KEY POINTS:
Kia ora everyone, I'm Melodie Robinson your New Zealand Herald online blogging expert on the colour, or in other words craziness, of the Rugby World Cup 2007 (well that's what I'm calling myself anyway).
For the first four weeks of this tournament I'm based in Paris acquainting myself with the vibe of the city around the Cup, and chasing fans down to find out what their stories and hopes are for the team they're following. Then it's off to Marseilles where two of the other quarterfinals are played, and then tripping around and about Europe in between the semifinals, third and fourth play off and final.
Already before the opening match the excitement factor in Paris was accelerating towards fireworks.
There was the Elbow Lifting Marathon in the streets of Saint Germain, which as you can imagine involves red wine and drinking. 42 pubs invite in 22 teams from the same number of countries - ten people in each team to sing, dress in costume and sip wine. Check out my first video blog for the details.
Let's just say my night involved meeting tens... okay hundreds of Latin men obsessed with rugby... and all focused on lavishing women with attention. Perfect.
And finally, if you don't know who I am - well I'm a former rugby player, now journalist, here in France focusing on the All Black's competition for Sky Sport and Prime. I'm a former Black Fern having won two world cups, one in Amsterdam and one in Barcelona.
But this is the first world cup I've managed to grease my way on a plane to! And hey with 350,000 visitors to France expected for this tournament - I'm expecting one heck of a time!!!
Oh yeah, and of course, the All Blacks to win.
