CONTROVERSIAL AREA: England No 8 Nick Easter looks to snaffle the ball from Argentina at the breakdown, an area of huge contention in the first week of the Rugby World Cup.

How good the World Cup has been so far.

But I'm convinced it could be even better if only the referees would come down hard on a negative aspect that's creeping into the play of top teams.

It's been impossible not to have been impressed so far by the quality of the rugby and the 'minnows', particularly, are playing well. But they're the ones being affected by the big teams at the breakdown being tactically very cunning.

What's happening is basically illegal but it's very clever. Players are getting tackled to the ground then getting hit by a second arriving player who is 'retackling'.

That's completely illegal. When you're on the ground you can't be tackled again.

I have spotted numerous examples so far, and it's clear to me that it's a deliberate ploy by teams to slow down opposition ball and buy time to reorganise their defence.

It's most obvious when a team has been breached over its advantage line and what happens is the first defender will make the tackle and then a second arriving player will come in and make a 'retackle' on the ground.

All he's trying to do is slow the ball down but in no way is he trying to get the ball. It's very, very smart, but it's also very, very illegal.

It's hard for refs. It does look like the player is coming in with intent to get the ball but they're actually not doing that.

Refs need to identify has this player actually spotted the ball, and is he going for it? Or is he going in there to be negative and more importantly has that player already been tackled?

If a ref can identify that a player has been tackled he cannot be retackled on the ground. Start picking that up and it should produce quicker ball.

Teams are doing it because they're forced into it. Quick ball is the hardest to defend if the advantage line is made because your defence is compromised.

By slowing it down you allow your defence to reorganise and regroup.

I'm all for positive rugby, I want attacking teams to have an advantage. If you've earned the right to win the ball and use it, the defensive team should then have to do something spectacular, or rely on you making a mistake, to get it back.

I don't like to see players coming into breakdowns and compromising positive play by doing something illegal.

If we can clear it up we'll get better rugby. Or should I say even better rugby than we're getting now.

Of course you can slow ball down legally. But what you should be looking for is for players to be on their feet. When teams do it well it's constructive because it creates turnover ball. They stay on their feet, get another player behind and drive past the ball, turn it over and the game's not being stifled.

That creates ball movement because a team has turned over prime ball. That's productive for the game, not destructive.

The other thing I've spotted is real creative positivity out there. Teams in the past with inferior skill levels have come to these tournaments in a restrictive frame of mind, particularly against the 'superpower' teams.

They've come full circle. They've decided to play the way they would normally.

They're not just kicking into corners and trying to suffocate and frustrate these teams they're used to getting thumped by. They're playing more constructively because that's being rewarded.

If you don't fatigue top teams on defence you'll never break them open. But if you do, and then play positively, you'll get the results.

It hasn't all been pretty to watch, of course, and we've seen some close games with a lot of errors. But that's drama, and that's World Cup rugby.

The big thing is we're seeing few, if any, blowouts.

That's great for the game. To me it's a mental thing. Teams are showing more intent to play positively rather than restrict. When you go into restrict mode you just don't offer anything.

If you play like you believe, you might not win but you give yourself a much better chance to compete.

* Justin Marshall played 81 tests, and two World Cups, for the All Blacks.