2023 Rugby World Cup pool stage results and match reports: Round three

Rugby World Cup results

Thursday September 21

• France 96-0 Namibia

Friday September 22

• Argentina 19-10 Samoa

Saturday September 23

• Georgia 18-18 Portugal
• England 70-0 Chile
• South Africa 8-13 Ireland

Sunday September 24

• Scotland 45-17 Tonga
• Wales 40-6 Australia

Wales record win against Australia

Dominant Wales booked a place in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals after crushing Australia 40-6 and leaving Eddie Jones’ team close to pool-stage elimination.

A third successive Pool C victory sent Wales into the last-eight for a fourth successive World Cup under head coach Warren Gatland.

They are guaranteed to top the group if they defeat Georgia next month, setting up a likely quarter-final clash against Argentina in Marseille.

Wales overcame the early loss of injured fly-half Dan Biggar to boss Australia in every key department and coast home through tries from scrum-half Gareth Davies, centre Nick Tompkins and captain Jac Morgan, while Biggar, who kicked an early conversion, saw his replacement Gareth Anscombe boot 23 points.

It was Wales’ record win against Australia, overtaking a 25-point margin in 1975, and former England boss Jones will be left to face the music as the Wallabies lurch towards World Cup oblivion.

Scotland hand schooling to Tonga

Scotland romped to the bonus-point victory they required over Tonga at Stade de Nice to kick-start their World Cup campaign and keep alive their hopes of qualification for the knockout phase.

The pressure was on Gregor Townsend’s side after losing their first game to South Africa and then seeing Ireland defeat the Boks on Saturday, a scenario that left them with no margin for error and in need of big victories from their remaining fixtures.

The Scots kept their composure, however, and showed their attacking quality to get themselves a foothold in the top-heavy pool B by recording a 45-17 win over Tonga, with their seven tries all scored by different players.

Ireland stun Springboks

Ireland propelled themselves to the cusp of the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with a gripping 13-8 win over reigning champions South Africa on a raucous evening in Paris.

Mack Hansen’s try and five points from Johnny Sexton helped settle a thrilling clash between international rugby’s top two teams at a sold-out Stade de France.

Replacement fly-half Jack Crowley added a late penalty as Ireland stretched their winning run to 16 matches to take control of Pool B.

Andy Farrell’s men also retained top spot in the global rankings ahead of the defeated Springboks, who now have work to do against Tonga next week to avoid early elimination.

Cheslin Kolbe’s second-half try and a Manie Libbok penalty kept Jacques Nienaber’s side in contention before they ultimately fell short in a nail-biting finale.

England crush Chile

Henry Arundell plundered five tries as England overcame a frantic start to dismantle World Cup newcomers Chile with a 71-0 victory that continues their march towards the quarter-finals.

Steve Borthwick’s team were rewarded for discarding their unpopular kicking game in favour of all-out attack and although the strategy resulted in some frenzied early play, upon settling they amassed 11 tries.

Arundell marked his World Cup debut by equalling the England record of five tries scored in a game as he ran riot in perfect conditions at Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

Two-try Marcus Smith shared star billing after providing an extra dimension with the ball in hand from full-back – albeit against a side positioned 22 in the global rankings.

Apart from brief flourishes Chile were totally outclassed, yet there were still enough fireworks in Smith’s first start at 15 to suggest he is a genuine option in the position for the final group game against Samoa and possibly beyond.

All square in Toulouse

Portugal fell agonisingly short of a first Rugby World Cup victory as they drew 18-18 with Georgia after a dramatic conclusion in Toulouse.

Having been 13-0 down just past the half-hour mark, the Portuguese fought back with 18 unanswered points before Tengizi Zamtaradze’s 78th-minute try, given after a review, drew things level.

Luka Matkava had the chance to put Georgia back in front but sent his conversion attempt wide, and Portugal were then awarded a last-gasp penalty – only for Nuno Sousa Guedes to also fail to hit the target.

Dupont injured in France win

Rampant France demolished Namibia 96-0, with Damian Penaud plundering a hat-trick of tries as the hosts set a new record score to maintain their perfect start to the World Cup.

However, the victors saw captain Antoine Dupont go off with a potential serious facial injury in the Marseille clash.

Les Bleus head coach Fabien Galthie had again made sweeping changes following a laboured victory over Uruguay, which was in stark contrast to the impressive performance which saw off three-time world champions New Zealand in the tournament’s opening match.

France wasted little time in going on the offensive as a crossfield kick from Dupont, returning to skipper the side, picked out Penaud, who went over in the right corner in the seventh minute.

It remained one-way traffic as Jonathan Danty scored after being set up by a fine inside ball from Louis Bielle-Biarrey before a blistering break down the right saw a string of passes put flanker Charles Ollivon clear to run in.

Penaud weaved through to secure the bonus-point try inside just 22 minutes, with Thomas Ramos again making the conversion.

Scrum-half Dupont added another himself before his sublime angled kick-on-the-run found Bielle-Biarrey charging into the left corner as France coasted into the break with a commanding 54-0 lead.

Namibia – who had conceded 18 tries in their previous two Pool A matches – thought they were on the scoresheet when substitute Divan Rossouw ran clear after latching onto an interception. The try, though, was ruled out by the TMO for an incident in the build-up for a clash involving Johan Deysel on Dupont.

Welwitschias captain Deysel was shown a yellow card and sent to the sin-bin for head-on-head contact with Dupont, who went off for assessment on what looked could be a serious cheekbone injury. Following a bunker review, the card was upgraded to red.

Baptiste Couilloud wasted little time after coming on as a replacement, going over from a maul as France soon further extended their advantage.

Couilloud raced clear onto an interception for what looked another quick breakaway try but it was ruled out for a late tackle off the ball by French prop Reda Wardi.

As the hour mark approached, Penaud dived over to completed his hat-trick with France’s 10th try before Bielle-Biarrey sprinted clear across into the right corner and Ollivon then burst through the middle.

Namibia were cut open again by more quick French passing, with Melvyn Jaminet surging clear with the conversion bringing up a new record score, passing the 87-10 win over the same opponents at the 2007 World Cup.

France were awarded a late penalty try after a maul collapsed, with Jason Benade sent to the sin-bin to compound a forgettable evening for Namibia as the partisan Marseille crowd revelled at the final whistle.

Argentina keep hopes alive

Emiliano Boffelli was the difference-maker as Argentina survived a late charge to beat Samoa and reignite their World Cup campaign.

With the Pumas losing to England in their opening Pool D fixture, they needed to beat Samoa to keep alive realistic hopes of progressing into the knockout stages.

They did that with an attritional 19-10 win in Saint-Etienne, with Boffelli delivering all the points.

Any pre-match pressures were eased when Samoa’s Duncan Paia’aua was sent to the sin-bin in the opening minute of the match.

His absence was felt as Argentina hit the front with Boffelli going over in the corner before converting the try.

Three successful penalties from the Edinburgh winger followed, with a Christian Leali’ifano penalty getting Samoa on the board in the first half.

Samoa’s defence held firm in the latter stages as they pushed to get back into the game and Sama Malolo’s try – converted by Alai D’Angelo Leuila – put the cat among the pigeons.

However, Argentina, who finished fourth at the 2015 World Cup but failed to get out of the pool stage in Japan four years ago, held on and wrapped up the win through Nicolas Sanchez’s penalty.

The loss to England presented the possibility of another early exit but securing the points here gives them hope of continuing on and they now face South American rivals Chile in Nantes next Saturday.

Samoa, meanwhile, will now need results against potentially both Japan and England if they are to build on their winning start against Chile.