A pleasant enough rendition of “Advance Australia Fair”, though it does rather pale in comparison to the full-throated roar of 80,000 or so, “La Marseillaise“ delivered typically emphatically.

Referee: Luke Pearce (ENG)

ARs: Christophe Ridley (ENG) & Craig Evans (WAL)

Out the players come to cries of “Allez Les Bleus”, the two sides pushing out through smoke cast in red, white and blue.

But kick off is very much near in Paris, with barely an empty seat in sight inside the Stade de France.

Just a bit of news from elsewhere before kick off – Cian Healy has been left out of Ireland’s 33-man World Cup squad after suffering that injury against Samoa yesterday. We’ll have full details on Andy Farrell’s selection a little later.

France’s enviable depth at ten means the loss of Romain Ntamack is less catastrophic than it would be for other nations, but Matthieu Jalibert is a different player to his former age-group colleague, perhaps with slightly more ability and aggression with ball in hand but occasionally accused of lacking in big game control. That is probably unfair – Jalibert’s game has really rounded out over the last couple of years – but it’ll be fascinating to see how he beds in to this first choice French side. The playmaking axis of Toulouse teammates Antoine Dupont, Ntamack and Thomas Ramos is so well honed; in theory, we should see little drop-off with such a high-class deputy ready to step in but the Bordeaux-Begles pivot will want to impress today.

It’s fair to say that Suliasi Vunivalu wouldn’t have made the World Cup squads of most Wallabies watches, the NRL convert not having quite adjusted in the way that Rugby Australia would have hoped after crossing codes. But Eddie Jones seems to like the wing, keeping him in his 33 and giving him a starting shirt today in Marika Koroibete’s absence.

Vunivalu has had problems positionally, which France are sure to try and attack – the hosts have an excellent tactical kicking game, and this is a relatively untested Australian back three combination.

And here’s the full tournament itinerary, which might be worth sticking in your bookmarks for the next couple of months:

“It is the perfect opportunity for us to test ourselves against another quality opposition in France,” Tate McDermott said yesterday.

“It could not have worked out any better, we have the same referee, the same field, everything from logistics to what the stadium will sound like is going to be important (to experience ahead of the Georgia game).

“There will be times in the game when we will be under the pump against a very strong French pack, so it is about dealing with the momentum shift. That will be crucial come World Cup time. The physicality aspect is going to be massive.”

Cyril Baille’s calf injury is a real concern for France, the loosehead having been such a key cog in their development over the last few years. The prop wasn’t, perhaps, at his best for Toulouse last season but I thought he had a very solid Six Nations, and his ability as an offloader and distributor is so valuable.

Baille should be back fit at some point during the World Cup but, for now, it’ll be Jean-Baptiste Gros on the left side of the French front row. The 24-year-old was part of the great French age-group side that went back-to-back as U20 world champions in 2018 and 2019, combining with Demba Bamba to produce a series of scrum demolition jobs on their way to that first triumph before quickly moving up into the senior set-up.

Gros’s progress since hasn’t been entirely smooth, with a couple of injuries stalling him somewhat, but the Toulon prop has been impressive so far this summer. How he handles Taniela Tupou at scrum time will be worth watching – there’s plenty of mass coming through the tighthead side for the Wallabies with Will Skelton behind the prop, and I think they’ll try to put Gros, who can be streaky at scrum time, under strain.