2023 Rugby World Cup Pool B

Pool B of the 2023 Rugby World Cup began on 9 September 2023 and concluded on 8 October 2023. The pool included holders and world-number-two ranked side South Africa, fellow automatic qualifiers and world-number-one-ranked side Ireland, and world-number-five-ranked side Scotland. They are joined by Romania and Tonga. It was widely referred to as the "group of death." Ireland topped the group and South Africa placed second, thus allowing both teams to progress.

Teams

Notes

Overview

Ireland, ranked 1st in the world, began Pool B with a convincing win of 82–8 over Romania. Twelve tries were scored by eight different players, with only one having not been converted. The second match of the pool saw defending champions South Africa begin their defence against Scotland. South Africa won 18–3 courtesy of tries from Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kurt-Lee Arendse, along with two successful penalties from Manie Libbok. After a six day break, action in the pool returned as Tonga played their first match against Ireland, where the Irish continued their impressive start with a 59–16 victory, including eight tries. The next day, South Africa continued their strong start with an emphatic victory over Romania, in a 76–0 win with twelve tries, including a hat-trick of tries from Cobus Reinach and Makazole Mapimpi. On 23 September, 1st and 2nd in the world rankings Ireland and South Africa went head-to-head, the first time the teams had ever met at a World Cup, and the first time two sides ranked first and second in the world had met in a pool stage match. Ireland emerged victorious with a scoreline of 13–8 in a low-scoring and brutal affair in Saint-Denis, putting the Irish in pole position to top the pool. The next day, Scotland defeated Tonga in a bonus-point victory with a scoreline of 45–17 with seven tries to keep their hopes of progression to the knockout stage alive, while putting Tonga on the brink of elimination.

Going into the penultimate weekend of pool stage fixtures, four teams in the group still held their fate in their own hands. Leaders Ireland faced a bye week, while both Tonga and Scotland faced possible elimination if they lost their match. On 30 September, Scotland hammered Romania with a 84–0 scoreline, a result which officially eliminated Romania from the tournament. Twelve tries were scored by the Scots, including Darcy Graham who provided four of them and Ben Healy converting eleven of them. The result was crucial for Scotland in keeping their hopes of progression from the pool alive, and it left them only trailing South Africa in the standings from the head-to-head tiebreaker. It set up a showdown on the final matchday between Scotland and Ireland for a place in the knockout stage. The next day, South Africa played their final match of the pool as they moved to the brink of qualification to the quarter-finals after securing a 49–18 bonus-point victory over Tonga, a result that officially saw the elimination of the Sea Eagles from the tournament. Seven tries were scored by the Springboks, along with strong kicking from Handré Pollard and Manie Libbok. Ahead of the final matchweek, Ireland vs Scotland would be the deciding match as to who would finish in the top two and progress to the knockout stage.

In the final pair of matches in Pool B, Ireland and Scotland went head-to-head in Saint-Denis in a match that would officially decide the final standings of the two along with South Africa in the pool and who would progress to the knockout stage with all three sides still able to do so. A clinical Ireland ended up coming away with a 36–14 bonus-point victory over the Scots with six tries, including a try from James Lowe inside 70 seconds, to ensure that Ireland qualified as they topped Group B, South Africa qualified in second and Scotland suffered elimination from the tournament as they finished third, but qualified for the 2027 Rugby World Cup. The final match of Pool B took place the following day between Tonga and Romania in Villeneuve-d'Ascq with both sides already confirmed to finish outside of the top three. Tonga came out with a 45–24 bonus-point victory over the Romanians with two tries from Solomone Kata helping push the Tongans to the win and end their World Cup campaign with a victory as they finished fourth in the pool while ending a miserable campaign for Romania who finished fifth with no victories.

Standings

Matches

Ireland vs Romania

Notes:
* Robbie Henshaw was originally named among the replacements for Ireland, but withdrew before the match as an injury precaution. His place was taken by Mack Hansen.
* This was Ireland's largest ever victory in a Rugby World Cup match, for both total points scored and overall winning margin, and also their largest ever victory over Romania, surpassing the 34–point margin (44–10) set during the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

South Africa vs Scotland

Notes:
* Faf de Klerk (South Africa) earned his 50th test cap.

Ireland vs Tonga

Notes:
* This was the first match between Ireland and Tonga at a Rugby World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1987, when the two nations met in the pool stages.
* Johnny Sexton became Ireland's all-time top points scorer, breaking the previous record of 1,083 points which was held by Ronan O'Gara.

South Africa vs Romania

Notes:
* South Africa secured the fastest ever try bonus point (earned by scoring four tries) in a World Cup match, achieving this feat 11 minutes and 13 seconds after kick-off.
* Vincent Koch was originally named in the starting line-up for South Africa, but withdrew during the match-day warm-up due to injury. He was replaced by Trevor Nyakane, whose place on the bench was taken by Frans Malherbe. Nyakane continued to wear the number 18 shirt, while Malherbe wore 28.

South Africa vs Ireland

Notes:
* This was the first ever meeting between these two sides at a World Cup, or at any neutral venue.
* Peter O'Mahony earned his 100th international test cap, having played 99 times for Ireland and once for the British & Irish Lions.
* Bundee Aki earned his 50th test cap for Ireland.

Scotland vs Tonga

Notes:
* Adam Coleman made his debut for Tonga, having previously represented Australia at test level between 2016 and 2019, earning the last of his 38 caps for the Wallabies at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
* Patrick Pellegrini (Tonga) made his international debut.

Scotland vs Romania

Notes:
* This was Scotland's biggest ever victory over Romania, surpassing the 42–point margin (42–0) set during the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
* Scotland kept their opponents scoreless for the sixth time in a World Cup match – the first nation to achieve this feat.
* Johnny Matthews (Scotland) made his international debut.

South Africa vs Tonga

Ireland vs Scotland

Notes:
* Peter O'Mahony became the tenth Irish rugby player to earn 100 test caps for his country.
* Blair Kinghorn (Scotland) earned his 50th test cap.

Tonga vs Romania

Notes:
* This was the first ever meeting between these two sides at a World Cup.
* Vlad Neculau was originally named in the starting line-up for Romania, but withdrew prior to the match due to injury. He was replaced by Florian Roșu, whose place on the bench was taken by Ștefan Iancu.
* This was Tonga's largest points total in a World Cup match, surpassing the 35 points they scored against Namibia in 2015, and their biggest victory at the tournament (by margin), surpassing their 29–11 win over Ivory Coast in 1995.
* Romania finished the pool stage with 287 points and 43 tries conceded – the highest number of points and tries scored against one team in a single World Cup campaign, surpassing Namibia's concession of 266 points in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup
Pool B
2023–24 in Irish rugby union
2023–24 in Scottish rugby union
2023–24 in Romanian rugby union
2023 in South African rugby union
2023 in Tongan rugby union