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Rugby World Cup 2023: Team-by-team guide and star players to watch ahead of the tournament in France

By Jon Newcombe

Rugby Union

Thu September 07, 2023 · 1y ago

The 2023 Rugby World Cup in France is almost upon us so check out our team-by-team guide.

Rugby World Cup on Sporting Life

Still to come from our expert we have...

Outright betting preview (Monday September 4) and top try-scorers (Tuesday September 5)
Weekly pool previews covering the best of the action from Friday to Sunday - starting with France v New Zealand
Full match previews and verdicts for the knockout stages of the competition

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POOL A

FRANCE

2019 World Cup: Quarter-finals
World Cup best finish: Runners-up 1987, 1999, 2011
Coach: Fabien Galthié

Key player: Antoine Dupont

The little magician is one of the few genuine superstars of the modern game. The Napolean of the team, Dupont dictates the tempo at which France play and always keeps defences on their toes with his sniping runs around the base. He’s also a brilliant support runner and as a result, gets on the end of plenty of moves to score tries. The 2021 World Rugby Player of the Year has only lost one of his 17 Tests as captain. Scrum-halves led their team to victory in the first two Rugby World Cups – David Kirk and Nick Farr-Jones – and it is about time there was a third.

Summary

If French rugby was a rock band right now, it would be Dr Feelgood. Under cool-as-you-like Fabien Galthie, the current crop of players has delivered a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2022 – their first for 12 years, got to number one in the world for the first time, albeit very briefly, beat the All Blacks, established a record home winning streak, and all the while, the club scene is absolutely buzzing.

Les Bleus bottled it when they last hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2007 but this squad has plenty of big-game experience in both Test rugby and the Heineken Champions Cup to cope. Losing Romain Ntamack to injury on the eve of the tournament is a blow but France arguably have greater strength in depth than most and Mathieu Jalibert is a first-rate replacement at 10.

After three near misses, this is France’s best hope yet of finally lifting the Webb Ellis Cup.

Antoine Dupont scores for France

NEW ZEALAND

2019 World Cup: 3rd
World Cup best finish: Winners 1987, 2011, 2015
Coach: Ian Foster

Key player: Richie Mo’unga

Since Dan Carter hung up his boots as a winner in 2015, New Zealand have only introduced two new players to the fly-half jersey in Lima Sopoaga and Richie Mo’unga. Josh Ioane and Stephen Perofeta have appeared very fleetingly in the main pivot role as benchmen but with Sopoaga now with Samoa, the responsibility, and it’s a big one, rests solely on the shoulders of Mo’unga. Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett offer utility back-up but if the All Blacks are going to win the Rugby World Cup, they will need Mo’unga firing on all cylinders and kicking well. The good news for them is he goes to France in relatively good form on both counts.

Summary

New Zealand couldn’t have performed any less like favourites in suffering an all-time record 35-7 defeat at the hands of the Springboks at Twickenham in their final warm-up match. It was a loss labelled as “embarrassing” by 1987 Rugby World Cup-winning captain David Kirk and brought the Ian Foster haters back out behind their keyboards.

Don’t expect Foster to breakdance on the pitch as Scott Robertson, his soon-to-be successor in the All Blacks hotseat has done, if he gets a grand finale, but to end on the highest of highs and lead New Zealand to a record fourth World Cup win would no doubt give him huge satisfaction given all the flak he has copped.

In Foster’s defence, Covid-19 put New Zealand on the back foot more than most and they spent two years catching-up with the north. Since losing four Tests in a calendar year for the first time in 2022, they have generally been on the up and had put together an 11-match unbeaten run until they fell apart in London.

The All Blacks were outclassed in the scrums and battered physically and every one of their fans and those punters who went for them as their antepost picks will be hoping that performance was a one-off.

