PARIS: France made an impressive start to their attempt to win a first Rugby World Cup as the host nation beat New Zealand 27-13 in a hot and humid tournament opener on Friday. Roared on by a capacity crowd at the Stade de France, Thomas Ramos nervelessly kicked 17 points and Damian Penaud and Melvyn Jaminet scored a try each. Mark Telea touched down twice for the All Blacks and it was only after Ramos’ 74th minute penalty that the home fans could celebrate before the rampant white-shirted French scored a final try as Jaminet grabbed Maxime Lucu’s chip.

France fought hard to prove that their tag as one of the favorites on home soil is well-deserved. "It was important to begin well by winning even if it was not a knockout match,” France head coach Fabien Galthie said. "It was the culmination of our work before the tournament.” For the All Blacks, it was the first time they had lost a World Cup pool match. "In the past we’ve won all our pool games and not won the tournament,” said New Zealand coach Ian Foster.

"Our goal is to win this tournament.” It was a successful start on the field to what will be a key test of France’s organizational skills ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, especially after the chaos that blighted last year’s football Champions League final at the Stade de France on the outskirts of Paris. With the Olympics less than a year away, French authorities are under scrutiny to prove they have learned from the mistakes during the football showpiece between Liverpool and Real Madrid.

Loaded half of draw

The World Cup is widely expected to provide a feast of attacking rugby. Before the tournament, the bookmakers could barely separate reigning champions South Africa, the world’s number one side Ireland, France and the enigmatic All Blacks, although Friday’s performance will only serve to shorten the French odds. By a quirk of the draw made three years ago, 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 contention before the business end of the competition in late October.

England, World Cup winners in 2003 but with unusually low expectations in this tournament, rumble into action on Saturday when they face Argentina in Marseille. South Africa begin their campaign against a tough Scotland side on Sunday. Argentina revel in their role as outsiders and 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. France have been runners-up three times, but came into the tournament on a wave of expectation.

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. On Friday, they kept their nerve as the All Blacks stayed neck-and-neck with them, before the French pulled away at the end. Captain and scrum-half Antoine Dupont, one of rugby’s outstanding talents, said his team were just getting going. "We know we’re capable of doing better,” he said. Around 2.5 million rugby fans are expected to attend World Cup fixtures across nine venues in France, including 600,000 from abroad.

Macron booed

Meanwhile, hard-left opponents of Emmanuel Macron on Saturday expressed glee while his supporters made clear their anger after the French president was loudly booed and whistled as he made a speech at the opening of the Rugby World Cup. Macron had to pause ahead of giving his speech from a lectern on the pitch ahead of the clash between France and New Zealand as large numbers of spectators in the packed Stade de France booed, whistled and jeered him on Friday evening. The president’s appearance was also greeted with a similar reaction at special fan zones with a TV relay set up in Paris and Marseille, AFP correspondents said.

"King Macron has been booed by the French people! We are never going to leave him in peace!” said Manuel Bompard, a senior figure in the France Unbowed (LFI) hard-left party. Macron’s popularity has suffered this year after implementing a controversial reform to raise the French pension age in the face of widespread protests and popular opposition. "The people have not forgotten the insults and the pension reform. He had the welcome he deserved,” added Bastien Lachaud, LFI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis, the area where the Stade de France is located just outside Paris.

The far-right was also enthusiastic with National Rally (RN) MP Stephanie Galzy tweeting that the booing was a "symbol”. His current popularity level, after falling some 10 points between December and April, is now at 31 percent, just above a low of 29 percent reached in the spring, according to Ifop/Fiducial polls. The opening ceremony that preceded the match, won by France in a sensational start to the campaign, had seen actor Jean Dujardin lead a showcase of the "French art of living” that had been widely applauded.

But with the eyes of the world on France one year before Paris hosts the Olympics, Macron supporters were fare less impressed. "A stadium shouldn’t do that! To boo the president of the republic is to boo France,” said MP Mathieu Lefevre. Joelle Garriaud-Maylam, a senator for the right-wing opposition Republicans added: "Bravo to the XV of France. But shame on the supporters who dared to boo the president of the republic in front of the media around the world.” "We may not like Emmanuel Macron but at least we respect his function! What a sad image for our country,” she added. - AFP