Rugby World Cup 2011

Argentina did something the All Blacks could not do at the last World Cup - and that is beat France.

From his coastal Auckland eyrie, All Black coach Graham Henry could train a high-powered telescope on the French hotel.

If you are more worried about the rugby than the thread count of the sheets you will sleep on that night, you might be struggling to find accommodation in Dunedin for the main World Cup games.

The hard work put in by Lakes Leisure to prepare facilities for the visiting Irish rugby team has paid off, with the Irish Rugby World Cup squad yesterday giving the thumbs-up to facilities at the Queenstown Events Centre.

Rugby World Cup arrivals in Queenstown this week are "something of a wait and see", Destination Queenstown and the Queenstown branch of the New Zealand Hotel Council say.

Zoe Hart, of Arrowtown Primary School, will not only be attending a Rugby World Cup match, she will lead the Tongan rugby team on to Auckland's Eden Park for next Friday night's opening match.

Not many rugby players would likely associate their decidedly masculine sport with delicate white flowers, but how could anyone not be impressed with a huge, five-tonne rugby ball covered in them.

For Martin Gaitan, the Pumas' welcome to the Rugby World Cup at Dunedin International Airport last night meant more to him than most.

Three of Dunedin's four Rugby World Cup matches are likely to sell out, with 74,000 tickets already snapped up by fans.

Fr Gerard Aynsley, of St Patrick's Basilica, organises flags of the six teams playing in Dunedin during the Rugby World Cup, and New Zealand, to hang outside the church, in Dunedin yesterday.

Former Silver Ferns netball coach Dame Lois Muir offers some words of advice during the "Captain's Run" - a three-hour briefing and training session for about 300 volunteers and officials at Forsyth Barr Stadium yesterday.

In a case of true southern hospitality, a Dunedin bakery is rolling out the welcome mat for visiting rugby teams the best way it knows how - with pies.

People with flu-like symptoms should avoid large crowds such as those at the Rugby World Cup, Otago Southland Medical Officer of Health Dr Marion Poore says.

The England and Japan rugby teams have arrived in Auckland this morning for the Rugby World Cup.

Plans to deal with three kinds of waste - landfill rubbish, recyclables and human effluent - during the Rugby World Cup are in place, with sorting bins and somewhat posh portable toilets to be rolled out around Dunedin.

An outdated Otago Stadium map has been printed inside the official Rugby World Cup ticket-holders' booklets, but World Cup organisers say it will not be a problem.