Everything pretty much went according to script in the first round of matches at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, with the world’s best teams all winning their opening games last week.
There were no upsets even though Fiji pushed Wales all the way, while the higher ranked France pipped the All Blacks and England got the better of Argentina in the most high-profile matches.
The defending champions, the Springboks, also proved too strong for Scotland.
In the next round of matches, starting on Thursday, there are again unlikely to be any surprises with all the higher ranked teams in the respective match-ups expected to get the win behind their names.
In only two of the eight matches will viewers not be sure who’ll come out on top after 80 minutes; Ireland will be favourites against Tonga, and Australia will be favourites against Fiji, but you just don’t know on the day. And maybe Japan will give England a bit of a go.
In all the other fixtures we’re likely to see high-scoring matches with big victory margins.
The Boks are up against Romania in Bordeaux on Sunday (3pm).
Here then are all the fixtures for the coming days as well as the results from the opening week.
Thursday: France v Uruguay 9pm
Friday: New Zealand v Namibia 9pm
Saturday: Samoa v Chile 3pm, Wales v Portugal 5.45pm, Ireland v Tonga 9pm
Sunday: South Africa v Romania 3pm, Australia v Fiji 5.45pm, England v Japan 9pm
France 27 New Zealand 13; Italy 52 Namibia 8; Ireland 82 Romania 8; Australia 35 Georgia 15; England 27 Argentina 10; Japan 42 Chile 12; South Africa 18 Scotland 3; Wales 32 Fiji 26
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.