ITALY

2019 World Cup: 3rd in Pool B
World Cup best finish: Pool
Coach: Kieran Crowley

Key player: Ange Capuozzo

World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year in 2022 is an antidote to the power-based rugby that dominates the modern game. Slight of built and fleet of foot, Capuozzo loves nothing more than running the ball from full-back and is one of the most exciting talents at the tournament. Born in France, Capuozzo plays his club rugby for European aristocrats Toulouse and would look very much at home in a different shade of blue. As it is, there is every chance he will become as influential as the now-retired Sergio Parisse was for the Azzurri for many years to come.

Summary

While the Italian football team has won the World Cup four times, their rugby counterparts would settle for just getting out of their pool. That has proved beyond the Azzurri in all nine previous tournaments and having been drawn in the same section as the hosts and pre-tournament favourites respectively, France and New Zealand, it looks as though there will be at least another four-year wait before that happens.

That said, the mood in the Italy camp is much more upbeat than it has been in the past, with a first win in 36 Six Nations matches, against Wales in March 2022, followed by a first-ever win over Australia at the 19th attempt in November both tangible signs of progress.

A Six Nations whitewash halted that momentum and while they played well in patches, Italy still struggled to put together a consistent 80-minute performance. There was nothing during the warm-ups to suggest that they will win more than two matches this time.

Ange Capuozzo brings star quality to the Italy side

URUGUAY

2019 World Cup: 5th in Pool D
World Cup best finish: Pool
Coach: Esteban Meneses

Key player: Santiago Arata

Now a Top 14 regular with Castres, Arata has been compared to France star and fellow scrum-half Antoine Dupont for his ability to shrug off tackles and dictate the tempo of play. Arata broke a finger in training in July and needed surgery, but he’s won his race against time to be fit and Los Teros will be all the stronger for his presence in the squad. Expect him to have a big impact, as he did at the last tournament by scoring the crucial try in the epic 30-27 win against Fiji.

Summary

When rugby talks about ‘growing the game’, Uruguay should be held up as a template for other aspiring nations to follow. At the last Rugby World Cup, they shocked Fiji, a side ranked nine places higher than them, and there has been continued improvement since then.

The Uruguayan team is entirely homegrown, with most of the players representing Peñarol Rugby, the country’s professional franchise team, so they have a togetherness, a bond, that should serve them well when times are hard.

Also, they have had more time to prepare than ever before, having qualified from their region at the first time of asking (as Americas 1). By punching their ticket to France early, it has allowed long-standing head coach Esteban Meneses even more time to get his team ready for what lies ahead. Write them off at your peril.

NAMIBIA

2019 World Cup: 4th in Pool B
World Cup best finish: Pool
Coach: Allister Coetzee

Key player: Richard Hardwick

The twice-capped former Wallaby flanker, who was born in Windhoek but resides in Melbourne, has been selected by Namibia under World Rugby’s birthright transfer ruling. Hardwick goes to the World Cup on the back of a fine Super Rugby Pacific season with the Rebels, hoping that his pro rugby experience will help the Welwitschias pick up their first win at a Rugby World Cup.

Summary

With 16 of the squad having been at Rugby World Cup 2019 and veteran loose forward, PJ van Lill having been to the two before that, Namibia won’t lack for tournament experience. Unfortunately, all those players have never known what it feels like to win a game on the game’s greatest stage – with the Welwitschias having a 0-22 tournament record – and they probably never will unless something radical happens behind the scenes to improve the depth of players available to play Test rugby.

Namibia’s playing population barely reaches four figures and there’s the feeling that many within the current squad are only there, well past their sell-by date, because of the dearth of alternative options available to the man in charge, former Springbok head coach Allister Coetzee. It could be slim pickings all round for the Africa 1 qualifiers with another winless tournament the expected outcome.

POOL B

SOUTH AFRICA

2019 World Cup: Winners
World Cup best finish: Winners 1995, 2007, 2019
Coach: Jacques Nienaber

Key player: Siya Kolisi

South Africa’s inspirational leader recovered from a bad knee injury (ACL) in just four months to keep his dream of leading the Springboks to back-to-back World Cup wins alive. After a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears in rehab, the irrepressible flanker will be doing his damnedest to make a big impression.

