Today's referee is Ashley Klein of Australia.

He's walking the ball to the middle of the park.

James: Come on England!!

Samoa walk forward, right in England's faces while the hosts remain unmoved, their arms around each others' shoulders.

What a picture.

We are just seconds away now.

Samoa are preparing to perform the Manu Siva Tau, a traditional war dance.

We pause for the two national anthems.

The teams come out. There is an almighty roar.

Fair play to the supporters in the ground. They're even more out of the loop than we are, but they're still making plenty of noise.

St James' Park is full by the way.

Shamoon Hafez
BBC Sport at St James' Park

There seems to be a technical issue with the PA system, dancers for the opening ceremony were dancing without music and then a Mexican wave started up in the stands as supporters tried to keep themselves entertained.

We've not started on time.

The players are still in their dressing rooms.

Alex: Well, this is embarrassing.

Jon Wilkin
Former England international on BBC One

This isn't funny, this is the opening match of a World Cup.

Players could come out over-stimulated and do something silly or they could come out a little bit flat.

They have to forget about this delay.

Former Voice UK coach and Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson is desperately trying to keep the crowd entertained, running up and down the pitch. He nearly trips.

Not sure what exactly it is, but something hasn't gone to plan during this opening ceremony. Expect kick-off to be delayed.

Image source, PA Media

Kaiser Chiefs are trying to keep the fans entertained with some arm waving.

We're now being shown pictures of both teams looking very impatient in their dressing rooms.

Not 100% sure what's happening here. I think there's some sort of problem with the speakers.

The stadium's been silent for a good five minutes now, with the players prowling around the dressing rooms while we wait for the tournament opening ceremony to resume. We might have a delay to kick-off too.

Samoa head coach Matt Parish speaking to Dave Woods on BBC One:

"Whatever we do this weekend we will improve the next week and the week after that. The boys have only started training on Monday.

"It's been a long wait with covid so we're certainly happy to be here and happy with the team we have assembled.

"England will give us a tough battle. They're the host nation and we've never beaten them."

Jon Wilkin
Former England international on BBC One

There will be some big stories. This is an incredible time for rugby league.

We're probably going under the radar a little bit in the build-up; there hasn't been too much talk around us compared to some of the other nations. But we are happy with that in our camp. We don't need anybody pumping up our tyres.

Our first game is up at Newcastle - St James' Park. I'll have my usual contingent there to watch; missus, mum and dad, grandad, sister and my daughter. It's nice to have the family in the stand.

Samoa are our opponents, and they're among the favourites to win it. I'll have played against most, if not all, of their lads during my time in the NRL.

They're a very talented and stacked team but we believe in our systems, and with the talent we've got, that we can get the job done.

We can only control what we do. We believe when we're at our best, we can beat anyone. That might sound over-confident but we believe that. We've got to if we're going to win it.

Now the trophies are being walked out on to the pitch.

Every competing nation's flag across all three competitions is being walked out on to the pitch.

Huge cheers for the home nations.

Image source, Getty Images

Forgiven Shamoon, just.