As any Paris shop owner will tell you, an alluring storefront can be everything. In this beautiful old city, the public are spoilt for choice, chic spots and souvenir shops abundant along the narrow streets and grand boulevards. A bit of glitz and glamour in an attractive aperture can be the difference between a passing glance and a bustling boutique.
And so the Rugby World Cup reaches its day of greatest shop window prominence, hoping to dazzle with a Stade de France showpiece contest between two great rivals. On Saturday, South Africa and New Zealand will battle to lift the Webb Ellis Cup for a record fourth time, the etcher at the ready though unlikely to be able to start their work too soon with two such evenly-matched, if radically different, sides. You could hardly have a more enticing game to sell the sport. The eyes of the world will be watching; this encounter has every chance of enchanting them.
