Wales
Rugby history 101: They were the only side to beat the New Zealand touring team known as ‘The Originals’ in 1905, a 3-0 win in Cardiff. Since then, they have won the Home/Five/Six Nations outright 28 times, 12 Grand Slams and four since 2000, 22 Triple Crowns and finished with the Wooden Spoon on 17 occasions.
Coach: It’ll be Warren Gatland’s fourth World Cup with Wales in his second stint in charge of the Principality, having returned in 2022 having previously been head coach from December 2007 until 2019. The former All Black started his coaching career at Galwegians, while still a player and has been very successful since with Ireland, Wasps, Wales or the British & Irish Lions. Forthright in his views at times when it suited, he enlivened many a press conference.
Captain: Jac Morgan (flanker) and Dewi Lake (hooker) will share the duties with Gatland non-committal at this point as to who would be in charge if both were on the pitch together. They are outstanding young players who lined out in the same team at Under-20 level. Lake is a tough, hard-hitting hooker while Morgan is a classic, old school seven.
World Cup record: 1987, third. 1991, pool. 1995, pool. 1999, quarterfinals. 2003, quarterfinals. 2007, pool. 2011, fourth. 2015, quarterfinals. 2019, fourth. Played: 44 W 26 D 0 L 18
Players to watch: Louis Rees-Zammit has the attacking chops to be a standout player in any company if he gets the right sort of ball, while Liam Williams has been consistently excellent for his country and the Lions. Centre Nick Tompkins is another player with obvious quality.
Best World Cup moment: Finishing third in the very first one in 1987, they beat Ireland, Tonga and Canada at the pool stage, accounted for England 16-3 in what has been described as the worst game of the tournament and then injury-ravaged were hammered 49-6 by New Zealand with secondrow both knocked out and sent off. They finished on a high note with a one-point win over 14-man Australia in the bronze medal match.
Trivia: Josh Adams became the first Welshman to be top try scorer at a Rugby World Cup when he ran in seven tries in as many games in Japan four years ago.
Fixtures (all times Irish):
Sunday, September 10th: v Fiji, Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (8.0)
Saturday, September 16th: v Portugal, Stade de Nice, Nice (16.45)
Sunday, September 24th: v Australia, OL stadium, Lyon (8.0)
Saturday, October 7th: v Georgia, Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes (2.0)
Australia
Rugby history 101: Australia’s first international was against a British & Irish touring side (1899), they originally wore blue when playing in Sydney and maroon jerseys when playing a home match in Brisbane before switching to today’s colours. An English newspaper gave the nickname the “Rabbits” while on their first northern hemisphere tour in 1907 but the Aussies thought it derogatory and changed it to Wallabies.
Coach: The outspoken Eddie Jones led Australia to the 2003 World Cup final, losing to England in extra time on home soil, was an assistant with Jake White’s South Africa that won the tournament in 2007, was at the helm when Japan beat the Springboks in 2015 and was England coach four years ago when they lost to South African in the final. There’s plenty of devil in the Tasmanian.
Captain: La Rochelle totem Will Skelton, scourge of Leinster, has been handed the honour and the gargantuan secondrow will be a key player for his country in the tournament.
World Cup record: 1987, fourth. 1991, champions. 1995, quarterfinals. 1999, champions. 2003, finalists. 2007, quarterfinals. 2011, third place. 2015, runners-up. 2019, quarterfinals. Played: 53 W 42 D 0 L 11
Players to watch: The uncapped Max Jorgensen is a very highly regarded young player and the son of former Wallaby and rugby league star Peter. His dad had the distinction of scoring a try in each of the internationals for an all-conquering Australian Schoolboys side that toured the northern hemisphere in the 1990-1991 season, including beating Ireland in Thomond Park.
Best World Cup moment: Two World Cup wins but the one in 1991 saw them rescue a win at Lansdowne against Ireland with Michael Lynagh’s last gasp try, beat New Zealand at the same venue and edge England at Twickenham in the final.
Trivia: Australia’s 35-12 victory over France in 1999 is the biggest margin of victory in a World Cup final and one of their two try scorers that day, Owen Finegan went on to spend a season at Leinster where he made 24 appearances, a move which his Meath-born dad Patrick and Cork-born mother Josephine no doubt approved.
Fixtures (all times Irish):
Saturday, September 9th: v Georgia, Stade de France, Paris (5.0)
Sunday, September 17th: v Fiji, Stade Geoffrey Guichard, Saint Etienne (16.45)
Sunday, September 24th: v Wales, OL Stadium, Lyon (8.0)
Sunday, October 1st: v Portugal, Stade Geoffrey Guichard, Saint Etienne (16.45)
Fiji
Rugby history 101: There are approximately 80,000 registered players from a total population of about 950,000. The Cibi war dance is performed before each Test match. It has been used on the rugby field since 1939, though its origins date back to the country’s warring times with its Pacific neighbours.
Coach: The long retired Simon Raiwalui enjoyed a successful playing career, capped 43 times by his country, but was called to take over after New Zealander Vern Cotter’s surprise decision – he had been contracted through the World Cup – to step down last February.
