live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: tick tock, it's almost tokyo time! the rugby world cup injapan kicks off later on friday. a youthful arsenal get off to a winning start in the europa league at frankfurt. on a day of upsets in osaka, giorgi stuns stephens reach the quarter—finals of the pan pacific open. it's finally here! we're just a few hours away from the start of the 2019 rugby world cup as the host nation japan prepare to take on russia in the opening match. new zealand, meanwhile begin the defence of their title — and their bid for a 4th word cup — when they face south africa on saturday, in the tastiest of titanic clashes. the world cup is breaking new ground this year — with it being held in asia for the first time. our sports correspondent

katie gornall reports from tokyo. tokyois tokyo is a sprawling, enchanting city. busy yet serene, it's a place where the modern nestles alongside the traditional. it's a new frontier for a sport hoping to make a good impression. excitement is building. 15,000 people turned upjust impression. excitement is building. 15,000 people turned up just to watch wales train in southern japan in the country plasma commission of a sport believes this tournament could leave a lasting legacy. transmack this, the first time a world cup is coming to a country which has no tradition in rugby. —— transmack. it was a challenge for us to make this happen. brightness japan, we were really excited to have this tournament so i'm hoping the right knee becomes part of our culture. thanks for us. but that to happen, more people will expect children need to pick up a rugby ball. these high school boys are in the minority and hope the world cup will change that. since we japanese

don't know much about rug, i'm hoping that we get a better understanding. all the best players from all over the world are coming to japan from all over the world are coming tojapan is from all over the world are coming to japan is one going to watch them play and try to learn something from them. four years ago, it was japan who taught south africa a lesson when they beat the 2— time champions in their opening game. it went down is the biggest upset in the tournament's history and put their players firmly on the spot light. can you give us a sense ofjust what that win over south africa four yea rs that win over south africa four years ago did the japanese rugby and what you hope to get from this world cup? in 2015, everyone expected us to lose, even the japanese public expected us to lose but when we beat south africa, all eyes were on us. this time around, home world cup, we gotan this time around, home world cup, we got an opportunity to inspire japan again and we've trained well, prepared well and this world cup is going to be japan's test world cup.

here in downtown tokyo, you do get the sense that japan is embracing this world cup. there are posters and adverts for the big stars all around here but of course, what will really help capture the public‘s imagination is excitement on the pitch and there are signs that this could be the most open world cup yet. so this is probably the tightest competition with ever had, the tightest world cup and it's great for the viewers, great for us to be watching, that's what builds excitement when you know it's just not a foregone conclusion. ijust can't wait to watch it. it's unfamiliar territory but in the neon glow of japan, rugby unfamiliar territory but in the neon glow ofjapan, rugby might‘ve found new home. katie gornall, bbc news, tokyo. as katie said there, this is considered to be the most wide—open world cup in recent years. our reporter tulsen tollett says half a dozen teams are in with a chance of lifting the trophy this year.

so the rugby world cup is injapan, the first time ever it's been held in asia and the hosts are expected to put on quite some show. as always, what you'd expect with japan ‘s precision, accuracy and everything they do in offensive certainly loved it. they've been pouring into all cities in all four of the main islands injapan looking ahead to this, new zealand the favourites. they go into it looking for a third successive william webb ellis trophy and followed by their southern hemisphere counterparts in australia who performed well and made the final in 2015 in south africa, one of the standout teams in 2019 and then you look at ireland, number one ranked in the world for the first time ever coming into this tournament don't discount eddie jones in england. maybe not a great start to the air, looking good in the warmup games but eddiejones was in charge of the japanese side if you remember in the south of england in brighton back in 2015 who defeated south africa in that monumental performance. a lot to look forward to hearing japan. it gets under way on friday evening

with the hosts taking on russia in tokyo and it finishes in early november. on to football — and the group phase of the europa league got underway on thursday. one of the stand—out ties involved two of the sides that reached the last four last season — with arsenal winning at eintracht frankfurt. the gunners — who lost to chelsea in the final — took the lead against frankfurt with a goal from joe willock, just before half—time. there were further goals from bukayo saka and pierre—emerick aubameyang in the last five minutes, to seal a 3—nil victory. tonight, that much was difficult because they were very strong here, they are a very offensive team and we needed to walk sometimes deep but oui’ we needed to walk sometimes deep but our blessing was for a moment very, very good blessing against them and all transition we can take was for

to have maybe chances and we did that. elswehere, javier hernandez was among the scorers as sevilla began their bid to win the trophy for a 6th time with a 3—nil win at oarabag in azerbaijan. wins, also, for two other former champions — psv eindoven and porto. in groupj, borussia monchengladbach were thrashed a—nil at home by wolfsberger, and roma beat istanbul by the same score. and mason greenwood scored his first goal for manchester united as the 2017 winners beat astana 1—nil at old trafford. when you don't score in the first half, from four orfive massive chances, you are always wondering if it's one of those nights you are going to get punished for being sloppy but then again, their keeper did well, he made some fantastic saves. i didn't feel confident that we we re

saves. i didn't feel confident that we were going to win until the referee blew his whistle so i don't think we played the last ten, 15 minutes well, that's something these boys need to learn as well. on to tennis — and there were several upsets at the pan—pacific open in japan on thursday, with two of the top 3 seeds knocked out. among them was sloane stephens. the former us open champion was thrashed in straight sets by camila giorgi. the unseeded italian won the first set 6—0 — and then took the second 6—3 to claim victory in just over a hour. giorgi — who reached the sem—finals last year — will now face the number 9 seed elise mertens in the last eight. in the bottom half of the draw, the number two seed kiki bertens is out. she was beaten in straight sets by anastasia pavlyuchenkova. the russian ranked 41 in the world— was a finalist here two years ago —and she raced through the first set for losing just one game, before winning the second 7—5, to seal her place in the quarter—finals.

