Scotland needed something tangible to cling to after the listless effort against Ireland in their opening pool game, and they got exactly what they were looking for with a 34-0 bonus-point win over Samoa in hot and sticky Kobe last night to get their World Cup campaign back on track.

They’ve only gone and done it again. Four years after the ‘Brighton Miracle’, Japan have set their home tournament alight with a sensational 19-12 defeat of highly-fancied Ireland in Shizuoka.

It was another game of two halves for hot and cold Argentina against Tonga in Osaka yesterday, the Pumas racking up a bonus point by half-time but failing to score in the second half as the ‘Ikale Tahi fought back to go down 28-12.

A dominant performance in Kobe has seen a much-changed England rack up another bonus point victory in Pool C, this time chalking up seven tries to see off the USA 45-7.

A second-string Italian side has cruised past a gallant Canada in Fukuoka, racking up seven tries in a 48-7 victory that keeps them at the top of Pool B with a maximum 10-point return.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup has been set alight by it’s first upset, with unfancied Uruguay stunning Fiji 30-27 in an emotional occasion at Kamaishi Memorial Stadium, with the game preceded by a tribute to the members of the local community lost in the devastating tsunami of 2011.

Samoa have overcome two yellow cards and stubborn resistance from Russia, to start their World Cup campaign with a 34-9 win in Kumagaya.