Rugby World Cup diary: magnificent seven for England and Italy

RWC pool C: England 45 United States 7

George Ford was man-of-the-match as England hammered the United States 45-7 in pool C of the Rugby World Cup.

Standing in as captain in place of Owen Farrell, Ford scored the first of England’s seven tries and also kicked five conversions.

England’s other tries were scored by Billy Vunipola, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Lewis Ludlam, Ruaridh McConnochie and Joe Cokanasiga (two).

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The US, who scored a late consolation try through Bryce Campbell, were reduced to 14 men after John Quill was sent off for a high tackle on Farrell. Quill’s red card was the first of the tournament.

With two bonus-point wins from their opening two fixtures England sit top of the pool with ten points. They play Argentina next on 5 October.

Speaking after the match, skipper Ford said: “It is a good win again. The United States were very physical and passionate. We will recover from this and then start the preparations from the game against Argentina.”

England head coach Eddie Jones added: “We wanted to go out hard against them and we scored early, but we probably got a bit seduced by the space and tried to move the ball too much.

“The conditions were such, it was like a wet weather game, but we found our rhythm and tempo really well in the second half. We made some handling mistakes but we will improve.”

Two wins from two for Italy

Italy also scored seven tries and secured a bonus point as they thrashed Canada 48-7 in pool B.

Braam Steyn, Dean Budd, Sebastian Negri, Mattia Bellini, Federico Zani and Matteo Minozzi touched down for the Italians, who were also awarded a penalty try.

Italy top the pool with two wins from two. They face South Africa and New Zealand next.

Next RWC fixtures

There’s no matches at the Rugby World Cup on Friday, so fans will have to wait until Saturday for a triple header.

In the opening game on Saturday Argentina and Tonga play in pool C (5.45am BST, live on ITV). This is followed by Japan vs. Ireland (8.15am, live on ITV) in pool A and South Africa vs. Namibia in pool B (10.45am, live on ITV 4).

Sexton left out by Ireland

Johnny Sexton has not been included in Ireland’s squad to play host nation Japan in Shizuoka.

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has made four changes with Jack Carty replacing Sexton at fly-half. Rob Kearney and Keith Earls are selected in the back three and Peter O’Mahony starts in the back row.

Japan captain Michael Leitch has been dropped to the bench for the Ireland clash.

• Japan starting XV: Yamanaka; Matsushima, Lafaele, Nakamura, Tupou; Tamura, Nagare; Inagaki, Horie, Koo, Thompson, Moore; Himeno, Labuschagne, Mafi
• Replacements: Sakate, Nakajima, Ai Valu, van der Walt, Tanaka, Matsua, Lava Lemeki
• Ireland starting XV: Kearney; Earls, Ringrose, Farrell, Stockdale; Carty, Murray; Healy, Best, Furlong, Henderson, James Ryan; O’Mahony, van der Flier, Stander
• Replacements: Cronin, Kilcoyne, Porter, Beirne, Ruddock, McGrath, Carbery, Larmour