All Blacks ready for rugby World Cup opener

World Cup organisers on Wednesday expressed confidence the tournament would be a spectacular success as hosts New Zealand unveiled their starting XV for the first game against Tonga. International Rugby Board chief Bernard Lapasset said the stage was set for "an exceptional World Cup", which will start with a glittering ceremony at Auckland's Eden Park before the All Blacks and Tonga play on Friday. "New Zealanders and 95,000 fans from all corners of the earth will join in celebration of a tournament that will deliver not just a sporting spectacle, but a festival that will showcase alI all that is great about this passionate rugby nation," the Frenchman said. "New Zealand is ready. The teams are ready. The fans are ready. I have no doubt that this will be a Rugby World Cup that New Zealanders and the global rugby family will be proud of." Echoing Lapasset's commments, chief organiser Martin Snedden said although some 1,000 tickets were still available for the opener at 60,000-capacity Eden Park, sales were still on course to match forecasts. He said New Zealand was ready to throw off its problems of the past year, including February's Christchurch earthquake disaster, a mining accident which killed 29 last November and a moribund economy. "It's been a pretty tough 12 months or so in New Zealand with what's happened in Christchurch, with what's happened in Pike River with the mining disaster and with the economic situation," Snedden said. "I think the country is ready to have fun. I think we're ready to have a party. I think we're ready to welcome and embrace the thousands and thousands of international visitors that are coming." On Friday, the All Blacks will look to set off a wave of optimism that they can end 24 years of heartache by winning rugby's biggest prize for just the second time. For the Pool A encounter against Tonga, New Zealand coach Graham Henry sprung a surprise by naming out-of-favour Sonny Bill Williams alongside the formidable Ma'a Nonu in an imposing midfield partnership. Rugby league convert Williams' inclusion, at the expense of specialist centre Conrad Smith, was one of nine changes to the run-on side that lost to Australia 20-25 last month. Israel Dagg was preferred at fullback ahead of Mils Muliaina, clearing the way for captain Richie McCaw to become the first All Black to reach 100 Tests. McCaw and Muliaina have both played 98 Tests going into the tournament. Tonga were due to announce their starting line-up later on Wednesday. Henry explained the rationale behind his selections as giving the "backbone" of his starting XV regular game time together while others needed an opportunity for game time as well." "The reason for the selection was to give Sonny Bill an opportunity and he's got that," he said. "We don't know what's going to happen later in the tournament and who's going to be standing and who's not, so we've got to give players an opportunity to play and to force their abilities on the selectors." Williams, who has yet to re-sign with the All Blacks for after the World Cup, started in only one of the five All Blacks Tests this year as he struggled to reproduce the early form he showed after switching codes. Down on the South Island, 2003 World Cup winners England paid a goodwill visit to Christchurch, New Zealand's second biggest city which was devastated by an earthquake in February. Martin Johnson's men had been scheduled to play Argentina and Georgia there before the disaster led to the games being moved to Dunedin, where England begin their World Cup campaign against the Pumas on Saturday. "It's sad to see a stadium in this state," Johnson told reporters as he stood on one of the many molehills littering the pitch. Johnson dismissed suggestions England had been inconvenienced by moving to Dunedin, saying there was more at stake. "It's not about rugby is it? People say 'how has it affected you?' Well we just go and play somewhere else." Elsewhere, Wales and South Africa geared up in Wellington for Sunday's mouthwatering Pool D clash, while Scotland were one of the last teams to arrive in New Zealand, heading immediately to Invercargill in the far south to prepare for Saturday's Pool B opener against Romania.