Rugby Union Today: World Cup Team of the Week

Colin Newboult

England's Manu Tuilagi scores his sides second try during the 2019 Rugby World Cup Pool C match at Sapporo Dome.

Another busy day in the rugby union game as we look back at the week’s action in the World Cup and name our best XV from the matches that took place.

What’s on the site

It was a good weekend for Ireland and New Zealand, who both recorded impressive victories in the opening round of the World Cup, and they are rewarded with three players apiece in our Team of the Week.

Those sides are also featured in ‘Who’s hot and who’s not,’ which delves into the main talking points from the past seven days, including the Rob Howley controversy and Reece Hodge’s unpunished ‘tackle’ against Fiji.

Finally our ‘My Rugby World Cup hero’ feature continued with former England back-row Richard Hill, who was a key part of the Red Rose’s triumph in the 2003 global tournament.

What’s in the news

Wales opened their World Cup campaign with a solid win over Georgia, thanks primarily to an excellent first-half performance which saw them go into the break 29-0 ahead. The second period was tighter but Warren Gatland’s men came away with a comfortable 43-14 victory.

Elsewhere, Scotland have been dealt a blow after it was confirmed that openside flanker Hamish Watson will miss the rest of the competition following a knee injury sustained against Ireland.

South Africa’s Trevor Nyakane is another unfortunate player to see their participation ended and the prop has been replaced by Thomas du Toit, who, like Nyakane, can play on both sides of the scrum.

Away from the global tournament, it was announced that Israel Folau will be returning to rugby league having apparently been registered to play for Tonga ahead of their upcoming Test matches, but that has since been denied by the Rugby League International Federation.

What’s on social media

Unfortunately, Georgia couldn’t cause a shock like this today…

What’s on TV

The Rugby World Cup continues where all the games will be exclusively live on ITV. It should be another thrilling weekend of action with Australia v Wales the standout contest.

Elsewhere, the PRO14 season gets underway and it begins on Friday with the Cheetahs facing Glasgow Warriors and Ulster going head-to-head with the Ospreys on Premier Sports.

On BT Sport, the Premiership Rugby Cup has reached the second round as Leicester host Exeter and Northampton take on Wasps, while Sky Sports are showing the Mitre 10 Cup.

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