RWC2023 Team of the Week Round 1

A thrilling opening round of RWC2023 gifted the fans 50 tries at 6.25 tries per game with the tackles topping out a 1937 for the weekend and three incredible drop goals from geroge Ford.

The challenge of fitting 368 players into a match day 15 is not lost on us but we have put together our Team of the Tournament:

1 Andrew Porter - Ireland

Porter had a solid outing for his primary roles as a prop and showed great hands and open play in the match.

Bubbling Under: Ellis Genge - England Angus Bell - Australia

2 Peato Mauvaka - France

Mauvaka came on early for France and set the game alight with a superb performance. He was electric with ball in hand and did very well in the tight phases and set piece.

3 Trevor Nyakane - South Africa

Nyakane was cooking for the Springboks as he showed his Bomb Squad role to perfection as the Springboks dominated the set piece in the second half against Scotland

Bubbling Under: Taniela Tupou - Australia Uini Atonio - France

4 Will Rowlands - Wales

Rowlands put in a HUGE defensive effort against a Fijian side that sent waves and waves of attack at Wales for the ful 80 minutes. The underrated lock made all of his 27 tackles

Bubbling Under: Maro Itoje - England

5 Will Skelton - Australia

Skelton lead Australia to their first win under Eddie Jones this year. He made it over the gainline on a number of occasions as the Wallabies suppressed Georgia.

Bubbling Under: Franco Mostert - South Africa

6 Courtney Lawes - England

Massive effort by the England captain who lead from the front as 14 man England set the platform for George Ford to take the game away form Argentina

7 Peter O'Mahony - Ireland

Huge performance from the evergreen O'Mahony

8 Gregory Alldritt - France

Alldritt lead France as they dismantled the All Blacks in the most anticipated opening RWC game in history 

Bubbling Under: Ben Earls - England

9 Aaron Smith - New Zealand

All eyes were on the Dupont Smith battle and the experienced All Black showed why he is one of the best

10 George Ford - England

A rugby Masterclass by England's 10 who very quickly took control when Tom Curry was sent off after 3 minutes. He guided his team around the park and killed off Argentina with his boot.

Bubbling Under: Johnny Sexton - Ireland

11 Mark Telea - New Zealand

Telea is deadly with ball in hand and showed it on Friday in the opening game

Bubbling Under: Cheslin Kolbe - South Africa

12 Bundee Aki - Ireland

Aki was sublime in single-handedly steam rolling Romania in Ireland's opening game

Bubbling Under: Damian de Allende - South Africa Nick Tompkins - Wales

13 Waisea Nayacalevu - Fiji

Nayacalevu should be up there in the best 13's at RWC2023 conversation. Deadly with ball in hand with pace to burn he very nearly lead Fiji to a round one win over Wales

Bubbling Under: Joe Marchant - England

14 Mark Nawaqanitawase - Australia

Marky Mark has set test rugby on fire with his wor ethic and decpetive pace. Eddie Jones has a gem in his squad.

Bubbling Under: Damian Penaud - France

15 Inaki Ayarza - Chile

Ayarza caused more chaos for Japan than anticipated. A big 15 he was constantly asking questions of the defence.

Bubbling Under: Ben Donaldson - Australia