You know it’s bad when the rugby fans are booing you. Poor Emmanuel Macron had his big moment upstaged last night as the World Cup kicked off in Paris. Ahead of the first game between the hosts and New Zealand, the embattled president had to delay his welcome speech from a lectern on the pitch, such was the booing, whistling and jeering from around the stadium.

Macron — a self-made man who worships his creator — has suffered a dramatic fall in popularity since his unpopular pension reforms, with a current approval rating of 31 percent. It wasn’t just in the Stade de France that he was booed: the president’s appearance on screen was also greeted with a similar reaction at special rugby fan zones in Paris and Marseille, according to news reports.

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This article was originally published at The Spectator’s UK website.