Ireland up and running, Boks and France come out hot

Neil Treacy is joined by James Downey and former South Africa World Cup-winner BJ Botha to look back on the opening weekend’s games at the Rugby World Cup in France.

We analyse Ireland’s opening win against Romania, where Johnny Sexton and Bundee Aki both impressed in a 12-try 82-8 victory in Bordeaux.

The panel also look at the role of lock Joe McCarthy, and whether or not he could keep his place in the side for the big meeting with South Africa later this month.

We also examine the Springboks’ impressive 18-3 win against Scotland in Marseille, and in particular their impressive defence.

And the podcast touches on some of the weekend’s other big games, as France powered past New Zealand, while George Ford inspired England’s win versus Argentina.

Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Watch live coverage of Ireland v Tonga (Saturday, 8pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1, and follow live updates on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app.

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