Over at Haka, Tracey Nelson has a report from the game in Marseilles and catching the tournament opener on telly ("We watched the game with the French commentary and it was noticeable in the second half that the term 'stupide' was starting to crop up quite often.")
The Public Address readers Fi and Lu at the on-the-ground blog Allez Le Noirs report from the crowd in Marseilles and are "not missing London at all. It is awesomely sunny here, and the food is incredible. And the wine is very, very cheap."
Hadyn at the Dropkicks does his glog (that's "game log") thing for the Italy match, but isn't totally impressed.
Want YouTube? This guy is doing an extraordinary job of uploading: both France-Argentina and AllBlacks-Italy, there in 12 parts. Here's the end of the former and the beginning of the latter.
The Daily Telegraph's World Cup blogger guy "enjoyed a cigarette" with Grant Fox during the week. What sort of example is that setting to the kids? And staying with first fives, did it strike anyone else that when Andrew Mehrtens interviewed Dan Carter, Mehrts appeared taller than Carter?
Meanwhile, the Herald's Janetta Mackay gives a pass-mark to the TV3 coverage, but Half-Geek says it's all crap.
I did have a chuckle at James Gemmell in the pre-game package, interviewing Daniel Carter at his old home ground in rural Canterbury:
"We're back at Southbridge Rugby Club," Gemmell said to the All Black first-five. "Does it feel a long way away from, say, Stade de France?"
Why yes. Yes, it does. Obviously.
Russell Brown