ANYONE looking for an upset on the opening weekend of action will be left disappointed, I'm afraid.

It amounts to the top teams enjoying some meaningful run-outs before facing bigger games in their qualifying pools.

New Zealand, Australia and England find themselves in that situation as seven World Cup venues - Marseilles, Lyon, Lens, Nantes, Paris, St Etienne and Bordeaux - take centre-stage today and tomorrow.

Of course, Wales are in action tomorrow with a lunchtime kick-off against Canada in Nantes.

The Canadians have been talking things up this week, targeting a physical aspect to the game, but I believe Wales will dominate every aspect of the match.

Scrum-half Dwayne Peel captains Wales for their Pool B opener, and that has not come as a surprise to me. Dwayne is one of those players guaranteed his position in the Wales team, and I think it was possibly something coach Gareth Jenkins has been looking at for a while in terms of this first fixture.

The defending champions have once again lost Jonny Wilkinson from their plans, which will be a source of huge frustration for him and the entire England camp.

Jonny has featured in just seven of England's last 40 Test matches since the 2003 World Cup final, and, while he remains a world-class player, his lack of match practice is clearly a concern.

He is in a situation, given all the injury setbacks he has suffered, that he just needs to be playing games. Unfortunately though, that won't happen against the USA in Lens today.

England have lost Jonny, but I don't anticipate any problems for them at Stade Felix-Bollaert, where they will be looking to go through their playing patterns and establish some rhythm before next Friday's Pool B showdown against South Africa in Paris.

Tournament favourites New Zealand will also look for a good run-out when they tackle Italy in Marseilles, and it promises to be a useful test for them as the Italians have become a real tough nut to crack.

Japan, I don't believe, will be good enough to remotely threaten Australia in Lyon, but these work-outs are important as they provide a chance for players to sharpen their match fitness and accuracy.

The game that probably intrigues me most over the next two days is at the Parc des Princes tomorrow. South Africa versus Samoa is a big match.

The Springboks will look to dominate the set-pieces, but if the game does start to get a bit loose, then Samoa possess the players who could take advantage. I anticipate a very physical encounter, with South Africa coming out on top.

Scotland, who meet Portugal, and Ireland's clash against Namibia both fall into that category of run-outs, and it is great to see Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll recovered from his injury and straight back into their starting line-up.

The major challenges for Ireland will come later in the month, with France and Argentina both on their horizon. One of those teams - they are all ranked in the world's top six - will miss out on the quarter-finals.

As for possible upsets as the tournament unfolds, they appear to be thin on the ground.

Fiji could prove difficult opponents for Wales on September 29, but then you look at the Scotland versus Italy encounter the same day and would an Italy victory really represent an upset?

It has been a long build-up to the 2007 Rugby World Cup, but now the action is about to begin with some great teams and great players all in pursuit of that glittering prize - the Webb Ellis Trophy.