THE Rugby World Cup party kicked off in France on Friday. Things have been simmering along with anticipation here for some time, as you'd expect, and now you can't get away from the sporting jamboree here in France, even if you wanted to.
Fabien Galthie's remarkable glasses feature prominently on news bulletins pretty much every day. Player fitness as a discussion topic has broken confinement and is up for debate on even usually dour and sensible channels and programmes far beyond the likes of L'Equipe TV, or Canal Plus's rugby shows.
Free-to-air broadcasters TF1, France Televisions and M6, which are sharing coverage of the tournament in France, are going big on the action. Every ad break includes at least one World Cup-related sales pitch, usually more.
The sports sections of the French papers, too, are filled with news and injury scares and controversies from various camps, as well as opinion pieces from the great, the good and the one-eyed on how France will inevitably win, next to a feature in which one of South Africa, Ireland, or New Zealand are most likely to lift the trophy on October 28.
To see the game break out of its Midi Olympique bubble as spectacularly as this - as it absolutely should in a country hosting the World Cup - will always be a joy.
Even in France, a country that is sometimes hailed among fans as a rugby utopia because of the interest in the game from grassroots to elite levels, and the near-mythical importance of the local club in certain areas of the country, rugby still usually loses out to football on the news bulletins.
Bu hikaye The Rugby Paper dergisinin September 10, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Rugby Paper dergisinin September 10, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Ten-try Chiefs show Pirates no mercy
TEN-TRY Exeter inflicted the backlash from six successive defeats in their worst ever start to a Premiership season on a young Pirates side suffering their own problems in the Championship.
South America look to keep on building
AS Sebastián Piñeyrúa's historic six-year term as President of Rugby Sudamérica comes to an end, his replacement shows no signs of slowing down.
Scarratt excited by new pathway
ENGLAND centurion Emily Scarratt is delighted with the new women's BUCS programme which aims to provide a smoother pathway for young aspiring female players.
Baxter: I want to make things better
ROB Baxter will not be walking away from Exeter, the only club still looking for a Premiership victory this season, believing he can get the Chiefs back on track and he cannot bear the thought of anyone else doing the job.
Pearce walks in his father's footsteps
PADDY Pearce is living a dream after emulating his father and great-uncle by playing for the club he supported as a boy, Bristol.
New England group will cause uncertainty
SO JUST when we thought that everything was getting sorted between the RFU, the clubs and players, a number of new agreements and a new group raises its head.
Galthie turns his sights to the future
FRANCE head coach Fabien Galthie offered the clearest hint yet of Les Bleus' future on Wednesday, when he released 19 players back F to their clubs for the ninth and final Top 14 round before the international break.
Gilmore has tightened up our defence - Anderson
CAMERON Anderson has hailed the impact made by defence coach Jason Gilmore, below, since he arrived at The Stoop in the summer.
Ampthill given 11-try lesson in class from Bath
BATH secured a thumping away success in the opening match of their Premiership Rugby Cup campaign against Ampthill at Dillingham Park.
New faces take the plaudits for Saints
NORTHAMPTON handed out a thorough lesson to a tame Leicester team in this one-sided East Midlands derby to launch the Premiership Cup.
