Yeah Nik, I totally agree - I wouldn't want to see a two-tier competition either. Definitely good to see a mix of teams on the world stage, gives smaller teams something to aspire to, the best teams will of course win through, but what's interesting are the subtle shifts by which those 'best teams' change over the years as sides rise and fall - and there's always the chance of an upset!
It would be good to see more competition between world cups where the lesser nations can play a variety of competition and develop. We have the 'autumn tests' in Scotland - usually one top team and one or two lesser ones - but they're friendlies. Not that I'm suggesting teams don't give their all for a friendly, but perhaps a Europe-wide competition in the Autumn half-way between World Cups would be an idea; that would only be one year out of four, leaving another two autumns for S Hemisphere or N/S American teams to visit...
I'm sure Frank Hadden, the supporters, and least of all the Scotland players, want to miss out on the chance of fielding our best side against the All Blacks, but as TEF says, we have to be realistic and maximise our progression in the competition; at this stage it will do us a great deal of good to make it out of the first round.