Ford's firing form

The love affair between England and Rugby World Cup drop-goals was rekindled in the team's pool match against Argentina with fly-half George Ford slotting three. It equalled England's record for most drop-goals in a Rugby World Cup match after Jonny Wilkinson scored three against France in 2003. It was also the first drop-goal scored by England at a RWC since 2015 when Owen Farrell scored one against Wales.

Ford's three was two less than record-holder South Africa's Jannie de Beer, who scored five against England in 1999. "That’s incredible," Ford said. "I thought I was on track [to beat it] at one point!"

It's a family thing

There are many family links at Rugby World Cup. The three Barrett brothers, four sets of siblings in the original Chile squad and the French uncle-and-nephew duo [Sipili Falatea and Yoram Moefana] but there are generational links too. Forward Jack Cornelsen, part of Japan's winning team against Chile today, who was born in Australia but qualifies for Japan on residency grounds, is following in the footsteps of his father, Greg, who played 25 tests for Australia between 1974 and 1982, including one against Japan.

Jones backing Georgia

Australia head coach Eddie Jones was in trademark form after his side opened their Pool C campaign with a 35-15 victory over Georgia on Saturday.  

Asked what he made of Georgia’s progress in recent years, Jones was full of praise for the greater balance in Los Lelos’ game and full-back Davit Niniashvili, who he described as “something special – a player who doesn’t lose speed when he changes direction so he’s very hard to defend against”.

He also lauded Georgia coach Levan Maisashvili – “Apologies, I can’t pronounce the coach’s name but I think he’s doing a fantastic job” – and said the Wallabies would be supporting Georgia for the rest of the pool stage.

“We want you to win every other game. We’ve got Georgian flags up at Saint-Etienne now. We’re barracking for you guys so make sure you win a few games for us.”

Joseph an injury concern

Japan head coach Jamie Joseph is usually concerned and watching out for injuries in his team but this week he has been one on the injury list. He said he feels "75 per cent" physically after tearing his calf muscle at the captain's run by doing some top-up runs with staff and players who weren't in his match-day squad, an injury he has described as "disappointing".

"It's the first time I have ever done it," he said. "So that's the last time I'll ever do it! But we have good coaches who can step in but today is all about the players. We have prepared really well. I should be fine."

South Africa see the light

If, during the South Africa-Scotland game, you were wondering why a light was coming from Springboks coaching box, it wasn't director of rugby Rassie Erasmus phoning home. Jacques Nienaber's and his assistants were seemingly signalling to his players what to do when they won a penalty.

But the head coach had another explanation: "In terms of the lights, it started when we played France in Marseille. I don’t know if you’ve been pitch-side or close, with this dome the sound is phenomenal so you can’t hear people.

"Sometimes it’s difficult for us to talk to our support staff. I am sure a lot of teams will have systems, whether it is green or red ... so they can communicate."