Rugby World Cup: Pool D standings, fixtures, live scores and results
Get live scores, results and fixtures from Pool D at the 2019 Rugby World Cup which features Australia, Wales, Georgia, Fiji and Uruguay.
Pool D has shades of 2015 about it as Wales, twice champions Australia and Fiji are drawn together again with Georgia and minnows Uruguay completing the pool.
Wales coach Warren Gatland, who like Hansen, Schmidt and Brunel will step down after the World Cup, predicted a wide-open tournament in the battle to take the title from holders New Zealand.
It could be argued that lady luck has not looked fortunately on teams from the north: only 13 of the 32 semi-finalists in the eight World Cups to date have been from the Six Nations, and that includes France six times.
What is certain, however, is that this Wales team means business. They picked up 14 wins on the trot between March 2018 and their Rugby World Cup warmup match against England. Along the way, they earned an unexpected Grand Slam at this year’s Six Nations.
The Wallabies have had some bright moments in 2019, notably a 47-26 win over New Zealand. However, a 36-0 loss to the same opponents shortly afterwards and a 35-17 defeat to a second-string Springboks side showed coach Michael Cheika has plenty of work still to do.
Rugby Australia took a bold decision to terminate Israel Folau’s contract after the fullback’s repeated homophobic social media posts. Apart from making a positive social impact, this may leave room for promising youngster Jordan Petaia to make his bow on the big stage.
On the other end of the experience scale, veteran Adam Ashley-Cooper has 11 World Cup tries and will be hopeful of breaking the record currently shared by Jonah Lomu and Bryan Habana (15).
Teams: Australia, Wales, Georgia, Fiji and Uruguay.
