Rugby World Cup: What you need to know

The Rugby World Cup opening ceremony takes place at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday. Photo / Getty

The 2015 Rugby World Cup kicks off on Saturday morning - here's everything you need to know to prepare your weekend viewing.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony takes place at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday and is expected to tell the story of William Webb Ellis and the birth of rugby. It probably won't be as extravagant as the Olympics opening ceremony, but the show is being put on by the same production company so it's bound to be worth watching.

Coverage of the ceremony screens live on Sky Sport 1 from 6am to 6:45am on Saturday morning.

The groups

20 nations are competing in the tournament, split into four groups of five. The teams in each group play each other. The top two teams in each group advance to the quarter-finals where the tournament becomes knockout.

Group A
England, Australia, Wales, Fiji, Uruguay

Group B
South Africa, Scotland, Samoa, USA, Japan

Group C
New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga, Georgia, Namibia

Group D
France, Ireland, Italy, Canada, Romania

The hosts

England are the official hosts with Twickenham holding the opening game, both semifinals and final. 11 other stadiums across England will host matches along with Cardiff. London has three venues, Twickenham, Wembley and the Olympic Stadium.

First games

The first match of the competition, between England and Fiji, takes place straight after the opening ceremony, followed by Tonga vs Georgia on Saturday evening.

The All Blacks first game against Argentina takes place in the early hours of Monday morning.

All games screen live on Sky Sport 1. Due to a recent law change, pubs will be allowed to be open and serving drinks during all Rugby World Cup games.

Saturday

England v Fiji: 6:45am - 9am

Tonga v Georgia: 10:45pm to 1:15am

Sunday

Ireland v Canada: 1:15am to 3:30am

South Africa v Japan: 3:30am to 5:45am

France v Italy: 6:45am to 9am

Samoa v USA: 10:45pm to 1:15am

Monday

Wales v Uruguay: 1:15am to 3:20am

All Blacks v Argentina: 3:20am to 6:30am

- nzherald.co.nz