Rugby World Cup 2023: Match schedule, how to watch, latest news and odds

France, the Rugby World Cup hosts, have been hit with a major injury blow after fly-half Romain Ntamack was ruled out of the tournament.

Ntamack suffered a left knee injury in France’s 30-27 warm-up win over Scotland. Scans showed that the playmaker has injured his cruciate ligament. The injury breaks up France’s preferred half-back partnership of Antoine Dupont and Ntamack, who play together for Toulouse.

Ntamack, the son of former France wing Emile, has been a standout performer for club and country in recent years. He played every minute of France’s Grand Slam Six Nations triumph in 2022 and has helped Toulouse to win three Top 14 titles and the 2021 Champions Cup.

With Ntamack ruled out, Matthieu Jalibert of Bordeaux-Begles is now the frontrunner to start for France in their opening game.

When is the Rugby World Cup?

The tournament begins on Friday, September 8 with France taking on New Zealand. The final will be played on Saturday, October 28.

South Africa were the winners of the last tournament – in Japan in 2019 – when they beat England in the final, and will be among the favourites again this year. New Zealand, as ever, will be the team to beat, especially after their dominant showing at the Rugby Championship.

However, a strong European challenge is expected, not least from France and Six Nations Grand Slam winners Ireland, who have yet to put their best foot forward at a World Cup.

Where is it?

The 2023 Rugby World Cup will be played in France across nine stadiums in nine cities. The final will be played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Paris).

• Stade de France (capacity 80,698) - Saint-Denis (Paris)

• Stade Velodrome (67,394) - Marseille

• Parc Olympique Lyonnais (59,186) - Lyon

• Stade Pierre-Mauroy (50,186) - Lille

• Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux (42,115) - Bordeaux

• Stade Geoffroy-Guichard (41,965) - Saint-Étienne

• Allianz Riviera (35,624) - Nice

• Stade de la Beaujoire (35,322) - Nantes

• Stadium Municipal (33,150) - Toulouse

How do I watch it?

ITV have won the exclusive broadcast rights to show the Rugby World Cup in the UK. We will update you with specific channels for each match at the tournament once they are announced by the broadcaster.

The radio commentary of every match will be available only on the BBC, across Radio 5 Live, 5 Sports Extra and the BBC Sounds service. The BBC says there will be a “bespoke output” in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Amazon Prime will broadcast England’s first three World Cup warm-up games in August as well as nine other warm-up fixtures featuring other Six Nations teams.

The next warm-up match for England is against Ireland on August 19. Their final match before heading to France, against Fiji at Twickenham the following weekend, is also on Amazon Prime.

Who is playing?

A total of 20 teams have qualified for the Rugby World Cup. These teams have been 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 (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).

Who is in what pool?

Pool A
New Zealand
France
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

Rugby World Cup 2023 full fixtures and schedule

POOL MATCHES

• Friday, Sept 8 - France v New Zealand, Stade de France, 8.15pm BST

• Saturday, Sept 9 - Italy v Namibia, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, 12.00pm

• Saturday, Sept 9 - Ireland v Romania, Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, 2.30pm

• Saturday, Sept 9 - Australia v Georgia, Stade de France, 5pm

• Saturday, Sept 9 - England v Argentina, Stade Vélodrome, 8pm

• Sunday, Sept 10 - Japan v Chile, Stadium Municipal, 12pm

• Sunday, Sept 10 - South Africa v Scotland, Stade Vélodrome, 4.45pm

• Sunday, Sept 10 - Wales v Fiji, Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, 8pm

• Thursday, Sept 14 - France v Uruguay, Stade Pierre-Mauroy, 8pm

• Friday, Sept 15 - New Zealand v Namibia, Stadium Municipal, 8pm

• Saturday, Sept 16 - Samoa v Chile, Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, 2pm

• Saturday, Sept 16 - Wales v Portugal, Allianz Riviera, 4.45pm

• Saturday, Sept 16 - Ireland v Tonga, Stade de la Beaujoire, 8pm

• Sunday, Sept 17 - South Africa v Romania, Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, 2pm

• Sunday, Sept 17 - Australia v Fiji, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, 4.45pm

• Sunday, Sept 17 - England v Japan, Allianz Riviera, 8pm

• Wednesday, Sept 20 - Italy v Uruguay, Allianz Riviera, 4.45pm

• Thursday, Sept 21 - France v Namibia, Stade Vélodrome, 8pm

• Friday, Sept 22 - Argentina v Samoa, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, 4.45pm

