All Blacks first-five Daniel Carter meets French soccer lagen Zinedine Zidane. Photo / Brett Phibbs
The phalanx of guardians around the Stade de France stand more than two metres tall, their eyes bright and defiant, their chests thrust out aggressively, unnervingly silent.
But they are not part of any security detail for the Rugby World Cup. Instead, they are giant fibreglass sculptures of
the French fighting cockerel, adding a bright and eccentric touch to the tournament.
The cockerels, decorated individually by French artists, have been deployed around the tournament's flagship stadium, at Paris City Hall and in the southwestern city of Toulouse.
They are the brainchild of French international-turned-artist Cedric Soulette. The 13-times capped former prop was inspired to customise Gallus gallus, as the bird's Latin scientific label has it, after seeing New York's famous CowParade.
Soulette says he is delighted to be able to see the cockerel "the unifying symbol of France" interpreted "through so many different eyes."
"Many people in France consider the cockerel to be old hat, and that's a shame because other teams have their symbol, the English have the rose and New Zealand have the kiwi."
Soulette created dozens of the fibreglass birds with the help of a small firm specialising in computer-aided design and manufacture, then sold some on to corporations eager for a touch of unusual promotion.
Others were handed to a variety of artists - including French international Frederic Michalak - and the cockerels have emerged in an array of colours and themes from fancy pastel flowers to science fiction as well as rugby.
At the end of the tournament the cockerels will be sold for charity. All but one, that is. Robo'coq, a striped metallic grey beast with a yellow head, will stay standing proudly at the entrance to the national rugby training centre at Marcoussis.
* International news agency Reuters has suspended reporting of the lead-up to the tournament because of a dispute with the International Rugby Board. The board has set conditions including free entitlement to use all photos taken by the media, to the anger of news agencies and newspapers.
