2023 Rugby World Cup Pool D

Pool D of the 2023 Rugby World Cup began on 9 September 2023 and concluded on 8 October 2023. The pool included 2003 champions and 2019 runner-ups England, previous hosts Japan, and Argentina. They are joined by Samoa, the winner of the Oceania 1 qualifier, and tournament debutants Chile (Americas 2). England topped the group and Argentina placed second, thus allowing both teams to progress.

Teams

Notes

Overview

In the opening match of Pool D, England defeated Argentina by 27–10. Despite losing Tom Curry to a red card for a dangerous head-to-head with Juan Cruz Mallía, England went over the line courtesy of a player-of-the-match performance from George Ford who scored three drop goals and six penalties, with Argentina's Rodrigo Bruni scoring the only try of the match. Japan faced debutants Chile the following day, in which Japan came out winners in a score of 42–12 despite the best efforts of Chile in their first World Cup appearance. After a six day rest, Samoa played their first match of the pool against Chile in which they came out with a 43–10 bonus-point victory in Bordeaux. The next day, England secured a bonus point victory over Japan in a 34–12 win.

On 22 September, Argentina defeated Samoa with a scoreline of 19–10, with Emiliano Boffelli securing a converted try and 3 penalties, earning him player of the match. The result left the group finely poised and lifted hopes of progression to the knockout stage for Argentina. The next day, England moved on to the brink of qualifying for the knockout stage, after defeating Chile with a scoreline of 71–0 with Henry Arundell earning player of the match having scored five tries in the match. Chile were officially eliminated from the tournament following the result. As Pool D began to near its conclusion, Japan faced Samoa on 28 September in a match of high stakes for both sides. Tries from Lappies Labuschagné, Michael Leitch and Kazuki Himeno secured Japan a 28–22 victory over the Samoans to boost their hopes of progression to the knockout stage, while officially securing England's place who were thus confirmed to top the pool. Samoa, who lost Ben Lam to a red card for an upright tackle, were left requiring a victory in their final match against England to have a chance at progression. Two days later, on 30 September, Chile played their last match of their first ever Rugby World Cup against Argentina in Nantes in what was the first ever meeting between two South American sides in a World Cup. The Argentinians raced to a 59–5 victory over the Chileans, scoring eight tries along with strong kicking from Nicolás Sánchez and Santiago Carreras to set up a showdown with Japan on the final matchday to decide who would join England in the quarter-finals.

On 7 October, England played their final match of the pool against Samoa in Villeneuve-d'Ascq. Despite a valiant effort from the Samoans, who scored two tries through Nigel Ah Wong, England edged the match 18–17 thanks to a Danny Care try in the 73rd minute. That gave England a clean sweep of wins from Pool D and qualification for the quarter-finals; it also eliminated any hope of Samoa progressing themselves, confirming Argentina and Japan as the other two qualifiers for the 2027 Rugby World Cup before their final match took place. That final match the following day would decide who would finish second and join England in the knockout stage. The high stakes match took place in Nantes, where Mateo Carreras scored a hat-trick as Argentina came out 39–27 victors in a 66-point thriller to finish second in the pool and send themselves through to the quarter-finals with England; Argentina won the match 39–27, consigning Japan to third place.

Standings

Matches

England vs Argentina

Notes:
* Tom Curry became the first England player to be sent off at a Rugby World Cup. It was also the fastest red card in a World Cup match, and the first ever to be issued at the tournament via the World Rugby foul play review process (a system introduced in August 2023, during the Summer Nations Series).

Japan vs Chile

Notes:
* This was the first ever meeting between these two nations.
* This was Chile's first game at a Rugby World Cup.
* Keita Inagaki (Japan) earned his 50th test cap.
* Kazuki Himeno was originally named in the starting line-up for Japan, but withdrew prior to the match due to a calf injury. He was replaced in the back row by Jack Cornelsen, whose initial position in the second row was taken by Amanaki Saumaki, while the captaincy was handed over to Yutaka Nagare.

Samoa vs Chile

Notes:
* This was the first ever meeting between these two nations.
* Benjamín Videla (Chile) made his international debut.

England vs Japan

Notes:
* This was the first match between England and Japan at a Rugby World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1987, when the two nations met in the pool stages.

Argentina vs Samoa

Notes:
* Ben Lam (Samoa) made his international debut.

England vs Chile

Notes:
* This was the first ever meeting between these two nations.
* England recorded their first ever clean sheet in a World Cup match.
* With five tries, Henry Arundell equalled the England record for most tries scored by one player in a test match (shared with Douglas Lambert, Josh Lewsey and Rory Underwood).

Japan vs Samoa

Notes:
* Kenta Fukuda (Japan) made his international debut.
* Yutaka Nagare was originally named in the starting line-up for Japan, but withdrew prior to the match due to injury. He was replaced by Naoto Saitō, whose place on the bench was taken by Kenta Fukuda.
* Chris Vui was originally named in the starting line-up for Samoa as captain, but withdrew prior to the match due to injury. He was replaced by Steven Luatua, whose place on the bench was taken by Brian Alainu'uese, while the captaincy was transferred to Fritz Lee.

Argentina vs Chile

Notes:
* This was the first ever meeting between these two nations at a Rugby World Cup, and the first meeting between any two South American teams in the competition.
* Nicolás Sánchez became the second Argentine rugby player to earn 100 test caps.

England vs Samoa

Notes:
* Owen Farrell became England's all-time top points scorer, breaking the previous record of 1,179 points which was held by Jonny Wilkinson.
* This was the only match at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in which the Player of the Match was selected from the losing team.

Japan vs Argentina

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup
Pool B
2023 in Argentine rugby union
2023–24 in English rugby union
2023 in Samoan rugby union