Rugby World Cup 2011: New Zealand v Tonga – live! | Barry Glendenning

• Press F5 for the latest or our auto-refresh button below • Email your thoughts to barry.glendenning@guardian.co.uk • Click here for our Rugby World Cup interactive guide • And click here for all the live scores and fixtures 2 min: Tonga have possession on the halfway line but despite repeated attempts, can’t make any progress. There have been some big hits early on and the latest, from Sonny Bill Williams, wins the turnover ball for New Zealand. Dan Carter swings his boot and sets up a line-out just inside the Tongan 22. 1 min: Tonga kick off, playing towards the Eastern End of Eden Park. Kurt Morath takes the first kick of the tournament, Ali Williams the first catch, 9.28am: Tonga move slowly to the centre of the field to perform their version of the Haka, to which New Zealand duly respond. There was a bit of a palaver over who would go first and whether each team would respect the other’s, but it’s all passed off rather peacefully. Not long now: The teams emerge from the tunnel in a packed Eden Park, New Zealand led by Richie McCaw and Tonga led by Finau Maka, who was an injury doubt for this game but has been passed fit to play. They line up for their national anthems, which were recorded by the New Zealand National Symphony Orchestra and are being played over the Tannoy. New Zealand’s players are dressed in their customary All Black strip, while Tonga’s wear All Red. 9.15am: “As safe a pair of hands as Steve Rider is, I already have the same impending feel of doom about this Rugby World Cup coverage on ITV in terms of production and lifeless commentary,” writes Daniel Chirwa. “Not promising at all. At least it gets Adrian Chiles mug off early morning TV.” “ITV are crap, what happened to the opening ceremony coverage (not that I am that keen) and is it going to be non-stop updates from the England camp for the entire tournament?” asks Hoppolocos. “Could England be any more relaxed? Pity that Scotland, Wales and Ireland aren’t there so we could updates from their camps … oh hang on.” Crikey! It could be a long tournament. At the moment on ITV, Lawrence Dallaglio and Sean Fitzpatrick are talking tactics Gary Neville-on-Sky Sports-style with the help of a big screen they’re clearly not expecting to work very well. Their technology doesn’t betray them and despite the best attempts of Steve Rider to talk up the chances of Tonga, both former World Cup winners agree that New Zealand will win this game easily by playing better rugby than Tonga. Today’s officials: Irish referee George Clancy will be assisted by touch-judges Craig Joubert from South Africa and Stuart Terheege from England. The TV match official is Giul’o De Santis from Italy. Well, that didn’t take long: At just 9.05am, ITV broadcast their first package about New Zealand being Rugby World Cup chokers. It features a lot of angry Kiwi men swearing into the camera, shouting things like “[BLEEP!]ing disgrace”. I don’t think we’ve read what knock-out rugby is,” says Grant Fox, a winner of the first World Cup with the All Blacks in 1987. New Zealand : Dagg, Kahui, Nonu, S. Williams, Toeava, Carter, Cowan, Woodcock, Hore, O. Franks, Thorn, A. Williams, Kaino, McCaw, Vito. Replacements: Flynn, B. Franks, Boric, Whitelock, Weepu, Slade, Jane. Tonga : Lilo, Iongi, Hufanga, Ma’ilei, Piutau, Morath, Moa, Tonga’uiha, Lutui, Filise, Hehea, Tuineau, Kalamafoni, Maka, Ma’afu. Replacements: Taukafa, Taumalolo, Pulu, Timani, Vahafolau, Fisilau, Fatafehi. Referee: George Clancy (IRFU) The opening ceremony: Sadly, I didn’t get to see this because I don’t think ITV broadcast it, but can confirm that ITV presenter Steve Rider described it as “vibrant”. Meanwhile in my email in-box, Craig Gamble asks “are you as confused by everyone down here by the opening ceremony.” Good morning everybody . After all the talk, the glossy supplements, the warm-up matches and the moaning about Kiwis staging rugby matches at breakfast time in the UK, it’s kick-off time for Rugby World Cup 2011 and the tournament’s opening match features the hosts New Zealand against Tonga at Eden Park in Auckland. Anyone looking for the skinny on the tournament could do worse than peruse our Rugby World Cup special report , which features such myriad delights as our Rugby World Cup preview podcast hosted by Eddie Butler, our stats centre and interactive guide to the tournament , not to mention all the news and comment from the Guardian’s crack team of rugby writers in New Zealand. Rugby World Cup 2011 New Zealand rugby union team Tonga rugby union team Rugby union Barry Glendenning guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 9, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.