Summary

Buoyed by the miracle return to fitness of their talismanic captain and the record hammering of New Zealand in their final warm-up match, South Africa look in very good shape to defend the title they won in Yokohama back in 2019.

The Springboks still have the most-feared set of forwards in world rugby but also have some outstanding backs, with exciting talents like Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie coming through to put pressure on seasoned campaigners like Cheslin Kolbe and Makazole Mapimpi.

You could argue they are a more well-rounded team than the class of 2019 in that they can cut through teams like a rapier as well as bludgeoning them to death, and with the man who led them to victory, Rassie Erasmus, still a big influence in the background, assisting head coach Jacques Nienaber, it’s not often they are out-fought, tactically as well as physically.

South Africa captain Siya Kolisi, left, and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus

IRELAND

2019 World Cup: Quarter-finals
World Cup best finish: QF
Coach: Andy Farrell

Key player: Johnny Sexton

Sexton is free to play at the World Cup after serving his three-match ban for referee abuse. Missing all the warm-up matches is no bad thing for a 38-year-old fly-half who has spent the last few years trying to preserve his body. Every time he goes down injured, Irish rugby fans hold their breath because they know, in their heart of hearts, that none of his replacements can match his influence yet.

Summary

Ireland’s inability to make it any further than the last eight remains one of the Rugby World Cup’s great mysteries. Not even the golden generation of Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara and Paul O’Connell could crack the code so it shouldn’t be taken for granted the class of 2023 are guaranteed to do what no other Irish team has done and make the semi-finals at the very least.

However, while they were the number one ranked team in the world going into the 2019 tournament, they’d only been there for a couple of weeks. This time, that status carries more credibility because they have been there, unbroken, for 14 months, the longest reign at the top of any northern hemisphere team. Ireland go into the tournament on the back of a Six Nations Grand Slam and look in very good shape to finally deliver on the game’s biggest stage.

SCOTLAND

2019 World Cup: 3rd in Pool A
World Cup best finish: 4th 1991
Coach: Gregor Townsend

Key player: Finn Russell

Russell is arguably the best number 10 in world rugby right now. Okay, competition for that title is thin on the ground, especially with South Africa’s Handre Pollard injured, but Russell is right on top of his game, making good choices with ball in hand and with the boot. Bath’s big summer signing has been a flawed maverick in the past but this tournament is the time for him to show people that he can be relied upon to deliver when it matters most.

Summary

Since reaching the semi-finals of the second tournament in 1991, the furthest Scotland have gone in the competition is the quarters. Gavin Hastings’ horror miss against England at Murrayfield and the terrible refereeing decision that cost them a victory against Australia in the 2015 quarter-final are the big ‘what might have been’ moments in Scotland’s Rugby World Cup history.

Having missed out on the knockout stages for only the second time in 2019, after a defeat to Japan, they will be desperate to make amends at France 2023, but the draw couldn’t have been less kind. That said, in Gregor Townsend they have a coach with the best record of any since Sir Ian McGeechan’s heyday and a team that has much better strength in depth than ever before.

It would be a surprise if they got the win they needed against South Africa or Ireland to progress beyond the pool stages, but it’s not impossible.

Finn Russell is a rare world class talent to be produced by Scotland

TONGA

2019 World Cup: 4th in Pool C
World Cup best finish: Pool
Coach: Toutai Kefu

Key player: Salesi ‘Charles’ Piutau

Piutau’s ability to drive through a tackle, or evade one, with his outstanding footwork makes him one of the most exciting players to watch with ball in hand. Tonga will need the full-back to be at his mercurial best if they are to perform well.

Summary

Tonga have qualified for every tournament except for in 1991 but are the only one out of the three Pacific Islands team to compete at a Rugby World Cup who are yet to make it beyond the pool stages. Ikale ‘Tahi are capable of winning matches no one expects them to – their 19-14 win over France in Wellington at RWC 2011 ranks as one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history – but equally, they can also lose matches you’d expect them to win.

