By Henry Jacobs

Whilst the ultimate prize at the Rugby World Cup is the William Webb Ellis trophy, the reality is that only a certain number of teams have a legitimate chance of claiming the title.

In the 2015 showpiece, a rational mindset would view New Zealand at number one, through to Scotland in tenth position – prior to the commencement of the tournament – as the probable competitors for a place in the knock-out stage.

That leaves a further ten sides, playing not to make up the numbers but for national pride and the love of rugby.

As the group stage draws to a close a notable trait has been the marked improvement of these so-called ‘minnow’ nations.

Japan’s opening round 34-32 upset of South Africa is the obvious example, with Eddie Jones’ side now in with a hypothetical chance of making a shock appearance in the quarter-finals.

However across the board there has been consistently better performances by developing nations, further justifying the need for increased investment, by World Rugby, in such programs.

The evidence for this is in the numbers, with average victory scores dropping from their peak of 49-13 in 2003 to 39-13 in the tournament thus far.

Of the teams outside the top ten competing in 2015 the average points they have conceded as a group has fallen from 45 in 1999, the first world cup to have 20 teams, to 34 at this stage of the tournament.

The same configuration of teams also competed in 2003, again conceding an average of 45 points per match.

Romania’s win over Canada saw them come back from a World Cup record 15 point deficit and Namibia secured their first ever competition point, with a thrilling 17-16 loss to Georgia, as well as holding reigning champions New Zealand to a 54-14 victory – a stark contrast to their 142-0 defeat at the hands the Wallabies in 2003, whilst Canada and the USA have put in a determined showing.

Georgia has won two matches at a World Cup, including an opening round upset of Tonga, for the first time ever and Uruguay’s try against Fiji was their first in the tournament since crossing the line against England in 2003, whilst four of the five sides in each pool have managed a victory.

It cannot be ignored that the key success story 2015 has been Japan, entering the tournament ranked 13th in the world their victory over the 3rd placed Springboks is undoubtedly the biggest upset in World Cup history.

Whilst Japan are surefire favourites to beat the USA on Monday morning (AEDT), it is unlikely that Scotland will go down to an out of form Samoa – meaning the Brave Blossoms will miss out on a fairytale quarter finals berth.

The performance of Eddie Jones’ outfit has crucial ramifications for the global development of rugby in the very near future as the newly named Sunwolves franchise enter Super Rugby in 2016 and Japan play host to the World Cup in 2019.

The side’s results appear to be already reaping the benefits with a 25 million Japanese, a fifth of the country’s population, viewing their clinical victory over Samoa at Milton Keynes – the 64 per cent audience share becoming the largest national audience in rugby history.

It is clear that World Rugby’s investment in the lower tiers is not only paying off but a necessity into the future, the growth of the game into the potentially lucrative Asian market is key for Rugby’s success in an increasingly saturated sporting landscape.