Watch England Vs. Fiji Live Online: Rugby 2015 World Cup Opening Match, Streaming Info, Start Time

The 2015 Rugby World Cup will be the eighth edition of what has been called the world’s “third biggest” sports event, and United States fans will be able to watch host nation England take on world ninth-ranked Fiji live online in the opening match on Friday, kicking off a competition that is projected to sell 2.3 million tickets to its 48 games, with TV coverage in 207 nations.

Whether that makes the Rugby World Cup truly the “third biggest” sports event behind the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup is up for debate. But what is not arguable is that the 20-nation tournament held every four years since 1987 is a massive global spectacle, and that this year’s coverage can only help the popularity of the hard-hitting sport — a direct ancestor of American football — in the United States.

To find out how to watch the England vs. Fiji 2015 Rugby World Cup opening match live online, see the streaming information in the final paragraph of this article. The match is set to begin at 8 p.m. British Summer Time at 80,000-seat Twickenham Stadium — the world’s largest stadium dedicated exclusively to rugby — on Friday, September 18.

For United States viewers who want to watch live online, that’s 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, noon Pacific.

The American national team, the USA Eagles, will compete in this year’s World Cup, which runs from September 18 to October 31 in England, but outside of this United States, the focus will be on defending champions the New Zealand All Blacks, as well as the Australia Wallabees, South Africa Springboks and host England, who do not have an official nickname. Those are currently the world’s top four national rugby teams, and are likely to be there at the end, slugging it out to reach the final.

Of those four, however, England face the toughest road, finding themselves in the “Pool of Death,” along with Australia and fifth-ranked Wales as well as Fiji and Uruguay — meaning that the opener on Friday is more than just a spectacle. England needs a victory.

England and Fiji have collided only five times on the rugby pitch, first meeting in Fiji back in 1988. But England so far have made it a clean sweep, winning all five matches, most recently at Twickenham in 2012, when England stomped the visitors by a 54-12 margin.

To watch the England vs. Fiji 2015 Rugby World Cup opening match live online, use the Universal Sports live stream available at this link. Login credentials from a cable or satellite TV provider that carries the Universal Sports network will be required. As an alternative, rugby fans can use the Sling TV international sports package, which includes Universal Sports and offers a one-month free trial on its $10 per month subscription, accessible at this link. Finally, fans can go to this link to subscribe to Universals Sports coverage of all 48 matches for $199.99 — or $27.95 per mach on an individual pay-per-view online basis.

[Images: Steve Bardens / Mike Hewitt / Getty Images]