Ireland v Tonga: Kick-off time, TV channel and team news for Rugby World Cup pool match

When and where is it on?

Ireland’s second Rugby World Cup match is against Tonga on Saturday night at Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes, kick-off is at 8pm (9pm local time). This is the second of four matches in Pool B.

How can I watch it?

Ireland v Tonga is live on RTÉ and ITV1 in the UK. Coverage on RTÉ gets under way at 7pm.

How did the first game go?

Ireland kicked their tournament off with an 82-8 win over Romania in Bordeaux last Saturday afternoon. The 12 tries to one win was an Irish record at the World Cup and the second-biggest Irish winning margin ever. And, crucially, it appears the squad have emerged from the first game unscathed. Much, much bigger tests lie ahead, but playing under clear blue skies and at a temperature of 36 degrees, it was in many ways the perfect start.

[ Match report: Ireland build up a head of steam as they blow Romania away in Rugby World Cup opener ]

Ireland come into this World Cup as Six Nations champions, winning the Grand Slam after beating Australia and South Africa the previous November. Before that, they won two out of three on their successful and historic tour to New Zealand.

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Andy Farrell’s team are ranked world number one, and heading into this tournament they enjoyed comfortable warm-up wins over Italy, England and Samoa. Ireland have won their last 14 games, since losing to the All Blacks in Eden Park in July 2022. And Josh van der Flier is the reigning World Player of the Year. Surely this Irish team will be the first to get past a World Cup quarter-final — at least — but the draw hasn’t done them any favours.

What’s the World Cup format?

Ireland are in Pool B with Romania, Tonga, South Africa and Scotland, playing those teams in that order week-on-week with two weeks between the final two games. First in the group will face the runner-up in Pool A in the quarterfinals, whereas second will face the winner of the same group which contains France and New Zealand. This means the top four teams in the world are all on one side of the draw, leaving the likes of Australia, England, Wales and Argentina to fight it out for a place in the final.

[ Gerry Thornley: To win the Rugby World Cup, Ireland must overcome history and a harsh draw ]

Ireland’s Pool B fixtures are as follows (all times Irish):

Sat Sept 9th: Ireland 82 Romania 8

Sat Sept 16th: v Tonga, Nantes, 8.0

Sat Sept 23rd: v South Africa, Paris, 8.0

Sat Oct 7th: v Scotland, Paris, 8.0

Sat Oct 14th: Quarter-final 2 (winner Pool B vs runner-up Pool A), Paris, 8.0

Sun Oct 15th: Quarter-final 4 (winner Pool A vs runner-up Pool B), Paris, 8.0

Fri Oct 20th: Semi-final 1 (winner of QF1 vs winner of QF2), Paris, 8.0

Sat Oct 21st: Semi-final 2 (winner of QF4 vs winner of QF4), Paris, 8.0

Sat Oct 28th: Final (winner of SF1 vs winner of SF2) — Paris, 8.0

What to expect from Tonga?

Tonga will be without the controversial former Wallaby Israel Folau and their leading try scorer at World Cups, the ex-Leicester Tigers and Stade Francais wing Telusa Veainu, as both are injured. Yet as one of the biggest benefactors of the change in World Rugby eligibility laws, they have a host of former All Blacks; the brilliant Charles Piutau, once of Ulster, Vaea Fifita, former Munster centre Malakai Fekitoa, scrumhalf Augustine Pulu and when he finishes his suspension, George Moala (he will miss the Ireland game).

[ Tongan head coach Toutai Kefu has ‘good plan’ for Ireland ]

Their coach Toutai Kefu was part of the Australia team that won the 1999 World Cup. He told John O’Sullivan last month: “We’re in a tough pool, but we’ll throw all our eggs in one basket and aim up against Ireland. We can’t play footy with them; they’ll beat us every day of the week. So, we need to come up with a bit of a plan and I think we’ve got one; it’s going to be good.”

Ireland and Tonga met once before at the Rugby World Cup, with Ireland winning 32-9 during the 1987 edition of the tournament in Brisbane. The two nations have played each other on just one other occasion, a 40-19 Irish win in Tonga on a summer tour in 2003.

This will be Tonga’s opening fixture in this tournament, after qualifying by defeating Hong Kong 44-22 in the Asia/Pacific play-off. They’re coming off the back of two wins over Canada, but before that they were winless in the Pacific Nations Cup. This will be their ninth appearance at a Rugby World Cup, they’ve managed eight wins so far, their most famous being against France in 2011. Of the three Pacific Island nations to compete at the Rugby World Cup, they’re the only one to never progress past the pool stages.

Is Johnny Sexton back and fit?

The 38-year-old Ireland captain is drawing the curtain on his glittering career after the Rugby World Cup, but was denied an Aviva Stadium send-off when an independent disciplinary committee handed him a three-match suspension in July.

[ Johnny Sexton focused on business world after retirement ]

That came following a hearing into his post-match conduct after Leinster’s Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle. This means his most recent competitive game before the World Cup, and what has turned out to be his last match in Dublin, was Ireland’s Grand Slam-sealing Six Nations win over England in March. An injury sustained there also ruled him out of the business end of Leinster’s season.

Sexton got some contact minutes in a training match against Portugal during the team’s recent camp. But starting his first official match in almost six months, he pulled the strings for 65 minutes against Romania. Looking fit and strong, he chipped in with 24 points too, inching closer to Ronan O’Gara’s Irish record. Defence coach Simon Easterby also intimated that Sexton would play against Tonga when he gave the management debrief on Sunday.

Team news

The Irish team announcement is set for Thursday, with the Tongan team also expected to be named on the same day.

Dan Sheehan, Dave Kilcoyne and Jack Conan were all ruled out of Ireland’s opening game and having been selected on the bench, Robbie Henshaw was withdrawn from the match-day squad in the Stade de Bordeaux after pulling up in Friday’s captain’s run with an unspecified injury, but the indications are that he will be available for the Tongan game. Easterby told the media “we haven’t ruled anyone out for next week”.

[ Simon Easterby confident Ireland will select from a full hand for Tonga game ]

Sexton and Rónan Kelleher were the only two members of the 33-man Irish squad not to have played a minute in the three warm-up games, but as with the returning Irish captain, the fit-again Kelleher also featured against Romania.

Weather?

The forecast for Nantes on Saturday night is cloudy, with a 20 per cent chance of light showers and temperatures between 19 and 21 degrees, as well as a wind speed of 7km/h. Ireland have been preparing for the higher temperatures, they spent a week in Portugal for a warm-weather training camp and also played their final warm-up game against Samoa in Bayonne, where they also had to deal with heavy rain throughout that match.

Who’s on the whistle?

Wayne Barnes will be in charge of Ireland’s clash with Tonga, just as he was for the warm-up match against Samoa which was in preparation for this encounter. This is a record fifth World Cup for the Englishman who is the most capped referee in history.

Barnes is one of the officials who will referee four matches out of the 40 in the pool stage.

[ Referees to make their Rugby World Cup debuts ]

Any tickets?

Tickets for Ireland’s matches are being sold via the Rugby World Cup’s official ticketing website and the Tonga game was priced from €28 (Cat 4) to €116 (Cat 1). But not even official resale tickets are now available, they were all sold weeks in advance.

Meanwhile, strike action by French air traffic controllers later this week could mean the plans of thousands of Irish rugby fans hoping to go to Nantes for Saturday’s match booted into touch before kick-off.