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Paris: Let the games begin.

We’re talking Rugby World Cup, we’re talking Friday night in Paris, we’re talking the cracker opening match to beat them all – France versus the All Blacks!

And yes, I know, I know. Your own interest in rugby has waned somewhat in recent times in tandem with the Wallabies themselves, but give them a break: anyone can have a bad couple of decades.

And whatever happens with our blokes, the rugby itself will be splendid, just like mother used to make; the atmosphere will be likely only the Carnival of the Cauliflower can deliver quadrennially, and the national narratives a wonder to behold.

The whole thing is a very big deal: traditionally the third-biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympics and the men’s soccer World Cup. (Granted, our own Women’s World Cup might have jumped into that queue ahead of the RWC, but under the circumstances … no problem.)

As we speak, Paris is awash in bunting welcoming the mob; billboards are covering entire buildings showing French players on the fly, and you cannot spit over your shoulder on the Champs-Elysees without hitting in the eye someone you used to play with or against – or at least their supporters, who are now the first to flood in of the 600,000 rugby tourists who are expected.

Wallabies centre Samu Kerevi greets fans at this week’s Rugby World Cup welcome ceremony in Saint-Etienne.Credit: Getty

Nearing midnight, drunken packs of people with puffy eyebrows and broken noses – who dress in all black jerseys and pronounce “falafel” without using vowels – are singing up a storm and doing impromptu hakas. And that’s just the women.

Which brings us to the question of this tournament.

Can France finally do it?

That is, after making three World Cup finals in 1987, 1999 and 2011, can they finally win at home, in front of their own delirious crowds?

They certainly have a team to do it with, and won the grand slam of the Six Nations last year, just as they have won 32 of the past 40 Tests they have played under coach Fabien Galthie. They are captained by the man who was voted the best rugby player in the world two years ago, Antoine Dupont, their charismatic halfback, and have such stars as winger Damian Penaud who scored twice against Australia last Sunday week. His father Alain, who played 32 times for France, is my former teammate at Brive and told me proudly last Saturday that it is France’s destiny to win this one, at last.

Who can prove him wrong?

The best chance is either the incumbent champions, the Springboks, or the mighty Ireland who were Grand Slam champions of the Six Nations earlier this year. Ireland would be a particularly popular winner. Just as the Dallas Cowboys were once “America’s team”, if your own team can’t win, it would be great to see the Irish get up for their inaugural World Cup – and great for world rugby too. With only four nations ever having won the William Webb Ellis Trophy since 1987– Australia, NZ, South African and England – having either France or Ireland hold it high would be sensational for the game.

And Australia’s chances in this?

Well, on the one hand, having lost 11 of the past 13 matches, not even Buckley would bet on us, and it is probably more likely that the Raiders will go on to win the NRL grand final.

Will Skelton during a Wallabies training session on Tuesday.Credit: Getty

On the other hand? On the other hand, we are Australians, in a World Cup! Traditionally, we generally do better than predicted. Few picked us to win in 1991 or 1999 either, but the job was done against the odds. And despite those sobering stats above, turnarounds are possible.

Going into the 1999 World Cup, France had lost six of eight, only to pull out fabulous performances when they truly counted. As discussed, this Australian team has in recent times been reminiscent of the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini’s line that the German composer Richard Wagner “has some wonderful moments … but some terrible half-hours!” All our blokes need to do is reverse that basic equation, and it is possible!

But you’re right. It won’t be easy. We are in what was thought to be the easiest of pools, which also boasts Georgia, Wales, Portugal and Fiji – but that is not looking as lay-down misere to get through to the quarter-finals as it was.

Georgia, our first opponent on Saturday, will be no pushover, least of all in the scrums – where they have one of the strongest and technically excellent packs in the world. The Georgians have been good enough to beat both Italy and Wales, just in the last 18 months. And Fiji? They are the toast of the rugby world for beating England at Twickenham just last week. Fiji has long been brilliant at Sevens, but the fact they beat the men of the Rose in their own fortress is an indication of just how far they have come.

If we do get through to the quarters though, resistance will be thinner than usual.

A month ago the smart money was going down on just four possible winners: France, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand. The way the draw works though, two of those will be knocked out before they get to the semi-finals. And with the Boks, most notably, due to meet in the quarter-finals the All Blacks – who they beat two weekends ago by a margin of 28 points, the greatest deficit in New Zealand history – one of those will likely be our nearest neighbours.

But who knows?

For there are plenty of teams in this tournament capable on their day of felling giants, just as Japan so wonderfully did by beating South Africa in 2015. Two cases in point are Scotland, who in two matches against France leading up to this World Cup managed 25-21 and 27-30 scorelines for a net margin of 52-51 in their favour; and Samoa, who recently beat Japan and very nearly beat Ireland.

You get the drift. Anything could happen and as we begin, there has probably never been a Rugby World Cup with so many jokers in the pack, aces on the wing and pies in the sky.

Go, you Wallabies.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz

Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. Every match ad-free, live and on demand in 4K UHD from September 9.

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