The Rugby World Cup kicks off in France. The home team defeated New Zealand in the opening match

Published

1 year ago

9. 9. 2023

The Rugby World Cup, one of the most watched global sporting events, is hosted by France this year. This is the third time in the history of the major event and the first time in 16 years that it has been held in the land of the Gallic cockerel. The home team is one of the favourites for the tournament and they opened the championship on Friday night with a clash against one of their main rivals, namely New Zealand.

One hundred years ago, during a football match in the English town of Rugby, student William Webb Ellis allegedly took the ball in his hands and ran into the opposition’s goalmouth. He is thus considered the founder of the game of rugby union, also known as fifteen-a-side rugby.

The sport has gradually developed a prominent position among other sports. And since 1987, a world championship has been held regularly, with men’s national teams competing for a trophy named after Ellis.

The event is part of the sporting calendar every four years. The venue for its tenth edition is in France. The venues are the Paris suburbs of Saint-Denis, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Saint-Étienne and Toulouse.

The programme opened on Friday with a clash of rugby superpowers at the 80,000-seater Stade de France. Before that, the opening ceremony of the World Cup, focusing mainly on French culture, took place on the pitch. Opening speeches were given by World Rugby chief Bill Beaumont and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The actual duel between the home team and the New Zealanders, who traditionally performed a martial haka dance before the opening whistle, began with an early laying down of the five by All Blacks member Mark Teleou. The first half was otherwise marked by converted penalty kicks.

Frenchman Thomas Ramos scored three times and the hosts went into the locker room at 9:8. Four minutes after the break, Telea scored again for five points to give New Zealand the lead.

However, the team of the three-time world champions could not keep up with Les Bleus for the rest of the game. Damian Penaud put down a five in the 56th minute to turn the score to 14:13. After that, only his teammates, led by the aforementioned Ramos, scored and coach Fabien Galthié’s charges eventually delighted the fans in the packed stands with a 27:13 victory.

It would have been a surprise if any other pair of teams than France and New Zealand had advanced from Group A to the quarter-finals. Defending champions South Africa, along with Ireland, are the favourites for Group B.

“The two biggest favourites will play each other in Groups A and B, then go head-to-head in the quarter-finals. It’s quite a pity that we will lose two of them so soon,” Czech TV commentator David Kozohorský pointed out an interesting fact in an interview with Sport.cz.

According to experts, the 2023 World Cup promises to be the most balanced battle for the overall triumph. The island teams of England, Scotland and Wales and the Australian national team are also among the candidates to win the valuable trophy. There may also be some surprises, for example, the Japanese were among the top eight teams four years ago on home soil.

All 48 competitions can be watched in the Czech Republic this year thanks to broadcasts on CT Sport or the CT Sport Plus platform. The championship will culminate with the final match on Saturday 28 October. So far, the New Zealanders and South Africans have won the title three times, the Australians twice and the English once.

The Czech Rugby Union is using the high-profile event to popularise the sport in the country. It has prepared a special event for the public called Rugby Park in the Riegrovy Sady area in Prague, where selected World Cup matches will be screened.