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RWC 2023 Semi-Final: New Zealand 44 – 6 Argentina

After four amazing quarter-finals last weekend, the Rugby World Cup continued today with the first of the semi-finals at the Stade de France.

While it would have been too much to hope for that the semi might approach the heights of skill and attacking rugby of the quarters! The New Zealand All Blacks barely had to get out of second gear to trash Argentina – whose performances have been perhaps the biggest disappointment of the tournament.

Having started slowly, the All Blacks appear to be hitting top form as the final approaches. Who will they face, South Africa or England?

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Toulouse… To-steal, A More Accurate Name for the City!

This picture is of a Toulouse taxi driver stealing my bag and passport! As a traveller, there are few things worse than watching someone steal your passport and see it disappear into the distance.

I had flown into the city to watch the Rugby World Cup match between Japan and Samoa it’s a ‘pretty’ city. Lots of wide tree-lined streets decorated with cafes offering outdoor seating – vastly different in feel and look to narrow streets of Hong Kong. A pleasant change of pace.

The rugby has been great, the atmosphere at stadiums passionate and friendly as fans from across the globe have flown in to support their teams.

To-steal though applies across the city, and the country for that matter. The lovely hostel I stayed at is ‘proud’ she only raised her rates by 10 per cent. When other hotels were doubling or tripling theirs. (In Marseille, some hostels had increased 6fold – charging between 115 and 300Euro (HK$950 -HK$2,450)for a dormitory bed!

Many of the bars and restaurants in cities hosting games have local prices and ‘rugby fan’ prices as they hope you won’t notice the difference… And for a country that prides itself on the quality of its food and wine that they still allow smoking and vaping in restaurants and cafes is ‘disappointing’. To have the flavours of your tasty, and not cheap, meal or the notes of a glass of wine destroyed by a cloud of cigarette or vape smoke gets frustrating fast.

As much as I hate their exploitative policies Uber has thrived because their drivers have in many countries made using a ‘taxi service’ an enjoyable and stress-free experience.

The many bad apples among taxi drivers, sadly including Hong Kong, having destroyed the simple convenience of using a taxi years ago

At To-steal airport I showed the driver my hotel, he quoted 15 Euros. Set the amount in the meter and drove off. Less than 100m later he was telling he wanted an extra 35 Euros (HK$350).

I told him to stop the car and let me off. And started to video his demands for more money. Whereupon he stopped the car sharply, turning around and punched me in the face as he tried to grab my phone and stop me filming. My phone flew across the car as he started driving again screaming in French.

He stopped the taxi again screaming get out, and fearful of being attacked again. I got out and went to the back to get my bag, only to have him drive off into the distance with my passport and bag.

The French police found my bag and passport. The city itself seems to have no regulation or complaint mechanisms as according to the city office they are private companies.

The rugby and the overseas fans have been great, but France, can go fuck itself!

Japan 28 – 22 Samoa

The Rugby World Cup continued at the Stadium de Toulouse today as Japan faced up to the Samoan Siva Tau and a fierce Samoan flurry in the last quarter to clinch a hard-fought victory.

https://youtu.be/kHLt919QJHo?si=kBNfiTqyAXk9S_MW

Spine-tingling Siva Tau | Rugby World Cup 2023 (https://youtu.be/kHLt919QJHo?si=kBNfiTqyAXk9S_MW)

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France 27-13 New Zealand at The Rugby Village

The Rugby World Cup 2023 kicked off tonight with hosts France beating New Zealand 27-13. At the Place de la Concorde fans from across the globe gathered to watch the game at the Rugby Village.

The action started a little earlier than planned with French police discovering and then blowing up a suspect package close to the rugby village. Which had expanded across the roads to accommodate the expected 40,000 fans.

As kick-off approached a noisy and expectant throng proudly sang their national anthems only to fall almost deathly quiet as New Zealand scored a quick opening try…

Test your power on the scrum machine.

