The 2023 tournament, hosted by France, is just under 100 days away now.
The first match is on Friday 8th September when the hosts take on New Zealand. England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are all in action over the first weekend. Think all the games will be on ITV
For the first time I can think of the two favourites - France (3 times losing finalists) and Ireland (yet to win a World Cup quarter final) - are from the Northern Hemisphere. New Zealand - flying under the radar a bit after a very iffy 2022 - and South Africa - reigning champions and masters of grinding teams down via their physicality at the set piece - should not be underestimated either. Argentina also had a bumper 2022 beating England and New Zealand away from home.
Due to changes in eligibility rules, a number of players of Pacific island heritage who had played international rugby for Australia or New Zealand or other nations in the past can now play again for Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Hopefully at least one of them can take down a big name. Chile have qualified for the first time having beaten USA in a playoff, and Japan can’t be forgotten given their exploits at the last two tournaments.
Australia, England and Wales have changed coaches in the last year so hard to predict what might happen… Except actually it might not - as due to the rankings at the time the draw was made, these three sides find themselves on the “easy” side of the draw with a not in achievable route to the final. Compare that to Ireland, who have to play Scotland and South Africa in their pool - they are all ranked in the top 5 - but only two can qualify for the quarter finals, where they will likely meet either France or New Zealand
There’s still a lot of rugby to play before it all kicks off - such as domestic rugby still being played in France, Australia and New Zealand. In July and August the southern hemisphere teams will play their regional international tournaments, and then August sees the warm up games.
Initial training squads are starting to be named by some of the teams - with the Wales squad in particular providing bombshell after bombshells as several big names - amongst them Alun Wyn Jones - have either retired or stood themselves down from selection by taking contracts overseas. It seems that Welsh rugby being in permacrisis and the fact that the team is of a very poor standard hasn’t made for a happy camp and a lot of senior players have clearly had enough.
I will be in Marseille with 6 mates for the first weekend to take in England v Argentina and Scotland v South Africa. Very excited - I cannot wait
The first match is on Friday 8th September when the hosts take on New Zealand. England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are all in action over the first weekend. Think all the games will be on ITV
For the first time I can think of the two favourites - France (3 times losing finalists) and Ireland (yet to win a World Cup quarter final) - are from the Northern Hemisphere. New Zealand - flying under the radar a bit after a very iffy 2022 - and South Africa - reigning champions and masters of grinding teams down via their physicality at the set piece - should not be underestimated either. Argentina also had a bumper 2022 beating England and New Zealand away from home.
Due to changes in eligibility rules, a number of players of Pacific island heritage who had played international rugby for Australia or New Zealand or other nations in the past can now play again for Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Hopefully at least one of them can take down a big name. Chile have qualified for the first time having beaten USA in a playoff, and Japan can’t be forgotten given their exploits at the last two tournaments.
Australia, England and Wales have changed coaches in the last year so hard to predict what might happen… Except actually it might not - as due to the rankings at the time the draw was made, these three sides find themselves on the “easy” side of the draw with a not in achievable route to the final. Compare that to Ireland, who have to play Scotland and South Africa in their pool - they are all ranked in the top 5 - but only two can qualify for the quarter finals, where they will likely meet either France or New Zealand
There’s still a lot of rugby to play before it all kicks off - such as domestic rugby still being played in France, Australia and New Zealand. In July and August the southern hemisphere teams will play their regional international tournaments, and then August sees the warm up games.
Initial training squads are starting to be named by some of the teams - with the Wales squad in particular providing bombshell after bombshells as several big names - amongst them Alun Wyn Jones - have either retired or stood themselves down from selection by taking contracts overseas. It seems that Welsh rugby being in permacrisis and the fact that the team is of a very poor standard hasn’t made for a happy camp and a lot of senior players have clearly had enough.
I will be in Marseille with 6 mates for the first weekend to take in England v Argentina and Scotland v South Africa. Very excited - I cannot wait
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because it's 100 days off, will change it to a 
