Rugby World Cup organizers said that they are "confident that London's Olympic Stadium will be ready to host the first of five scheduled games in the tournament," according to Ian Malin of the London GUARDIAN. Saturday's "high-profile match" between Samoa and the Barbarians, which was watched by 41,039 spectators, highlighted a "number of teething problems." During the first half four sprinklers under the pitch "sprayed jets of water into the air, providing a couple of comic minutes for the crowd but annoying the Samoans." There were a number of complaints from spectators, "from a lack of Wi-Fi, no beer and poor views of the pitch from seats high in the stand." A number of fans "also complained about the length of queues for tickets and some paying spectators were bemused that their seat tickets were occupied by press seats." An RWC spokesperson said, "The stadium is in mid-transformation and unfortunately a minor technical fault with the timer system led to the sprinklers coming on." Carl Hayman, the former All Blacks prop who played for the Barbarians, added, "It's an impressive stadium and it has a great future as a venue. Apart from the sprinklers going off there were no complaints from me" (GUARDIAN, 8/30).
OPPOSITION TO SOUTH AFRICA: TIMES LIVE reported an "urgent court application" to prevent the South African rugby team from participating in the RWC has been launched by Agency for New Agenda‚ a political party formerly known as South Africa First. The basis for the party's application is an "alleged lack of transformation in the sport‚ which it claims is still dominated by whites‚ and that the team does not fully represent the majority of South Africans." The matter is "scheduled for a hearing on Wednesday" (TIMES LIVE, 8/30). In Sydney, Tom Decent reported a rugby league match between Ireland and Serbia "has been abandoned after a Serbian official reportedly punched a player in the head which sparked an all-in brawl." The Rugby League European Federation released a statement on its Facebook page outlining what had occurred. The post said, "Serbia vs Ireland match has been abandoned in the 65th minute. Very sad and unsavoury scenes. Ireland were leading 24-16 at the time" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 8/30).