• Saturday, Sept 23 - Georgia v Portugal, Stadium Municipal, 1pm

• Saturday, Sept 23 - England v Chile, Stade Pierre-Mauroy, 4.45pm

• Saturday, Sept 23 - South Africa v Ireland, Stade de France, 8pm

• Sunday, Sept 24 - Scotland v Tonga, Allianz Riviera, 4.45pm

• Sunday, Sept 24 - Wales v Australia, Parc Olympique Lyonnais, 8pm

• Wednesday, Sept 27 - Uruguay v Namibia, Parc Olympique Lyonnais, 4.45pm

• Thursday, Sept 28 - Japan v Samoa, Stadium Municipal, 8pm

• Friday, Sept 29 - New Zealand v Italy, Parc Olympique Lyonnais, 8pm

• Saturday, Sept 30 - Argentina v Chile, Stade de la Beaujoire, 2pm

• Saturday, Sept 30 - Fiji v Georgia, Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, 4.45pm

• Saturday, Sept 30 - Scotland v Romania, Stade Pierre-Mauroy, 8pm

• Sunday, Oct 1 - Australia v Portugal, Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, 4.45pm

• Sunday, Oct 1 - South Africa v Tonga, Stade Vélodrome, 8pm

• Thursday, Oct 5 - New Zealand v Uruguay, Parc Olympique Lyonnais, 8pm

• Friday, Oct 6 - France v Italy, Parc Olympique Lyonnais, 8pm

• Saturday, Oct 7 - Wales v Georgia, Stade de la Beaujoire, 2pm

• Saturday, Oct 7 - England v Samoa, Stade Pierre-Mauroy, 4.45pm

• Saturday, Oct 7 - Ireland v Scotland, Stade de France, 8pm

• Sunday, Oct 8 - Japan v Argentina, Stade de la Beaujoire, 12pm

• Sunday, Oct 8 - Tonga v Romania, Stade Pierre-Mauroy, 4.45pm

• Sunday, Oct 8 - Fiji v Portugal, Stadium Municipal, 8pm

QUARTER-FINALS

• Saturday, Oct 14 - Winner Pool C v Runner-up Pool D, Stade Vélodrome, 4pm

• Saturday, Oct 14 - Winner Pool B v Runner-up Pool A, Stade de France, 8pm

• Sunday, Oct 15 - Winner Pool D v Runner-up Pool C, Stade Vélodrome, 4pm

• Sunday, Oct 15 - Winner Pool 4 v Runner-up Pool B, Stade de France, 8pm

SEMI-FINALS

• Friday, Oct 20 - Winner QF 1 v Winner QF 2, Stade de France, 8pm

• Saturday, Oct 21 - Winner QF 3 v Winner QF 4, Stade de France, 8pm

BRONZE-MEDAL MATCH

• Friday, Oct 27 - Runner-up SF 1 v Runner-up SF 2, Stade de France, 8pm

FINAL

• Saturday, Oct 28 - Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2, Stade de France, 8pm

England’s World Cup squad

Owen Farrell may be banned from playing any part in the group stage of the Rugby World Cup, after receiving a red card for a high tackle on Taine Basham during the warm-up victory over Wales at Twickenham. Jack van Poortvliet has also been ruled out of the 33-man squad selected earlier in August by Steve Borthwick. Van Poortvliet has been replaced by Alex Mitchell.

You can read Will Greenwood’s verdict on the 33 men who have been selected.

Forwards (19)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 9 caps)
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 100 caps)***
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 45 caps)*
Theo Dan (Saracens, 1 cap)
Ben Earl (Saracens, 15 caps)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 49 caps)*
Jamie George (Saracens, 77 caps)**
Maro Itoje (Saracens, 67 caps)*
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 97 caps)***
Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints, 20 caps)*
Joe Marler (Harlequins, 79 caps)**
George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 2 caps)
David Ribbans (Toulon, 6 caps)
Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks, 3 caps)
Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, 62 caps)*
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 26 caps)
Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 68 caps) **
Jack Walker (Harlequins, 3 caps)
Jack Willis (Toulouse, 10 caps)

Backs (14)
Henry Arundell (Racing 92, 7 caps)
Danny Care (Harlequins, 88 caps)*
Elliot Daly (Saracens, 57 caps)*
Owen Farrell (Saracens, 106 caps)
**George Ford (Sale Sharks, 82 caps)**
Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 11 caps)
Max Malins (Bristol Bears, 19 caps)
Joe Marchant (Stade Francais, 16 caps)
Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints, 4 caps)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 22 caps)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 23 caps)
Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks, 51 caps)**
Anthony Watson (unattached, 55 caps)**
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 122 caps)***

*denotes number of Rugby World Cup tournaments played

Latest odds

France: 11/4
New Zealand: 13/5
Ireland: 5/1
South Africa: 9/2
England: 11/1
Australia: 10/1
Argentina: 25/1
Scotland: 40/1
Wales: 33/1

Odds correct as of August 13

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