The big thing for this year will be how well their recently imported stars bed in with the rest of the team. Piutau, one of the best full-backs in the world, is joined by three other ex-All Blacks plus former Wallaby lock Adam Coleman in switching allegiance under World Rugby’s birthright transfer ruling.

ROMANIA

2019 World Cup: DNP
World Cup best finish: Pool
Coach: Eugen Apjok

Key player: Cristi Chirica

From the Richard Hill school of industrious flankers, who do so much unseen work to allow others to shine. This World Cup will be a real test of Chirica's rookie leadership.

Summary

Romania failed to qualify for the last World Cup for the first time in history and only got into this one by default, thanks to Spain being docked points for fielding an ineligible player during qualifying, In the amateur era, when the Army had a big influence, Romania enjoyed wins over the likes of France, Scotland and Wales but since then they have been tanked by tier one teams.

A head coach of the calibre of Andy Robinson doesn’t walk away from the chance to lead a team at a Rugby World Cup less than a year out from the tournament for nothing, and recent results suggests that all is not well behind the scenes.

To lose one player with over 100 caps to injury in Mihai Macovei, is a bad blow but to potentially lose another – scrum-half Florin Surugiu is struggling for fitness – would leave Romania looking more like weedy saplings without roots than Oaks, their team nickname.

POOL C

WALES

2019 World Cup: 4th

World Cup best finish: 3rd in 1987

Coach: Warren Gatland

Key Player: Louis Rees-Zammit

Christened Rees-Lightning for his electric pace, the Gloucester flyer has been criminally under-used in recent years by a Wales team incapable of getting him the ball in time and space. If they can solve that conundrum, Wales' attack will be so much more potent.

Summary

In Warren Gatland, Wales have the most experienced Rugby World Cup head coach in history and, if anyone can get them to out-perform people’s lowly expectations, it is the wily New Zealander, who led them to the semi-finals of the last tournament.

Gatland’s squad selection has been hampered by injuries and unavailabilities due to the parlous state of Welsh regional rugby but they still go to France with lots of experience in the form of players like Dan Biggar, George North, Liam Williams and Leigh Halfpenny. Add Rees-Zammit, and all of a sudden you have the makings of a back-three that would be the envy of most teams.

Where Wales might struggle is in their lack of depth, especially in the forwards, plus the failure to find a settled midfield combination. Over 20 different centre partnerships have been deployed by Wales since the last tournament and that has been reflected in a paucity of attacking play. Wales do have plenty of dog, though, but will that be enough?

Louis Rees-Zammit

AUSTRALIA

2019 World Cup: Quarter-finals
World Cup best finish: Winners 1991, 1999
Coach: Eddie Jones

Key Player: Carter Gordon

The misfiring mullet has been thrust into the pivotal 10 position and has, so far, failed to convince the doubters he is up to the job. Without the composure that comes with top-level experience, Gordon tends to compound one error with another and a foreboding sense of nervousness spreads throughout the team. He needs to find his feet quickly, and kick more than 70% of his goals if Australia are to do well.

Summary

Like Wales, the Wallabies have never gone into a World Cup ranked lower and are also coached by another tournament veteran in Eddie Jones. Jones has been unable to turn around Australia’s fortunes since he replaced Dave Rennie in the hotseat and some of his selection choices have been mystifying to say the least.

Jones has spent too much time trying to deflect attention away from his faltering team by attacking the media than getting to grips with the malaise that has seen them lose five straight matches this year, including a first-ever Rugby Championship wooden spoon.

This team are more green than gold, and a pale shadow of the outfits who topped and tailed the 1990s with World Cup wins.

