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World Cup: Eye of the Tiger

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Eight Leicester Tigers players are with their national squads at the Rugby World Cup and you can follow their progress in our Eye On The Tiger spot on the club website.After the opening weekend of the tournament, only Tongan back-rower Opeti Fonua among the Tigers eight at the World Cup is still to get a taste of the action.   Wednesday: Australia v Fiji Vereniki Goneva retains his place in the No13 for Fiji as face play Australia just five days after their opening-round defeat by England. The Wallabies win 28-13 but miss out on a bonus point. Friday: Argentina v Georgia Marcos Ayerza retains his place in the Pumas front row for their second fixture, against a Georgia team who opened with victory over Tonga. Saturday: England v Wales Dan Cole, Tom Youngs and Ben Youngs all retain their starting places for England as Sam Burgess comes in for the injured Jonathan Joseph at centre and Owen Farrell replaces George Ford at fly-half.   Italy v Canada Tigers front-rowers Michele Rizzo and Leonardo Ghiraldini start together for Italy in their Pool D game at Leeds on Saturday (2.30pm). Hooker Ghiraldini captains the Azzurri for the second time in the tournament while Rizzo makes his first start on the loosehead side.   WEEK ONE Friday: England v Fiji Dan Cole and Tom Youngs start in England front row, Ben Youngs starts at scrum-half and wins his 50th cap. Vereniki Goneva, the vice-captain, is at centre for Fiji. Tom is on the ball at a driving maul when the referee awards a penalty try in the opening quarter - the first try of the tournament. All three of Tigers' England men are replaced during the second half, Goneva plays all 80 minutes. Saturday: Tonga v Georgia No8 Opeti Fonua is not included in Tonga's matchday 23 for their tournament opener, but they lose 17-10 to Georgia in the first shock of the tournament. France v Italy Leonardo Ghiraldini is named as Italy captain for a 10th time in his career in the absence of Sergio Parisse and wins his 79th Test cap. He is part of the most-capped starting front row in Rugby World Cup history alongside Matias Aguero (36) and Martin Castrogiovanni (113). Their combined total of 227 Test appearances is 12 more than the previous best when Gurthro Steenkamp, John Smit and CJ van der Linde started South Africa's 87-0 win over Namibia during RWC 2011. Tigers front row colleague Michele Rizzo is used as a second-half replacement as France win 32-10. Sunday: New Zealand v Argentina Marcos Ayerza earns cap No61 as the Pumas run out at Wembley Stadium against the defending world champions at Wembley Stadium. Argentina lead 13-12 at half-time, before the All Blacks claim two second-half tries to take a 26-16 victory in the opening match of their title defence.