The tournament kicks off in the French capital with a match worthy of a final - and in fact that has been the case at the 1987 and 2011 editions.
Morning to those up bright and early for this Rugby World Cup opener. Am sitting in the very back row at Stade de France as the teams warm-up. We’ve just witnessed a very cool opening ceremony of sorts. Dancers, an Eiffel tower, chefs, flags, you name it.
There is not a seat free in the stadium and you can barely hear yourself think. Standing a few rows down from me is the Stan Sport crew, with lead commentator Sean Maloney, who will bring you all the action back in Australia.The big injury news from Paris is that All Blacks skipper Sam Cane is out of the opening match. He has hurt his back during New Zealand’s captain’s run yesterday. They did well to keep that quiet 24 hours out from kick-off against the red-hot hosts.
Dalton Papalii will wear the No.7 jersey, Tupou Vaa’i shifts to No.6. Ardie Savea will captain the All Blacks, while Brodie Retallick, a stalwart of this team, comes onto the bench. What luxury New Zealand have to bring a player of his calibre on.Let’s get straight to the team news ... and New Zealand have suffered a late blow with the withdrawal of captain Sam Cane with a back injury.
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