Bienvenue to the official discussion thread for Rugby World Cup 2023!
The men's Rugby World Cup is kicking off on Friday 8th September in France, and coming to an end with the final in Paris on Sunday 28th October!
20 teams from around the world will be taking part in 4 pools of 5, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. The favourites include France themselves, South Africa, New Zealand and Ireland, but it is also expected to be one of the least predictable world cups ever!
All matches will be live and free-to-air on ITV1 or ITV4 in the UK, with radio commentary on the BBC. If you want to find out more about the 20 teams, the legendary Squidge Rugby on YouTube is putting together a playlist of previews for every team, with history, analysis, and things to watch out for if you're watching their games. The BBC's Rugby Union Weekly/Daily podcast is also a good place to keep up with what's going on – and if you want grassroots fan-made podcasts, check out Blood & Mud, Ruck 'n' Roll or Eggchasers on your preferred podcast provider!
Make sure you also sign up for the TSR sweepstake and the predictions competition – even if you've never watched rugby before, come and give it a go!
Heard lots of things from England supporters about how Owen Farrell being out actually helped the team here, and that maybe England games shouldn't be the Owen Farrell show, to make way for Ford.
Real shame that Fiji didnt have the consistency they had in the warm up matches. Win for Wales but, a bit like England, unconvincing and you have the feeling theyll be taken apart by the top teams.
A superb performance from Uruguay tonight, running France far closer than anyone expected! (And ultimately only losing to France by one point more than the All Blacks lost by last week!)
Scrappy win by England today Japan were rubbish if we play a good team we will get rolled over
England haven't become world-beaters but they did the job last night – I feel like the criticism of them is a bit overdone this morning. Ultimately that gameplan did work!