup a bonus points system was introduced in the pool phase . . . four points for a win, two for a draw, one for scoring four or more tries and one for losing by seven points or less.

And the question is: Why?

The same system has become fashionable in other rugby competitions, notably the Guinness Premiership in England but there every single point in the table, with relegation lurking at the end of a nine-month season, can be important. In the World Cup they have been irrelevant.

Brian Ashton, the England coach, realised this at an early stage when, after his side's inept performance against the United States in Lens, he was asked if he regretted missing out on a bonus point, on the account that England had managed to put only three tries past the plucky Eagles. "I don't think it's going to matter, " a taciturn Ashton replied.

He got that right, for England went into a do or die final pool match with Tonga in pool A . . . forget bonus points, it was a straight knockout . . . and it was the same in pool B between Wales and Fiji and the same in pool C for the second qualifying spot between Scotland and Italy. It was only in pool D, where Ireland were up against Argentina, that the machinations of a computer came into play, and then only as a token gesture in optimistic maths, ie the Irish would have to score four or more tries whilst not conceding a bonus point. With a World Cup quarter-final place at stake a victory of any description should suffice.

There was no need for the added complication.

So what was the point of the bonus point? Well, apart from Namibia nobody went away completely empty handed. The Americans registered a point by holding Samoa 2521. After restricting England to 28-10, the Eagles also resisted against Tonga before losing 25-15. Yes, these were the same Samoans and Tongans (not quite actually) who gave England such a torrid time. It was only against South Africa that the US cavalry was cut down and if they had left France without a single point it would have been too dispiriting.

Japan and Canada didn't win a match either but a draw gave them something to shout about while Portugal (their try against the All Blacks is still being talked about in Lisbon) earned a point for a narrow defeat to Romania. Good for them and the other emerging countries but the introduction of the system has done nothing for the tournament.

Zero points.