Rugby World Cup 2023: score predictions and teams for Saturday 9 September

The 2023 Rugby World Cup is in full swing on Saturday, as four fixtures are played out across France hot on the heels of Friday night’s opener between the host nation and New Zealand’s All Blacks.

Beaten 2019 finalists England aim to put a lousy build up to bed when they face Argentina in Marseille, after Australia and Georgia play out a thoroughly intriguing Pool C opener at the Stade de France.

Ireland are also in action on day two against underdogs Romania, while the action kicks off at lunchtime with the Pool A contest between Italy and Namibia.

Italy vs Namibia – Pool A

Improving Italy and minnows Namibia kick off day two of the 2023 Rugby World Cup when they meet in St Etienne on Saturday lunchtime.

The Pool A pair face a crunch contest in the battle to escape a group that also sees New Zealand, hosts France and Uruguay lying in wait.

It’s also a reunion from the Japan World Cup four years ago, where the European nation ran out comfortable winners against the men from southern Africa.

Italy Starting XV: 15 Tommaso Allan, 14 Ange Capuozzo, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Montanna Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Dino Lamb, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti.

Replacements: 16 Hame Faiva, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 David Sisi, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Martin Page-Relo, 22 Paolo Odogwu, 23 Pierre Bruno.

Namibia Starting XV: 15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Gerswin Mouton, 13 Johan Deysel (captain), 12 Danco Burger, 11 JC Greyling, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 9 Damian Stevens, 8 Richard Hardwick, 7 Johan Retief, 6 Wian Conradie, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi, 4 Adriaan Ludick, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Desiderius Sethie.

Replacements: 16 Louis van der Westhuizen, 17 Jason Benade, 18 Casper Viviers, 19 Tiaan De Klerk, 20 Prince Gaoseb, 21 Jacques Theron, 22 Andre van der Bergh, 23 Le Roux Malan.

Ireland vs Romania – Pool b

Ireland kick off Pool B at the 2023 Rugby World Cup with a tie against fellow European nation Romania on Saturday.

The Stade de Bordeaux is the venue in south west France as coach Andy Farrell takes his much-fancied charges into battle against the underdogs.

And he does so with his talisman at the forefront, with 38-year-old Johnny Sexton making his comeback from injury and suspension to pull the strings from fly-half.

Ireland Starting XV: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton (captain), 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Peter O’Mahony, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Andrew Porter.

Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Robbie Henshaw.

Romania Starting XV: 15 Marius Simionescu, 14 Nicolas Onutu, 13 Fonovai Tangimana, 12 Jason Tomane, 11 Tevita Manumua, 10 Hinckley Vaovasa, 9 Gabriel Rupanu, 8 Cristian Chirica (captain), 7 Vlad Neculau, 6 Florian Rosu, 5 Stefan Iancu, 4 Adrian Motoc, 3 Alexandru Gordas, 2 Ovidiu Cojocaru, 1 Iulian Hartig.

Replacements: 16 Florin Bardasu, 17 Alexandru Savin, 18 Gheorghe Gajion, 19 Marius Iftimiciuc, 20 Dragos Ser, 21 Alin Conache, 22 Tudor Boldor, 23 Taylor Gontineac.

Australia vs Georgia – Pool C

A fascinating fixture clicks Pool C into gear at the 2023 Rugby World Cup on Saturday, with fresh-faced Australia pitting their wits against the warhorses of Georgia at the Stade de France.

The heat is on veteran Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, who has endured a torrid time since returning to his home nation following his dramatic sacking by England.

And the Aussies kick off against a nation with a point to prove, with the Georgians consistently overlooked by the Six Nations countries – not to mention a bundle of their players competing in the French domestic leagues.

Australia Starting XV: 15 Ben Donaldson, 14 Mark Nawaqanitawase, 13 Jordan Petaia, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Carter Gordon, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Will Skelton (captain), 4 Richie Arnold, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 David Porecki, 1 Angus Bell.

Replacements: 16 Matt Faessler, 17 Blake Schoupp, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Rob Leota, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Nic White, 22 Lalakai Foketi, 23 Suliasi Vunivalu.

Georgia Starting XV: 15 Davit Niniashvili, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Demur Tapladze, 12 Merab Sharikadze (captain), 11 Miriani Modebadze, 10 Luka Matkava, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Gorgadze, 7 Luka Ivanishvili, 6 Tornike Jalagonia, 5 Konstantine Mikautadze, 4 Nodar Cheishvili, 3 Guram Papidze, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 Nika Abuladze.

Replacements: 16 Tengizi Zamtaradze, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Lasha Jaiani, 20 Giorgi Tsutskiridze, 21 Gela Aprasidze, 22 Tedo Abzhandadze, 23 Giorgi Kveseladze.

England vs Argentina – Pool D

England and Argentina collide in their Pool D opener on Saturday night at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

It’s a contest that could set the tone for triumph or disaster, especially for the 2019 runners-up, who have developed a nasty losing habit that hasn’t improved despite replacing coach Eddie Jones with Steve Borthwick.

Alex Mitchell and Jonny May both start against Los Pumas despite missing out on selection in the initial squad, with the team led by captain Courtney Lawes.

The South Americans will fancy their chances inside Marseille’s iconic Stade Velodrome, boasting a squad stacked with big game experience, not least with evergreen Agustin Creevy bulldozing into his fourth World Cup.

England Starting XV: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Jonny May, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Courtney Lawes (captain), 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge.

Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Will Stuart, 19 George Martin, 20 Lewis Ludlam,
21 Danny Care, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Ollie Lawrence.

Argentina Starting XV: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 1 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Thomas Gallo.

Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Joel Sclavi, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Guido Petti Pagadizabal, 20 Pedro Rubiolo, 21 Rodrigo Bruni, 22 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 23 Matías Moroni.

RWC 2023: Margin and winner predictions for 8-10 September

Prediction methodology explained: The expected win percentage is based off publicly available odds or RugbyVision’s data model. Score margins use the methodology developed by Rugby Vision and Rugby4Cast.