England went through on their week off, New Zealand were back to their best and it was ‘oh so nearly’ for Namibia – the fourth week of the 2023 Rugby World Cup continued to thrill us.

The touch (shoulder) of world champions

We have seen England’s Joe Marler assist a Courtney Lawes try with his forehead against Japan, but we had another unlikely body part creating Canan Moodie’s score for South Africa against Tonga in Marseille.

When a pass was fired at Vincent Koch, the Springboks prop seemed to pull his hands back as the ball thumped into his shoulder and behind the Tonga defence for Moodie to casually scoop up and run over the line.

It was a cruel moment for Tonga, who were expecting it to be called a knock-on, but the impressive Moodie was sharpest to the loose ball and cruised past Charles Piutau to dive under the posts.

The Springboks went on to win 49-18 and will hope their luck continues in the latter stages of the tournament.

Boos for Jones as Australia end with victory

Australia have had a miserable campaign by their lofty standards of four previous final appearances, but the two-time winners claimed the full five points against Portugal to keep alive their faint quarter-final hopes.

Head coach Eddie Jones says he is committed to Australia and has denied reports linking him with a return to Japan, but as the camera panned to him during Sunday’s win, his appearance on the big screen was met with jeers and boos.

It has been a common sound at the World Cup, with Jones seemingly cast in the role of “pantomime villain” at all of Australia’s games.

Victory over Portugal was only the second of his second spell in charge, and it could be his last at this World Cup as Fiji will eliminate the Wallabies with a single point in their final pool game.

Scotland claim third-biggest win against Romania

Scotland were rampant on Saturday, recording the third-biggest margin of victory in their history.

They ran in 12 tries to thrash Romania 84-0 and ended just five points shy of their biggest World Cup victory, over Ivory Coast in 1995.

Their record win across all Tests is against Japan, who they beat 100-8 in Perth in an autumn international in 2004.

In Lille, they were sensational. Darcy Graham scored a hat-trick in the first half and added a fourth try in the second to fly up the Scottish scoring charts.

The winger now has 24 tries in 38 international matches, three short of Scotland’s all-time leading scorer Stuart Hogg.

Scotland also set up a quarter-final shootout with Pool B rivals Ireland.

If Gregor Townsend’s side win and also deny Ireland a bonus point in Paris on Saturday, they will go through.

“We just wanted to get this game out of the way, get the five points and fire into Ireland,” said Graham after his side’s victory.

“We’re going to go to Paris all guns blazing and put in our best performance. Time to rest up and kick on.”

A long wait for points

While Scotland excelled, Romania’s travails continued.

In their World Cup opener against Ireland, they stunned the world’s number one team inside the first two minutes when Gabriel Rupanu crossed to score.

Rupanu also struck a 21st-minute penalty in their 82-8 defeat, but since those points, they have been completely shut out.

They created little in their 76-0 defeat by holders South Africa and again had few attacks to shout about against Scotland.

It means Romania have played more than three and a half hours of rugby since scoring their last point, a run they will hope to end in their final pool match against Tonga on Sunday.

Argentina and Japan set up thrilling Pool D finale

In Pool D, the equation is much simpler. Argentina and Japan will meet in a winner-takes-all match after the Pumas thrashed Chile on Saturday.

They are the only two sides who can progress alongside group winners England.

Steve Borthwick’s team ended up advancing on their week off as Japan beat Samoa 28-22 on Thursday.

Argentina’s game with Chile, played in front of a boisterous crowd in Nantes, was the first time two South American sides have faced each other at a Rugby World Cup.

In the build-up, Chile forwards coach Andres Bordoy called the match “historic” and the team said they would leave France “smiling” despite losing all four games at their first World Cup.

Although winless Chile had their moments, Argentina scored eight tries as they ran out 59-5 winners.

Ruthless New Zealand thrash Italy

On Friday, New Zealand bulldozed their way back into the conversation as potential Rugby World Cup winners with a blistering statement victory over Italy in Lyon.

Needing to win to avoid a shock elimination, the All Blacks turned on the style in a ruthless 96-17 victory.

They secured their bonus point for scoring four tries inside 22 minutes, were 49-3 up at half-time and, in the final five minutes, were chasing a 15th try that would have taken them past the 100-point mark.

All this came after Italy boss Kieran Crowley had declared in the build-up to the match that other teams had “caught up” with the three-time champions.

Instead, New Zealand recorded their biggest win at a World Cup since they beat Portugal 108-13 in 2007, and will advance to the quarter-finals should they beat Uruguay with a bonus point in their final Pool A match on Thursday.

On this evidence, a 10th World Cup quarter-final seems inevitable.

Uruguay deny Namibia first World Cup win

Uruguay got their first win of the tournament against minnows Namibia on Wednesday, but they had to come from 14-0 down to deny the African nation a very first victory at the World Cup at the 26th attempt.

Two early tries from Gerswin Mouton and JC Greyling, along with points from the boot of Tiaan Swanepoel, put Namibia in control at half-time.

But Uruguay responded in the second period to win 36-26, while prop Des Sethie’s red card ending any hopes of history.

Namibia centre Alcino Izaacs said: “It’s devastating. This is really the one we threw everything at. We started fast, we had great enthusiasm in the game and we let it slip in the second half. We are gutted about it, truly.”