Pool Stages: SA Give England A Hiding In Opening Match
In Pool A, South Africa and England progressed, leaving behind Tonga, Samoa and the United States.
Australia and Fiji edged out Wales, Japan and Canada, in Pool B.
In Pool C, New Zealand and Scotland outclassed Italy, Romania and Portugal to progress to the knock-out stage.
Argentina and France sent Ireland, Georgia and Namibia packing in Pool D.
South Africa gave England, a 36-0 hiding in the opening pool match of the tournament.
Tonga was the biggest surprises in Pool A, when they defeated the United States (25-15) and Samoa (19-15).
Australia demolished Japan 91-3 – with 11 Wallaby players getting there name of the score-sheet.
The All Blacks were the only team, who had over 100 points in the pool stages.
For a second World Cup in a row, Namibia had conceded the most points (212) in the pool stages.
New Zealand established yet another record- with 309 points, in the pool stages.
The same point system as the 2003 World Cup was used again (four points for a win, two points for a draw, 0 points for a loss, one bonus point four scoring more than four tries and one bonus point for a loss by seven points or less).