she'll now face misaki doi in the last eight. the japanese wildcard — who's ranked 83 in the world — pulled off a shock straight sets win over the number 7 seed donna vekic. doi won 7—6, 6—3 — much to the delight of the home crowd, who must be hoping for an all—japanese final against naomi osaka. jo—wilfried tsonga remains on course to win the moselle open in metz for a record fourth time. he's through to the quarter—finals after a straight sets win over his fellow frenchman pierre—hugues herbert. tsonga won 6—3, 6—4 — and plays the number 2 seed nikoloz basilashvili next. but the top seed david goffin is out. the belgian — who won the title in 2014 — was beaten in straight sets by pablo carreno busta. the unseeded spaniard winning 6—3, 6—2 — and now plays slovenia's aljaz bedene in the quarter—finals.

the english golfer matt wallace leads after the first round of the european tour's pga championship at wenworth in england — but it was day to forget for rory mcilroy. wallace is looking for his first tour victory of the year, after three wins in 2018 — and he opened up with a bogey free round of 65, which is 7—under—par. his round included five birdies ad an eagle. wallace leads by one shot from jon rahm and henrik stenson. // but world number 2 rory mcilroy — who's bidding to win this tournament for a third time faces an uphill battle just to make the cut. ask —— but world number 2 rory mcilroy — who's bidding to win this tournament for a third time faces an uphill battle just to make the cut. he carded a a—over—par 76 — and he's already 11 shots behind finally, some f1 news — and robert kubica is leaving the williams team at the end of the season. (oov) he only returned

—— the williams team at the end of the season. he only returned to f1 full time this year 8 years after he was almost killed in a rally crash. the polish driver has secured the williams‘ only point so far this season — as they prop up the constructors‘ championship. you can get all the latest sports news at our website. from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there. temperatures are set to climb over the next couple of days. friday morning will start off with some fog patches in places but that should tend to lift and clear fairly quickly and then we'll see a lot of sunshine and some real warmth as well. high pressure is centred just about here. you can see the winds rotating around it in a clockwise direction. the high pressure keeping the rain—bearing cloud at bay for the time being out in the atlantic. one or two fog patches across southern scotland,

northern england could be the odd dense patch of fog, some potentially for northern ireland as well but as we go through the day, any fog will lift and we will see patches of cloud drifting northwards but a lot of sunshine across most parts of the uk and temperatures widely between 19 and 22 degrees. but with the south or south—easterly winds blowing across the uk, the favoured spot for high temperatures will actually be the north of scotland, particularly when you get some shelter to the north of high ground. could well see 23 or 2a degrees. now, as we go through friday night, it's going to stay dry. there will be long, clear spells overhead and we will see more of a breeze at this stage so i don't think there'll be too many problems with mist and fog and it's not going to be quite as chilly as some nights we've had recently. some spots holding up in double digits. 1a degrees there for plymouth, for example, dropping down to 9 in glasgow and newcastle. but for saturday, we have this feed of air coming up from the south of the south—east. pretty warm wind direction, fairly humid as well. high pressure holding onto the first half of the weekend but notice these

frontal systems out in the atlantic. these will eventually make their move and turn things quite a lot more unsettled. saturday then, the most reliably dry day for many parts of the uk. a lot of fine weather, lots of sunshine too but notice the odd thunderstorm late in the day through the south—west of england, parts of wales, maybe northern ireland as well. temperatures, though, 21 degrees in glasgow. the south—east of england could get to 25, maybe 26 degrees. through saturday night, though, there's the increasing chance we could see thundery downpours drifting across western areas ahead of this frontal system. it is a cold front. it could be moving erratically northeastwards as we move to sunday. some uncertainty about where it will come to rest with its outbreaks of rain for the afternoon but ahead of it, another warm day, 23 or 2a degrees but behind that cold front, the air turns colder. it will feel much cooler and much

fresher and that leads us into a cooler, fresher week generally for all of us next week and there will be some wind and rain at times. it is going to feel quite autumnal.

welcome to bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories: walkouts expected around the world. protestors prepare for global climate change strikes and demonstrations. trudeau under pressure. the canadian prime minister apologises again after more footage emerges of him in blackface makeup. warnings of a global shortage of anti—venoms to treat snakebites. we have a special report from kenya. it is such a beautiful snake, isn't it? right. but this one can kill you quite quickly. yes, a little bit of this venom can kill you within an hour. and it's crunch time in tokyo, with japan hours away from becoming the first asian nation to host the rugby world cup.