Top-ranked Ireland claimed a 13-8 statement victory over defending champions South Africa in a high-octane heavyweight World Cup clash that lived up to the hype at a sweltering Stade de France on Saturday.
Meantime, in Lille, Steve Borthwick’s triple-playmaker plan worked well against Chile as England delivered their best display at the tournament so far.
In a match that sometimes looked like a training run, Owen Farrell, George Ford and Marcus Smith showed on Saturday they can share the field and deliver.
Today, Scotland take on Tonga in Nice knowing only victory will keepalive their hopes of progressing from Pool B.
Defeat in their opening match to current holders South Africa has taken away any margin for error for Gregor Townsend’s side.
Whilst, Wales and Australia collide in a massive Pool C showdown this evening. It is now do-or-die territory for the Wallabies in terms of their quarter-final hopes after slipping to a first defeat by Fiji for 69 years.
What are the next matches?
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Sunday, Sept 24 – Scotland v Tonga, Stade de Nice, 4.45pm – ITV 1
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Sunday, Sept 24 – Wales v Australia, OL Stadium, 8pm – ITV 1
How do I watch the Rugby World Cup on TV?
ITV have the exclusive broadcast rights in the UK. The channel for each match is listed below (the vast majority are on ITV1). You can read our guide to the 12 best pundits and commentators working at the tournament.
The radio commentary of every match is available only on the BBC, across Radio 5 Live, 5 Sports Extra and the BBC Sounds service.
In the US, the tournament is being shown on NBC Sports. In South Africa the TV coverage is on SuperSport.
Rugby World Cup 2023 full results, fixtures and schedule
All matches on ITV1 unless specified
Pool matches
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Friday, Sept 8 – France 27 New Zealand 13
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Saturday, Sept 9 – Italy 52 Namibia 8
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Saturday, Sept 9 – Ireland 82 Romania 8
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Saturday, Sept 9 – Australia 35 Georgia 15
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Saturday, Sept 9 – England 27 Argentina 10
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Sunday, Sept 10 – Japan 42 Chile 12
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Sunday, Sept 10 – South Africa 18 Scotland 3
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Sunday, Sept 10 – Wales 32 Fiji 26
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Thursday, Sept 14 – France 27 Uruguay 12
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Friday, Sept 15 – New Zealand 71 Namibia 3
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Saturday, Sept 16 – Samoa 43 Chile 10
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Saturday, Sept 16 – Wales 28 Portugal 8
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Saturday, Sept 16 – Ireland 59 Tonga 16
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Sunday, Sept 17 – South Africa 76 Romania
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Sunday, Sept 17 – Australia 15 v Fiji 22
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Sunday, Sept 17 – England 34 Japan 12
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Wednesday, Sept 20 – Italy 38 Uruguay 17
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Thursday, Sept 21 – France 96 Namibia 0
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Friday, Sept 22 – Argentina 19 Samoa 10
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Saturday, Sept 23 – Georgia 18 Portugal 18
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Saturday, Sept 23 – England 71 Chile 0
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Saturday, Sept 23 – South Africa 8 Ireland 13
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Sunday, Sept 24 – Scotland v Tonga, Stade de Nice, 4.45pm
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Sunday, Sept 24 – Wales v Australia, OL Stadium, 8pm
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Wednesday, Sept 27 – Uruguay v Namibia, OL Stadium, 4.45pm – ITV 4
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Thursday, Sept 28 – Japan v Samoa, Stade de Toulouse, 8pm – ITV 4
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Friday, Sept 29 – New Zealand v Italy, OL Stadium, 8pm
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Saturday, Sept 30 – Argentina v Chile, Stade de la Beaujoire, 2pm
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Saturday, Sept 30 – Fiji v Georgia, Stade de Bordeaux, 4.45pm
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Saturday, Sept 30 – Scotland v Romania, Stade Pierre-Mauroy, 8pm
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Sunday, Oct 1 – Australia v Portugal, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, 4.45pm – ITV 4
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Sunday, Oct 1 – South Africa v Tonga, Stade de Marseille, 8pm
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Thursday, Oct 5 – New Zealand v Uruguay, OL Stadium, 8pm – ITV 4
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Friday, Oct 6 – France v Italy, OL Stadium, 8pm
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Saturday, Oct 7 – Wales v Georgia, Stade de la Beaujoire, 2pm
