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What began as 20 teams, all hopeful of hoisting the Webb Ellis Cup on the 28th of October, has been whittled down to just two. After two contrasting semi-finals last weekend, just New Zealand and South Africa remain in the tournament. Below, we break down all the latest Rugby World Cup results, and outline the final Rugby World Cup standings on a group by group basis.
Rugby World Cup results – semi-finals
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After the breath taking quarter-finals that unfolded in the Rugby World Cup 10 days ago, there were question marks around how competitive the semi-finals were going to be. Despite what felt like a lop-sided draw, fans were still treated to plenty of entertainment. Here’s how each panned out:
- New Zealand 44-6 Argentina
- South Africa 15-15 England
Semi-final one unfolded almost as exactly as expected. Argentina came out strong, looked competitive for 15 minutes, before getting blown away by an All Blacks outfit that are looking more and more like world champions every game. With a seven tries to zero clinic put on by New Zealand, this match was over by halftime with the Kiwis barely needing to move out of third gear all game. Will having a glorified captain’s run as a semi-final help or hinder them heading into the final? We’ll find out.
The second semi-final, however, was an absolute classic of a Rugby World Cup result. South Africa were expected to be far too good for England, but it was the men in white who came out fired up, with a specific game plan to take it to the Springboks. Off the back of a big effort against France in the quarter-finals, South Africa looked tired, and it was only some last gasp heroics from their bench that saw them escape a monumental upset and eek their way into the final.
Rugby World Cup standings
To determine which countries qualified for the Rugby World Cup 2023 quarter-finals, teams were first split into four pools. Within these pools, each nation played four matches against each other, with the top two teams moving through to the quarter-finals. Here’s how the Rugby World Cup standings looked in each group after the conclusion of pool play:
Pool A
Headlining Pool A were two of the heavyweights in this World Cup, home team France and three-time champions New Zealand. With all matches completed in this group, here’s how the Rugby World Cup standings are looking:
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | PD | Points |
| 1 | France | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | +178 | 18 |
| 2 | New Zealand | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | +206 | 15 |
| 3 | Italy | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -67 | 10 |
| 4 | Uruguay | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -99 | 5 |
| 5 | Namibia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -218 | 0 |
After all 10 matches had been played in Pool A, and the group panned out the way many expected to with France top and New Zealand second.
France defeated New Zealand in the opening fixture of the Rugby World Cup, before Les Blues continued throughout pool play undefeated, as did the All Blacks. This meant that Italy, while they started fast by defeating Uruguay and Namibia, are stuck in third place. Uruguay had a campaign they can be proud of, while Namibia are still searching for their first Rugby World Cup win.
Pool B
It was another group of heavyweights in Pool B, with defending champions South Africa paired with world No 1 Ireland–oh, and the fifth best team in the world, Scotland, were thrown in there for good measure as well.
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | PD | Points |
| 1 | Ireland | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | +144 | 19 |
| 2 | South Africa | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | +117 | 15 |
| 3 | Scotland | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +75 | 10 |
| 4 | Tonga | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -81 | 5 |
| 5 | Romania | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -255 | 0 |
After five weeks of hard-fought action, Pool B ultimately panned out how many pundits were expecting. Ireland won the crucial clash against South Africa, sending them to the top of the pool and leaving the Springboks to claim second spot. The final weekend was set up perfectly for some drama with Scotland having the ability to knockout world No 1 Ireland out of the tournament should they win their final Rugby World Cup fixture, however, the men in green shut down that prospect with a convincing win.
Further down the Rugby World Cup standings, Tonga salvaged some pride from their campaign this year with a win over Romania, meaning they finish in fourth spot, confining Romania to the wooden spoon in Pool B.
Pool C
While Pool C might have been a bit light on heavyweights, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fiercely competitive, with Australia, Fiji and Wales all lumped in together.
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | PD | Points |
| 1 | Wales | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | +84 | 19 |
| 2 | Fiji | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +5 | 11 |
| 3 | Australia | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 11 |
| 4 | Portugal | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -39 | 6 |
| 5 | Georgia | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -49 | 3 |
Pool C was by far the most dramatic pool of this Rugby World Cup, with all sorts of permutations occurring down to the last minute of the last match. Wales managed to stay relatively drama-free, however, navigating the group stage unbeaten to finish atop the Rugby World Cup standing in this pool.
Behind them, however, it was chaos. Fiji managed to clinch the final qualifying spot, but not without much difficulty, losing to Portugal but snagging a losing bonus point. This put them level on points with Australia, meaning they move through due to a superior head-to-head. Portugal impressively claim the fourth spot in the pool thanks to their win over Fiji and draw against Georgia, who sit bottom of the pool despite several impressive Rugby World Cup results of their own.
Pool D
Similar to Pool C, Pool D presented a more level group, with England, Argentina, Japan and even Samoa all a chance pre-tournament at topping the Rugby World Cup standings in this group.
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | PD | Points |
| 1 | England | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | +111 | 18 |
| 2 | Argentina | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | +58 | 14 |
| 3 | Japan | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +2 | 9 |
| 4 | Samoa | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | +17 | 7 |
| 5 | Chile | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -188 | 0 |
Contrary to the form they were in pre-World Cup, England have came out and won all of their group matches, topping Pool D in spectacular fashion. The second spot was much more hard fought, however, with the final qualifying place going down to the wire as Argentina and Japan played a knockout match over the weekend. Argentina won it, meaning they will move through to the quarter-finals despite a very disappointing opening match against England.
Japan claimed third spot in the pool, and while they’ll be disappointed not to play knockout rugby, have done well considering their pre-tournament form as well. Samoa will be unhappy with their campaign, however, as much was expected of them and they only managed one win, while tournament newcomers Chile were beaten up four times and finished last in the pool.
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