Rugby World Cup 2023 official discussion thread

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!

These are the four pools
Pool A: France, New Zealand, Italy, Uruguay, Namibia
Pool B: South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Tonga, Romania
Pool C: Wales, Australia, Fiji, Georgia, Portugal
Pool D: England, Japan, Argentina, Samoa, Chile

Fixture list (UK time)
Pool stage:
Fri 8 Sep, 20:15: France 27-13 New Zealand, Paris
Sat 9 Sep, 12:00: Italy 52-8 Namibia, Saint-Étienne
Sat 9 Sep, 14:30: Ireland 82-8 Romania, Bordeaux
Sat 9 Sep, 17:00: Australia 35-15 Georgia, Paris
Sat 9 Sep, 20:00: England 27-10 Argentina, Marseille
Sun 10 Sep, 12:00: Japan 42-12 Chile, Toulouse
Sun 10 Sep, 16:45: South Africa 18-3 Scotland, Marseille
Sun 10 Sep, 20:00: Wales 32-26 Fiji, Bordeaux

Thu 14 Sep, 20:00: France 27-12 Uruguay, Lille
Fri 15 Sep, 20:00: New Zealand 71-3 Namibia, Toulouse
Sat 16 Sep, 14:00: Samoa 43-10 Chile, Bordeaux
Sat 16 Sep, 16:45: Wales 28-8 Portugal, Nice
Sat 16 Sep, 20:00: Ireland 59-16 Tonga, Nantes
Sun 17 Sep, 14:00: South Africa 76-0 Romania, Bordeaux
Sun 17 Sep, 16:45: Australia 15-22 Fiji, Saint-Étienne
Sun 17 Sep, 20:00: England 34-12 Japan, Nice

Wed 20 Sep, 16:45: Italy 38-17 Uruguay, Nice
Thu 21 Sep, 20:00: France 96-0 Namibia, Marseille
Fri 22 Sep, 20:00: Argentina 19-10 Samoa, Saint-Étienne
Sat 23 Sep, 13:00: Georgia 18-18 Portugal, Toulouse
Sat 23 Sep, 16:45: England 71-0 Chile, Lille
Sat 23 Sep, 20:00: South Africa 8-13 Ireland, Paris
Sun 24 Sep, 16:45: Scotland 45-17 Tonga, Nice
Sun 24 Sep, 20:00: Wales 40-6 Australia, Lyon

Wed 27 Sep, 16:45: Uruguay 36-26 Namibia, Lyon
Thu 28 Sep, 20:00: Japan 28-22 Samoa, Toulouse
Fri 29 Sep, 20:00: New Zealand 96-17 Italy, Lyon
Sat 30 Sep, 14:00: Argentina 59-5 Chile, Nantes
Sat 30 Sep, 16:45: Fiji 17-12 Georgia, Bordeaux
Sat 30 Sep, 20:00: Scotland 84-0 Romania, Lille
Sun 1 Oct, 16:45: Australia 34-14 Portugal, Saint-Étienne
Sun 1 Oct, 20:00: South Africa 49-18 Tonga, Marseille

Thu 5 Oct, 20:00: New Zealand 73-0 Uruguay, Lyon
Fri 6 Oct, 20:00: France 60-7 Italy, Lyon
Sat 7 Oct, 14:00: Wales 43-19 Georgia, Nantes
Sat 7 Oct, 16:45: England 18-17 Samoa, Lille
Sat 7 Oct, 20:00: Ireland 36-14 Scotland, Paris
Sun 8 Oct: 12:00: Japan 27-39 Argentina, Nantes
Sun 9 Oct, 16:45: Tonga 45-24 Romania, Lille
Sun 9 Oct, 20:00: Fiji 23-24 Portugal, Toulouse

Quarter-finals:
Sat 14 Oct, 16:00: Wales 17-29 Argentina, Marseille
Sat 14 Oct, 20:00: Ireland 24-28 New Zealand, Paris
Sun 15 Oct, 16:00: England 30-24 Fiji, Marseille
Sun 15 Oct, 20:00: France 28-29 South Africa, Paris

Semi-finals:
Fri 20 Oct, 20:00: Argentina 6-44 New Zealand, Paris
Sat 21 Oct, 20:00: England 15-16 South Africa, Paris

Third-place playoff:
Fri 27 Oct, 20:00: Argentina 23-26 England, Paris

Final:
Sat 28 Oct, 20:00: New Zealand v South Africa, Paris

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 40

user123456324

14

Original post

by Saracen's Fez

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!

