PARIS - Hosts France kick off the Rugby World Cup against three-time champions New Zealand on Friday in a mouth-watering appetiser to a tournament that will provide a key test of the country's organisational skills ahead of the 2024 Olympics.
As well as anticipation, there is some apprehension following the chaos that blighted last year's football Champions League final at the same Stade de France stadium on the outskirts of Paris that will host both the opening match and the final of this tournament.
With the Paris Olympics less than a year away, the World Cup will be seen as a litmus test for French authorities to prove they have learned from the mistakes during the football showpiece between Liverpool and Real Madrid last year.
The tournament is expected to provide a spectacle perhaps unmatched in previous editions, with New Zealand great Dan Carter telling AFP he is looking forward to the "closest Rugby World Cup of all time."
Even the bookmakers can barely separate reigning champions South Africa, the world's number one side Ireland, effervescent France and the enigmatic All Blacks.
By a quirk of the draw made in 2020, all four have been loaded into the same half, meaning at least two will be eliminated before the semi-final stage.
That gives misfiring England, Wales and Australia hope they could play themselves into form, and contention, before the business end of the competition in late October.
France -- three time runners up -- come into this tournament with more expectation than perhaps ever before.
They went through 2022 unbeaten, claiming a Six Nations Grand Slam, and beating all three of their major tournament rivals, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa in the same calendar year.
In captain and scrum-half Antoine Dupont, they have one of the game's outstanding talents.
"We've never been so well prepared," Dupont told AFP this week.
"We have a promising generation of talented players who have gained experience, and continuity in the backbone of the team."
Outsiders Argentina will believe they can add rugby's highest accolade to the football World Cup they claimed last year in Qatar -- when they beat France in the final.
- French expectation -
The rugby extravaganza kicks off a remarkable year of sporting excitement in France.
Around 2.5 million rugby fans are expected to attend World Cup fixtures across nine venues in France, including 600,000 from abroad.
French authorities are keenly aware that the eyes of the world are on them.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who came under heavy fire over the official response to last year's Champions League mayhem when supporters were also victims of pickpockets and muggings, says major police reinforcements have been introduced to fight "delinquency", especially around the Stade de France.
He also insisted that officers would be focused on looking after visiting fans, rather than treating them as hooligans -- many Liverpool supporters complained of being teargassed at last year's Champions League final.
The opening match ensures the tournament will get off to a bang.
It is one of the most epic fixtures in World Cup history, producing countless moments of drama, such as the 1999 semi-final when France roared back from a 24-10 deficit early in the second half to memorably win 43-31 against the Jonah Lomu-inspired All Blacks.
And then there was France's thrilling 20-18 quarter-final victory in 2007, and New Zealand's nervy 8-7 triumph in the final on home soil four years later.
"That's what adds to the excitement of this World Cup," Carter said in an interview with AFP.
France coach Fabien Galthie said rugby fans would be in for a treat on Friday.
"(The All Blacks) do it best," he said. "We're so happy to play this team.
"For us, Friday is a party, a joy, an honour, it’s marvellous."
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By Barnaby Chesterman