Rugby World Cup 2019: co-favorite Ireland starts with a clear victory against Scotland

Co-favorite Ireland started with a convincing 27: 3 (19: 3) against Scotland in the Rugby World Cup in Japan. In the duel of the world rankings second to the -achten the Irish were already after 13 minutes 12: 0 lead. Except for a penalty by Greig Laidlaw (20th minute), the Scots brought nothing countable in the first half - a poor performance. Tadh Furlong used the third Irish attempt to 17: 3, with 19: 3 went into the half. Bitter for the Scots: With Hamish Watson injured early on one of their best players, apparently hard on the knee.

In the second half, the crowd saw a much improved Scottish side in Yokohama. But even the bonus point for a defeat with only seven or fewer points difference they should not succeed. On the contrary: Andrew Conway's successful 55th-minute attempt further extended the Irish lead.

In Group A, the hosts will face Japan next Saturday, and the Scottish side will need to beat Samoa on Monday, September 30th, to ensure they have a realistic chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

Italy beats Namibia

In a low-level encounter, Italy came in Group B to a clear victory against Namibia. 47:22 (21: 7) was the final score in Osaka. The Italians had scored more points in their World Cup history only against Russia in 2011. It was 51 at the time.

After an early 7-0 lead for Namibia (6th), the Italians have been struggling for a long time. Only in the 25th minute Tommaso Allan reached the first counters with a successful attempt. Allan was also the most successful player with eleven points, his teammate Mattia Bellini was number one with 83 meters. For Italy, it will continue next Thursday against Canada, Namibia will meet two days later on South Africa.

A total of 20 teams participate in the final round. After the preliminary round with four groups of five qualify each of the top two finishers for the quarter-finals. There it goes from 19 October in the knockout mode for the title. The final will take place on November 2nd in Yokohama. Further information about the tournament can be found here.