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Saturday, Oct 7 – England v Samoa, Stade Pierre-Mauroy, 4.45pm
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Saturday, Oct 7 – Ireland v Scotland, Stade de France, 8pm
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Sunday, Oct 8 – Japan v Argentina, Stade de la Beaujoire, 12pm
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Sunday, Oct 8 – Tonga v Romania, Stade Pierre-Mauroy, 4.45pm – ITV 3
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Sunday, Oct 8 – Fiji v Portugal, Stade de Toulouse, 8pm – ITV 4
Quarter-finals
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Saturday, Oct 14 – Winner Pool C v Runner-up Pool D, Stade de Marseille, 4pm
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Saturday, Oct 14 – Winner Pool B v Runner-up Pool A, Stade de France, 8pm
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Sunday, Oct 15 – Winner Pool D v Runner-up Pool C, Stade de Marseille, 4pm
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Sunday, Oct 15 – Winner Pool A v Runner-up Pool B, Stade de France, 8pm
Semi-finals
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Friday, Oct 20 – Winner QF 1 v Winner QF 2, Stade de France, 8pm
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Saturday, Oct 21 – Winner QF 3 v Winner QF 4, Stade de France, 8pm
Bronze medal match
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Friday, Oct 27 – Runner-up SF 1 v Runner-up SF 2, Stade de France, 8pm
Final
Who is in what pool?
Where is the Rugby World Cup taking place?
The 2023 Rugby World Cup is being played in France across nine stadiums in nine cities. The final will be played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Paris).
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Stade de France (capacity 80,698) – Saint-Denis, Paris
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Stade de Marseille (67,394) – Marseille
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OL Stadium (59,186) – Lyon
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Stade Pierre-Mauroy (50,186) – Lille
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Stade de Bordeaux (42,115) – Bordeaux
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Stade Geoffroy-Guichard (41,965) – Saint-Étienne
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Stade de Nice (35,624) – Nice
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Stade de la Beaujoire (35,322) – Nantes
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Stade de Toulouse (33,150) – Toulouse
Who is playing?
A total of 20 teams qualified for the Rugby World Cup. These teams were split into four pools of five, with each pool getting one team from five ‘bands’.
Band one featured the four highest-ranked teams from when the draw for the tournament was made back in 2019 (South Africa, New Zealand, England, Wales). Band two comprised the next four highest-ranked teams (Ireland, Australia, France, Japan) and band three the four after that (Scotland, Argentina, Fiji, Italy).
Each side in the first three bands qualified automatically for the tournament owing to their world ranking, while the further two bands comprised the sides who had made it into the tournament via qualifying (Samoa, Georgia, Uruguay, Tonga, Namibia, Romania, Chile, Portugal).
South Africa are the defending champions. They beat England in the final in 2019.
England’s World Cup squad
Forwards (19)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers)
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)***
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks)*
Theo Dan (Saracens)
Ben Earl (Saracens)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears)*
Jamie George (Saracens)**
Maro Itoje (Saracens)*
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)***
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints)*
Joe Marler (Harlequins)**
George Martin (Leicester Tigers)
David Ribbans (Toulon)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks)
Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears)*
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby)
Billy Vunipola (Saracens) **
Jack Walker (Harlequins)
Jack Willis (Toulouse)
Backs (14)
Henry Arundell (Racing 92)
Danny Care (Harlequins)*
Elliot Daly (Saracens)*
Owen Farrell (Saracens)**
George Ford (Sale Sharks)**
Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby)
Max Malins (Bristol Bears)
Joe Marchant (Stade Francais)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks)**
Jonny May (Gloucester)**
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)***
*denotes number of Rugby World Cup tournaments played
Recommended
Will Greenwood’s guide to the England squad
Best of the latest odds
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France: 16/5
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New Zealand: 4/1
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Ireland: 7/2
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South Africa: 9/2
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England: 12/1
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Wales: 40/1
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Australia: 40/1
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Argentina: 50/1
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Scotland: 100/1
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Fiji: 150/1
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