France 2023 President Jacques Rivoal, tournament director Michel Poussau and general director Julien Collette reflected on the start of the Rugby World Cup before the start of the second weekend of competition.

The French organisers came under heavy criticism after fans faced major delays and congestion entering the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille for the clash between England and Argentina last Saturday (September 9).

Fans were queuing outside the Paris 2024 venue after kick-off, with reports that some were granted entry despite stewards not recognising their seat allocation.

French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra has since warned that "this must not happen again" and urged organisers to ensure everything is "impeccable" having previously promised that the country had learned lessons after last year’s men’s UEFA Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid where fans endured bottlenecks and crushes outside the Stade de France.

Collette admitted that "we experienced difficulties managing the flow of spectators who did not know the Stade Vélodrome" but conceded it was their fault.

"Of course we deplore this and we apologise to them," said Collette in a report by French newspaper L'Équipe.

"It’s our responsibility.

"We encourage spectators to come earlier.

"The next day, we saw no problems in Marseille for the South Africa [versus] Scotland match which is important to us."

Collette claimed that the situation in Marseille was not down to any security issues, which had been the reason blamed for what happened at the Champions League final in Paris last year.

"We have not observed any security problems," he said. 

"[A total of] 300 volunteers were deployed in Marseille.

"We can draw from our reserve of volunteers but the idea is to rely on those who have been trained and to redeploy them differently."

Other complaints made by spectators on the opening weekend of the tournament included the lack of beer and water at venues as temperatures reached 37 degree Celsius.

There were reports of shortages in Ireland’s 82-3 victory over Romania and Wales’ 32-26 win over Fiji at the Stade de Bordeaux.

Robin Copeland, a former Irish rugby player, took to social media to slam organisers for being "massively under prepared" and urged spectators to get food and drinks before the game to avoid "horrendous" queues and claimed "they ran out of beer and water…in 37 degrees".

Poussau promised they were looking to respond to the problem.

"We know there was no beer shortage, there was no lack of beer," said Poussau in a report by Wales Online.

"It was a series of unfortunate difficulties.

"We are going to work with France 2023, the venues and our partners who have done an amazing job helping us address these challenges to improve the situation."

Criticism has also been levelled at organisers over the lack of harmony in the national anthems played before matches.

School choirs performed renditions of pre-match anthems in the opening weekend of the tournament.

But with players and fans often going out of sync with the choir when attempting to sing along, organisers have come under pressure to make changes.

Rivoal conceded it was a "very ambitious project" but admitted that alterations needed to be made to appease spectators.

"People may have been destabilised, surprised by these anthems," he said.

"We are finalising simplified, reworked versions, while preserving children's voices.

"We offer the teams these versions without passages of canonical singing, without polyphony, but with a more assertive musical dimension.

"We hope that this version with children will be retained."