Before the start of the Six Nations this month, Ireland were regarded as Europe’s prime challengers in the World Cup. Then it was England after their emphatic victory in Dublin and denuding of France at Twickenham, but in the third round the odds on the favourites New Zealand becoming the first team to win the Webb Elis Trophy for a third consecutive time shrink. Wales’s toppling of England in Cardiff, together with Ireland’s scratchy win in Rome, is perceived as making a second European conquest of the world more possible than probable. “Wales won by default in ‘rubbish’ Six Nations clash with England,” blared one headline in New Zealand this week. The rubbish referred to the lack of space either side manufactured with the ball in hand, but matches in the knockout stage of a World Cup can be just as claustrophobic. The All Blacks will not be breathing any easier and there is South Africa to add to the power mix. There have been three major coaching tactical triumphs during the season in Europe: Joe Schmidt masterminding Ireland’s victory against New Zealand in the autumn when his side played with a relentless intensity throughout; Eddie Jones bouncing back Schmidt’s…