Tbf if we fix the handling issues in the 1st half it wasn’t too messy

Reply 41

mqb2766

21

Original post

by user123456324

Tbf if we fix the handling issues in the 1st half it wasn’t too messy

In the second half they used their head and that worked fine so everythings going to be good ...

Reply 42

Saracen's Fez

OP

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

After Uruguay got themselves 17-7 up at half-time, and given what they did against France, it was a big shame the way that they faded out of that game :frown:

Reply 43

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper, Life & Style Forum Helper

22

@Saracen's Fez Can you or another one tell me when South Africa is eliminated or the winner? as long as I got no news about my team, I still set my hopes in to get many reputation points.

Reply 44

Saracen's Fez

OP

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

Original post

by Kallisto

@Saracen's Fez Can you or another one tell me when South Africa is eliminated or the winner? as long as I got no news about my team, I still set my hopes in to get many reputation points.

Yep, I'll definitely announce winners as and when we get them :yep:

They play their most important game of the group stage against Ireland on Saturday evening!

Reply 45

Saracen's Fez

OP

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

96-0 and then France gave up playing when the century was in sight :rolleyes:

Namibia looking good for most points conceded in the pool stage :rofl:

Reply 46

Saracen's Fez

OP

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

Very interesting 18-18 draw earlier between Georgia (the best team in Europe outside the Six Nations) and Portugal (seemingly their closest rivals for that label).

England now in command against Chile and obviously just throwing it around and seeing what comes from it!

Reply 47

mqb2766

21

5 points ahead, 3 minutes to go ... feck

Reply 48

mqb2766

21

Amazing win for Ireland.

Reply 49

Saracen's Fez

OP

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

In case anyone else has an earworm tonight...

Reply 50

Saracen's Fez

OP

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

Not sure what that final held-up decision was about (ref looked, saw the ball was coming out and blew the whistle for unplayable :dontknow:

) but not having a goal-kicker really hurt South Africa tonight. Looks like my preferred final of France v SA is going to be the QF now as well...

Reply 51

Saracen's Fez

OP

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 52

Saracen's Fez

OP

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

Eddie Jones's career should probably be ended tonight.

Wales fans are getting very excited now but it's hard to know how much that win says about Wales (other than they made easier work of Australia than they did Portugal!)

Reply 53

user123456324

14

Original post

by Saracen's Fez

Eddie Jones's career should probably be ended tonight.

Wales fans are getting very excited now but it's hard to know how much that win says about Wales (other than they made easier work of Australia than they did Portugal!)

Eddie jones needs to retire he’s made a mess of two world class teams in the last few years

Reply 54

Saracen's Fez

OP

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

To think people were hoping for an upset in this one :eek:

Overall it's a bit of a meh round though: England, Wales, Ireland and France all not playing, and Scotland only playing Romania. I understand why we have bye-weekends but they need to spread them out better next time!

Reply 55

Saracen's Fez

OP

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

So close to a 100-point game again :colondollar:

Reply 56

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper, Life & Style Forum Helper

22

Original post

by Saracen's Fez

So close to a 100-point game again :colondollar:

That is to say that a team was so close to score 100 points in a match? sounds like a lot.

Reply 57

Saracen's Fez

OP

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

Original post

by Kallisto

That is to say that a team was so close to score 100 points in a match? sounds like a lot.

Yes – it's happened twice now that a team has scored 96 points!

Most people thought/think it's not possible for a team to score 100 points in a world cup game these days.