FIJI

2019 World Cup: 3rd in Pool D
World Cup best finish: QF 1987, 2007
Coach: Simon Raiwalui

Key player: Selestino Ravutaumada

Singling out one Fijian player is no easy task as they are all class. But Selestino Ravutaumada’s contribution to the historic win at Twickenham was immense. The right winger made over 100 metres and beat eight defenders with ridiculously good footwork and also came up with two try assists. More of the same in France, please!

Summary

Fiji go into this Rugby World Cup in their highest-ever position in the rankings (7th) and with their best preparation yet. Sometimes fortune can come about as much by accident rather than design and Vern Cotter’s surprise decision to walk away from the head coach job eight months ago has turned into a blessing.

The Fiji RU’s board does not always make the best decisions but in appointing former captain, Simon Raiwalui, they have got it spot on. The former lock, who knows many of the players from his former player development role, has harnessed a brilliant team spirit which has helped them to win four matches out of five under him, including a historic first-ever victory against England.

Fiji now have the ability to maul and scrum with the best of them as well as still possessing their traditional flair and, this time, the white noise could be deafening.

GEORGIA

2019 World Cup: 4th in Pool D
World Cup best finish: Pool
Coach: Levan Maisashvili

Key player: Davit Niniashvili

Niniashvili has shone for his club Lyon in France’s Top 14 and for his country since bursting onto the scene as a teenager who played without fear. The full-back made his Test debut as an 18-year-old in 2020 and gives the Lelos the cutting edge they had previously lacked with his ability to identify space and the pace to exploit it.

Summary

Georgia have been knocking on the door to be welcomed into the game’s elite for some time now but to no avail, and that wait could be even longer if the World League proposals get the go-ahead. But a proud nation like this one, led by a head coach who came back from the dead not once but twice from Covid-19, is used to fighting for recognition and France 2023 represents another opportunity for them to show they cannot be kept in the shadows indefinitely.

The Lelos now have some exciting backs to complement their traditional forward strength and have shown good progress since the last tournament, notably beating Wales 13-12 in Cardiff last November.

PORTUGAL

2019 World Cup: DNP
World Cup best finish: 5th in Pool C
Coach: Patrice Lagisquet

Key player: Rodrigo Marta

The winger profited from the counter-attacking brilliance of Nuno Sousa Guedes to score six tries in four appearances at the 2023 Rugby Europe Championship and break the Portuguese try-scoring record. He also beat 35 defenders, more than any other player in the competition.

Summary

Os Lobos finished bottom of their pool without a win to their name on their tournament debut in 2007, but they return to France for their second stab at a Rugby World Cup posing much more of a threat.

Portugal play in the mould of the great French team that head coach Patrice Lagisquet was part of in the late 80s and early 90s, with flair and ambition, and they have some brilliant backs who attack from anywhere.

Portugal can also count on the support of a huge Portuguese diaspora in France that stretches into seven figures but it is upfront, against the bigger packs, where they will be found wanting.

POOL D

ENGLAND

2019 World Cup: Runners-up
World Cup best finish: Winners 2003
Coach: Steve Borthwick

Key player: Maro Itoje

Itoje’s drop-off in performance over the last couple of years has coincided with England’s fall from grace. At his best, the Saracens lock/flanker is world-class but he hasn’t been at his best for some time. A big World Cup is needed from Itoje to lift those around him.

Summary

Embattled head coach Steve Borthwick has developed a siege mentality, the trouble is someone forgot to tell him to pull up the drawbridge and portcullis and to load up on the arrows. No defence, no attack, and no hope seems to be the consensus about the current England team and it’s easy to see why because they have been rudderless in losing all but three of their eight games this year under the former England captain.

The demeanour of Borthwick and that of his right-hand man, Kevin Sinfield is deadly serious and dour which, when winning, is fine, but England are far from a winning team. There is enough quality in the squad for England to put a smile back on supporters’ faces but they need to be given licence to play first.

The hope is that they can do what they did in 2007 and turn things around in a short space of time but that team had strong and inspiring leadership, this one doesn’t. It is 20 years since England won the World Cup in 2003 but, in reality, that heady night in Sydney feels like light years away.