Captain: Toulon’s utility Waisea Nayacalevu is in his third World Cup and will lead an ever-improving group that include 24 players going to their first global tournament.
World Cup record: 1987, quarterfinals. 1991, pool. 1995, did not qualify. 1999, quarterfinal playoffs. 2003, pool. 2007, quarterfinals. 2011, pool. 2015, pool. 2019, pool. Played: 32 W 11 D 0 L 21
Players to watch: There are few more entertaining sights than watching Semi Radradra and Josua Tuisova play rugby, forces of nature with exquisite skills and footwork to complement prodigious power. Albert Tuisue, Levani Botia and Bill Mata give the Fijians serious ball-carrying ballast.
Best World Cup moment: Prop Graham Dewes secured a place in his country’s rugby lore when he scored his country’s match winning try in a 38-34 win over Wales in Nantes in 2007. He is Fiji’s current forwards’ coach having taken up the role last year.
Trivia: They very nearly didn’t make it to the first tournament in 1987 as a military coup on the eve of the tournament threatened their participation. Western Samoa were set to deputise but Fiji made it and beat Argentina in the opening match en route to the quarterfinal.
Fixtures (all times Irish):
Sunday, September 10th: v Wales, Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (8.0)
Sunday, September 17th: v Australia, Stade Geoffrey Guichard, Saint Etienne (16.45)
Saturday, September 30th: v Georgia, Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (16.45)
Sunday, October 8th: v Portugal, Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse (8.0)
Georgia
Rugby history 101: They have won the Rugby Europe Championship, the competition below the Six Nations for the past 12 years in a row. It’s ludicrous that they haven’t been included in the elite northern hemisphere tournament.
Coach: Levan Maisashvili previously held the role of assistant coach before taking over the head role in 2020. In July 2021 while in South Africa for two Tests against the Springboks he contracted Covid, was taken to hospital and ended up in a coma for 28 days, doctors giving him initially a one per cent chance of survival. He recovered and led his country to wins against Tier 1 nations, Italy and Wales.
Captain: The 30-year-old Merab Sharikadze made his full debut for Georgia aged just 18 and spent some time in England while studying at and playing for Hartpury University. He also had a couple of clubs in France before returning to his native country.
World Cup record: 1987, did not play. 1991, did not play. 1995, did not qualify. 1999, did not qualify. 2003, pool. 2007, pool. 2011, pool. 2015, pool. 2019, pool. Played: 20 W 5 D 0 L 15
Players to watch: The 26-year-old wing Akaki Tabutsadze has a try scoring strike-rate of just shy of one a match with 30 in 31 Tests.
Best World Cup moment: The Georgians won their first ever match in the 2007 tournament when they beat Namibia 30-0 but arguably an even better display was in losing 14-10 to Ireland in another pool match.
Trivia: Vasil Lobzhanidze became the youngest ever player to play in a Rugby World Cup match against Tonga in Japan 2019, aged 18 years and 340 days, beating the record held by USA’s Thretton Palamo.
Fixtures (all times Irish):
Saturday, September 9th: v Australia, Stade de France, Paris (5.0)
Saturday, September 23rd: v Portugal, Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse (1.0)
Saturday, September 30th: v Fiji, Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (16.45)
Saturday, October 7th: v Wales, Stade de la Beaujoire (2.0)
Portugal
Rugby history 101: Known as Os Lobos The Wolves, they played their first international match in 1935 a 6-5 defeat to Spain. In qualifying for their first and only World Cup (2007) by winning 24-23 in a two-legged playoff, several of the squad were arrested following their exuberant celebrations in Uruguay after the second match.
Coach: Patrice Lagisquet, the former French international wing known as the ‘Bayonne Express,’ in his playing days.
Captain: Tomás Appleton said after leading his team to the finals: “There are more than one million Portuguese people in Paris. To play at a Rugby World Cup in France would be amazing.”
World Cup record: 1987, did not qualify, 1991, did not qualify. 1995, did not qualify. 1999, did not qualify, 2003, did not qualify. 2007, pool. 2011, did not qualify, 2015, did not qualify. 2019, did not qualify. Played: 4 W 0 D 0 L 4
Players to watch: Scrumhalf Samuel Marques is a fine place-kicker with an admirable nerve as he displayed when kicking the winning penalty against the USA with the clock in the red that sent his country to France.
Best World Cup moment: It took two late tries for Romania to deny Portugal a famous first World Cup win, the Romanians claiming a 14-10 victory.
Trivia: David Penalva, Joaquim Ferreira, Rui Cordeiro, Pedro Carvalho shared a common bond and until and potentially beyond Portugal’s first match in the upcoming tournament the distinction of scoring a try apiece for their country at a World Cup.
Fixtures (all times Irish):
Saturday, September 16th: v Wales, Stade de Nice, Nice (16.45)
Saturday, September 23rd: v Georgia, Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse (1.0)
Sunday, October 1st: v Australia, Stade Geoffrey Guichard, Saint Etienne (16.45)
Sunday, October 8th: v Fiji, Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse (8.0)
