Player of Pool D: Sam Warburton

It was a case of the young bulls of Wales and the old bulls of South Africa succeeding in Pool D, with Samoa and Fiji disappointing and Namibia once again up against the pros and semi-pros.

It's not often a player on the losing side comes away with the man-of-the-match award, especially when the scoreline is 81-7, but Namibia's blindside flanker Tinus du Plessis managed it playing against Wales who fielded one of the best back row combinations in the tournament.

He was well supported by captain Jacques Burger, but Namibia did not have sufficient firepower across the park in their matches against generally more battle-hardened opponents.

Samoa and Fiji both felt that their game suffered from the tight match scheduling, but Samoa especially made their presence felt - particularly aggressive and lively scrum half Kahn Fotuali'i, their human bulldozer on the wing, Alesana Tuilagi, and full back Paul Williams.

Fiji wing Vereniki Goneva's four tries against Namibia in their opening pool match made him the toast of Fiji fans everywhere, but even then there were warning signs ahead for Fiji, that later proved accurate.

Wales threw up a host of exciting new faces, including 19-year-old wing, George North, man-of-the-match in the 66-0 win over Fiji and the youngest player to score a try at a Rugby World Cup, in the 81-7 defeat of Namibia. Their 20-year-old No 8, Tonga-born Toby Faletu, formed part of a very imposing Wales back row.

South Africa's veterans were out to prove the doubters wrong by "doing the business", as they put it, and there were few better than 33-year-old Danie Roussow, who found a new lease of life having to step up as lineout general and power runner in the temporary absence of Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha due to injury.

Youngest captain

But in a tight field, the standout performer given the demands of his position and the demands of captaining his side at the age of 22 (23 come Wednesday, 5 October ) is Wales flanker Sam Warburton, the youngest captain at RWC 2011.

Also the youngest ever RWC captain and easily the youngest Wales have ever had at the tournament, Warburton symbolises the new generation of players that have given hope to Wales' many fans that something exciting may be brewing again after the disappointment of the pool elimination in 2007.

The openside flanker came into the tournament with big wraps from his coach, New Zealander Warren Gatland, who would have seen some decent No.7s in his time.

“There are three that I’d consider world-class players at the moment in (David) Pocock (Australia), (Richie) McCaw (New Zealand) and (Heinrich) Brüssow (South Africa) and I’d rate the guy next to me (Sam Warburton) in that category," Gatland told a press conference before the opening pool match against South Africa where Warburton was man-of-the-match in a losing side for his impressive work at the breakdown.

"A lot of people haven’t seen a lot of Sam Warburton, but I think he’ll create an impact after a few games in this World Cup," Gatland predicted.

Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards, a former British rugby league international and veteran of 467 matches for Wigan, is also impressed and is looking forward to seeing Warburton line up against another talented young No.7 in Ireland's Sean O'Brien on Saturday.

“They are different sorts of players. One of Sam’s strengths is definitely on the floor which was proven in the South Africa game where he dominated the breakdowns in a game where he got six turnovers.

“O’Brien is a very, very explosive player. Maybe in a year or so they’ll be fighting for the same position on the (British and Irish) Lions; maybe even play in the same back row, who knows?”