Rugby World Cup 2023: Everything you need to know as Wallabies take on Wales, Fiji, Georgia and Portugal in France

The Rugby World Cup gets underway in France this week, the 10th edition of the 15-man code's showpiece tournament.

One of the biggest contests on the planet, the Rugby World Cup has been responsible for some of the most iconic moments in sporting history since the inaugural tournament in 1987.

This year, 20 teams have fought their way to the start line, hoping to be there for the final on Saturday, October 28, and a chance to lift the Webb Ellis Cup.

Here's everything you need to know ahead of the tournament opener.

There are 20 teams in the tournament, which are split into four groups of five.

Within each group, each team plays the other once.

The top two teams from each group then progress to the quarterfinals, the winners of which play in the semifinals.

The winners of the semifinals play off in the final, with the losers meeting in a third/fourth playoff.

Australia — who won the tournament in 1991 and 1999, and reached the final in 2003 — has never failed to reach the quarterfinals, but has been knocked out at that stage on three occasions, including last time out in Japan.

The two-time champion Wallabies are currently ranked ninth by World Rugby off the back of a winless Rugby Championship campaign and disappointing 2022.

All up, the Wallabies had just five wins from 14 Tests last year, with Eddie Jones taking over as coach following a spring tour that saw the Wallabies suffer narrow defeats to France, Ireland and Italy, as well as recording tight victories over Wales and Scotland.

Jones's second tenure is yet to garner a win from five matches — the latest a hefty thrashing at the hands of France — but Jones says the Wallabies are "definitely moving in the right direction".

"The experts have written us off," Jones said in his typical manner after naming his squad.

"No-one believes we can do it, but we believe. The coaches believe, the players believe and that's all that matters."

The Wallabies are in Pool C which, objectively, is the weakest group of the four — although that is not an excuse for complacency given the teams are all ranked incredibly closely by World Rugby.

Australia will kick off their campaign against the incredibly dangerous Georgia (ranked 11th) before a tough test against seventh-ranked Fiji.

According to Opta predictor stats, the Wallabies are overwhelming favourites to finish top of the pool.

Should the Wallabies finish in the top two, they will meet either the runner-up or winner of Pool D in Marseilles, one of Argentina, England, Japan, Samoa or debutants Chile.

Opta's prediction tables suggest Argentina will top Pool D, with England second, so if the teams perform according to form, it will be a Wallabies vs England quarterfinal. 

Set your alarm clocks. There are a few late nights in store if you plan on watching the Wallabies this month.

• ABC Sport will have a live blog of each match, followed by analysis

The Wallabies meet Georgia at 2am AEST on Sunday, September 10, at the Stade de France in Paris.

The Wallabies play Fiji at 1:45am AEST on Monday, September 18, at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne.

The match against Wales is at 5am AEST on Monday, September 25, at the Olympic Lyonnaise Stadium in Lyon.

The final match of the group against Portugal is at 1:45am AEST on Monday, October 2, back at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne.

On paper, the Wallabies should be OK to progress through Pool C — but there are plenty of opportunities for banana skins to be thrown in their path.

Wales have had a tough 12 months.

The lowest point scorers in the Six Nations, in which they finished fifth with just a single win against Italy, the principality is at a low ebb in its illustrious history.

Inspirational leader Alun Wyn Jones has retired, and Warren Gatland has answered an SOS to replace the sacked Wayne Pivac and try to revitalise a squad that had been allowed to stagnate.

Yet there are signs of life — a 20-9 victory over a hapless England was followed by a narrow 19-17 defeat at Twickenham in the reverse fixture. However, a crushing 52-16 defeat to the rampant Springboks is probably a fairer reflection of where they sit globally.

The real dark horse of this pool could be Georgia. Starved of top-tier opponents between World Cups, the Lelos are still building a compelling case to be included in the top table of European rugby.

Winners of the second-tier Rugby Europe International Championship six years in a row, and in 12 of the past 13 years, Georgia came of age with a historic victory over Wales in Cardiff last year — and have warmed up for the Rugby World Cup with thumping wins over USA (22-7) and Romania (56-6).

A 33-6 defeat to Scotland put the Lelos back in their place somewhat, but Georgia were in that game until half-time, leading 6-0, their brutal pack providing a decent platform for growing fly half Luka Matkava.

What of Fiji, then? Victories over Tonga (36-20), Samoa (33-19) and Japan (35-12) in the Pacific Nations Cup would suggest the Flying Fijians are still the pick of the Pacific nations, but a 34-17 reverse against France places them below the top tier.

A first-ever victory over England at Twickenham probably says more about England than Fiji, but will nevertheless provide a real boost in confidence, particularly with the two bigger names in the group very beatable in their current state.

Fiji has some exceptional players who have benefited from playing Super Rugby for the Drua, including flyer Selestino Ravutaumada, who starred in that victory over England, as well as experienced Bristol back Semi Radradra.

Ranked 16th, Portugal are the great unknown in this tournament for Australia — the two nations have never met in international men's rugby.

A heartening 46-20 victory over the USA last month at the Estádio Algarve suggests they're far from mugs though and, after topping their group in this year's Rugby Europe Championship by beating Romania 38-20 in Lisbon, pushed Georgia in the first half of the final before losing 38-11.

Portugal had five players named in the team of the tournament, including fullback Nuno Sousa Guedes, who was named player of the tournament.

According to most observers — as well as by Opta statistics — the World Cup is something of a four-horse race.

The usual suspects — three-time winners New Zealand and defending champions South Africa — have to be considered favourites. Although the Boks' 35-7 thrashing of their most bitter rivals at Twickenham in the lead-up to this tournament would have stung and put South Africa in the box seat.

South Africa finished second in the truncated Rugby Championship to the All Blacks, but you'd be a brave man to bet against them come World Cup time given their extraordinary form, boosted by the return of inspirational World-Cup-winning skipper Siya Kolisi.

The defending world champion Springboks have an incredibly tough Pool B, though, paired with Six Nations grand slam winners Ireland and the always underrated Scotland.

Despite never having progressed past the quarterfinals, the Irish should be considered among the favourites thanks to their stunning recent record, beating New Zealand 2-1 in their series last year as well as dominating northern hemisphere opponents.

However, a perilously tough group followed by the prospect of meeting New Zealand or France in a quarterfinal must weigh as heavy on coach Andy Farrell's mind as that unwanted historical record.

The Irish are rated as having the highest chance of winning the tournament by Opta's predictor tables, with a 21.7 per cent chance.

Hosts France will also be among those expecting to do well — particularly on home soil.

Runners-up at this year's Six Nations, at their best, the French can tear teams apart with a joie de vivre that should be the envy of the rugby world.

However, the hosts suffered a huge blow to their chances with Romain Ntamack ruled out of the tournament after suffering a knee injury in the 30-27 victory over Scotland last month.

Nevertheless, Les Bleus' mouth-watering tournament opener against the All Blacks might be one of the games of the tournament.

The Rugby World Cup kicks off on September 8, but the final is just over seven weeks later on October 28.

Given the gap needed between matches for such a high-impact sport, the group stages alone take a month to complete.

Then there is a full week between the quarterfinals, semifinals and final to give the teams enough rest.