Fans proudly sing La Marseillaise

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Rugby World Cup Begins in Paris

The Rugby World Cup 2023 begins in Paris today, but you’d be hard pressed to know it. The tournament appears invisible in a city preparing for the 2024 Olympics.

Walking down the iconic Champs-Élysées – which has a fair incline that is not apparent when watching the Tour de France cyclists race along it at 50mph – the Rugby World Cup doesn’t appear to exist. bc approached several people and asked if they knew the World Cup was starting today, sadly none did.

Why are the banners on the Champs-Élysées lampposts promoting Paris’s IT week not the World Cup?

The only obvious indication of the tournament’s presence in the city is the doubling of hotel and hostel prices and bars and restaurants increasing their prices for game day.

There is a Rugby Village at the Place de la Concorde but it doesn’t open until this afternoon (and only on select days afterwards) so there really is nowhere for visiting or local or new fans to gather and meet up.

A big part of rugby is the social camaraderie between fans, yet the tournament organisers seem to have done nothing to build awareness and interest in the game among new fans . It feels like a missed opportunity, especially as the recent women’s football World Cup showed how a country can be transformed by a tournament.

Rugby World Cup France 2023 Tickets Go On Sale

Tickets for Rugby World Cup 2023 will go on sale from 15 March, 2021 at 12:00 CET after the France 2023 organising committee announced details of the tournament’s ticketing programme. A total of 2.6 million tickets will be available for the 10th edition of the men’s event which kicks off on 8 September, 2023.

Tickets will go on sale through a phased process from 15 March, 2021 at tickets.rugbyworldcup.com – with an exclusive pre-sale period for fans who have registered to join the 2023 Family by 23:59 CET on 13 March. During the ‘pre-sale period’, which runs until 5 April, fans will be able to purchase Follow my Team and City packs on a first-come, first-served basis, which will enable them to choose to attend a team’s pool phase matches or all the pool phase matches at a match venue.

General sales for Follow My Team and City packs will open on 6 April, 2021 at 18:00 CET with packages starting at 58€ for the Toulouse City Pack (Category 4). Ticket-inclusive Official Travel and Hospitality sales will commence on 18 March, 2021.

The ticket launch follows the announcement last week of the match schedule which features an extended pool phase to allow longer recovery periods for the players. Rugby World Cup 2023 will be played across 10 host cities and nine stadiums.

Tickets by Team or by City?

In the ‘pre-sale’ phase from 15 March, tickets will only be sold in two formats, either by city or by team.

The Follow My Team pack includes all four pool matches from a qualified team, with the possibility to add an optional quarter-final should the team makes it to the knockout phase. Twelve Follow My Team packs will be available, one for each qualified nation.

The City Pack includes either three or all pool matches in each of the nine host cities. In the ‘three matches’ format, fans will need to select two fixtures in addition to one compulsory. Only the opening match won’t be available in this format.

In the comprehensive ‘all matches’ City pack, fans will be able to attend all pool matches in the host city of their choice, except for Saint-Denis (Stade de France).

World Rugby Chairman, Sir Bill Beaumont said: “Rugby World Cup France 2023 will showcase the best of rugby and the best of France and we are delighted to launch the tournament’s ticketing programme. Our ambition, in partnership with our friends at the France 2023 organising committee, is to make France 2023 the most accessible tournament to date. This ticketing programme certainly does that. Everyone is invited to join a special celebration of France and 200 years of rugby.”

France 2023 Organising Committee CEO, Claude Atcher added: “With our ticketing programme, we want to make Rugby World Cup 2023 as accessible as possible for everyone and provide the opportunity for French and international fans to attend matches from the best 20 rugby nations in the world. ”

Key Ticket Sales Dates

13 March at 23:59 CET: Registration closes for the 2023 Family
15 March at 12:00 CET: 2023 Family pre-sale opens for City and Team packs
18 March: Launch of Official Travel and Hospitality sales programmes
6 April at 18:00 CET: General sale opens for City and Team Packs
2022: Individual match tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis

Additional reporting and images: World Rugby