England's Maro Itoje

JAPAN

2019 World Cup: Quarter-finals
World Cup best finish: QF 2019
Coach: Jamie Joseph

Key player: Kotaro Matsushima

Japan’s whippet-like winger/full-back also has a bit of dog about him in defence, too. But it’s in attack where he really catches the eye and his tries and searing breaks were key to Japan’s success in 2015 and 2019.

Summary

Japan have been going backwards at a rate of knots since they reached the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time following wins over Ireland and Scotland in 2019.

Since then, the Brave Blossoms have only won four times in 18 matches and with talk of unrest within the camp, it will take something special for them to continue their upward curve at World Cups since they pulled off the biggest shock in the tournament’s history with victory against South Africa in Brighton in 2015.

ARGENTINA

2019 World Cup: 3rd in Pool C
World Cup best finish: 3rd 2007
Coach: Michael Cheika

Key player: Pablo Matera

Feared the world over for his tenacity, Argentina’s enforcer is not a man to be messed with. When Matera is at his wild-eyed best, Argentina reap the benefits.

Summary

Los Pumas have fond memories of the last World Cup wholly staged in France, winning the bronze medal in 2007. And given the draw they have been handed, there is no reason to assume they cannot make the semi-finals again. +

In the past year, Argentina have beaten the All Blacks in New Zealand for the first time and turned over Australia and England away from home, so playing outside of Argentina doesn’t bother them. A lack of consistency and ill-discipline can be their downfall – they conceded 10 yellow cards in their last six Tests of 2022 – but they have managed to keep players out of the sin-bin in their last four matches so there are definite sings of improvement there.

The return to fitness of Nicolas Sanchez, the mastermind behind that historic win over the All Blacks, could also be very timely.

SAMOA

2019 World Cup: 4th in Pool A
World Cup best finish: QF 1991, 1995
Coach: Seilala Mapusua

Key player: Theo McFarland

Now back from the ACL injury that ruled him out of the second half of the Gallagher Premiership season, the athletic Saracens loose forward with a basketball background is ready to jump through hoops for his team. McFarland can play the Harlem Globetrotters stuff with his handling and pace around the park and is also a fantastic lineout jumper.

Summary

Very much like Fiji, Samoa are known for their hard-hitting tackles but also their soft hands, and they are also well led by former Test centre Seilala Mapusua.

Another similarity is that they have improved in the nitty-gritty parts of the game – the scrums and the mauls – that are essential to success when playing one of the leading teams, while they have also benefited from World Rugby’s birthright transfer ruling more than most.

Christian Leali’ifano and Lima Sopoaga, the discarded Wallaby and All Black, gives them the class and experience at 10 that has perhaps been lacking before, while the pack has been boosted by the considerable presence and leadership of Charlie Faumuina and Steven Luatua.

In pushing Ireland so close in Bayonne in their final warm-up (13-17), Samoa played with intensity and no little cohesion and should be right in the mix in this ‘Pool of Death’.

CHILE

2019 World Cup: DNP
World Cup best finish: Debut
Coach: Pablo Lemoine

Key player: Rodrigo Fernandez

Chile’s fly-half scored a solo try for the ages, from 80 metres out, in the first leg of the World Cup qualifier against USA despite swamp-like conditions underfoot. It won the Selknam player the World Rugby Men’s Try of the Year award for 2022.

Summary

Chile will be in dire straits if their brothers-in-arms don’t hit the right notes at their debut World Cup.

Los Condores have included four sets of siblings in their 33-man squad – the most in Rugby World Cup history – so shouldn’t lack for cohesion and, in Pablo Lemoine, they have a coach who knows what the tournament is all about with the former international prop forward having played and coached his native Uruguay at this level in the past.

The Americas 2 play-off victory over the USA means they are in France on merit and the fact that very little will be known about them could play into their hands. However, the best they hope for is to get some credibility out of this new experience.