Saturday 19 September 2015 22:22, UK
We look back on some of the famous upsets - and near upsets - from the first round of previous Rugby World Cups.
We are not sure this will be beaten as Japan pulled off perhaps the biggest upset in Rugby World Cup history on Saturday, defeating two-time World Cup champions South Africa 34-32 in a ferocious encounter at Brighton Community Stadium.
Replacement Karne Hesketh raced in at the corner in the 84th minute to snatch victory from a pulsating contest in the Pool B opener.
South Africa's were considered as genuine World Cup contenders but their credentials and pride took a real beating as Japan were deserved winners in a pulsating afternoon.
Japan coach Eddie Jones admitted to a sense of disbelief after watching his side secure the historical win.
"We had an opening ceremony in Brighton last week and they showed a video of the Japan's [rugby] history. We hadn't won a game for 24 years [Zimbabwe in 1991 was their last win].
"I said to the guys after: 'Next time they do that in four years, you want them to show a history where Japan has won big games'.
"Now the history has changed for Japanese rugby. There are little kids at home now who maybe wanted to be basketballers or soccer players, who wanted to be the next Masahiro Tanaka at the New York Yankees or Shinji Kagawa at.. whoever he plays for in Germany [Borussia Dortmund] or Keisuke Honda at AC Milan.
"Now they will want to be the next Michael Leitch or Ayumu Gorumaru. It can change the face of the sport in Japan because the best athletes might now be attracted to play rugby. It can have an amazing impact."
Having been overlooked for the inaugural World Cup, Western Samoa travelled to the northern hemisphere in 1991 with a point to prove.
Pitted in a World Cup pool with Australia, co-hosts Wales and Argentina, the Pacific Islanders were expected to struggle, but they turned the formbook on its head in their opening game at the Cardiff Arms Park.
Inspired by the likes of Frank Bunce, Brian Lima and Pat Lam, the Samoans tackled the life out of a Welsh side that finished third in the 1987 tournament.
Luck was also on Samoa's side. To'o Vaega kicked the ball behind the Wales defence early in the second half and gave chase, but although Robert Jones touched the ball down first in his in-goal area, referee Patrick Robin awarded a try.
Samoa increased their lead through flanker Sila Vaifale and although Arthur Emyr and Ieuan Evans responded for the hosts, they had given themselves too big of a mountain to climb.
"Thank God we weren't playing the whole of Samoa," muttered one disgruntled Wales fan after the final whistle.
Wales recovered to beat Argentina but copped a 35-point hiding from Australia as they failed to qualify from their pool. Samoa were defeated by Scotland in the quarter-finals but put to bed any concerns over not being invited to another World Cup.
In the 2007 World Cup the hosts France were billed as potential contenders for the title despite being in the most difficult pool of the tournament, alongside Argentina and Ireland.
They faced Argentina in the opening game in an encounter few had predicted would end in a Pumas win.
The game kicked off among huge French fanfare, but through the boot of Felipe Contepomi the Argentines took a 9-3 lead. In the 27th minute French centre Damien Traille took a high ball and ran it up to the advancing defensive line before releasing Remy Martin.
Martin was faced with an overlap and tried to ship the ball wide but winger Horacio Agulla intercepted his pass and counter-attacked.
He was tackled but offloaded to Contepomi, who sent Ignacio Corleto flying into some space to run in a try against the run of play, making it 14-3.
The Pumas held on for a 17-12 win, in a result that sent the French to Cardiff for their quarter-final, where they famously cut the All Blacks down early.
Argentina, on the other hand, went on to prove the win was no fluke, as they finished third overall in the tournament after beating the same French side 34-10 in the third-place play-off.
Ireland arrived at the 2007 World Cup undercooked and under pressure. They "trained the house down" according to Paul O'Connell, losing to Scotland and scraping past Italy in their warm-up matches. In between those two was the infamous 'Battle of Bayonne' where Brian O'Driscoll sustained a fractured sinus and lacerations to his face.
Throw in a hotel in a Bordeaux industrial estate and Ireland's World Cup preparations couldn't have gone much worse. However, the back-to-back Triple Crown winners - who had missed out on the 2007 Six Nations title on points difference - were still expected to make short work of a Namibia side who lost 105-13 to South Africa in their final warm-up match.
Ireland had the bonus-point secured by the 49th-minute but their performance was patchy and riddled with unforced errors, and they got even more jittery when Namibia pounced for two tries in four minutes. Jacques Nieuwenhuis and Piet van Zyl made it 27-17 with 15 minutes left on the clock. 'Allez les bleus' began to ring around the Stade Chaban-Delmas as the locals in the 33,000-plus crowd got behind the underdogs.
Jerry Flannery came off the bench to score a late try but it failed to gloss over a dismal Irish display.
"Namibia had six professional players in their squad," said Ronan O'Gara. "We were expected to beat them by 50 or 60 points at our ease. Instead we got a dodgy late try to win by 15. We were brutal. The worst performance any of us could remember."
Ireland plumbed new depths in their next outing, the TMO saving them from defeat against Georgia, and they were well beaten by France and Argentina as they crashed out at the pool stages.
In 1995 the rugby world descended on South Africa, with the hosts playing in their first ever World Cup.
Springbok teams do not often carry the underdog tag, but having been excluded from international involvement due to Apartheid, there was not a lot known about Francois Pienaar's side.
Australia, on the other hand, arrived on African shores as defending champions, and had eight players who started in the 1991 final lining up for them in Cape Town to take on the Springboks in the opening game.
Australia took the lead with a Michael Lynagh try before Pieter Hendriks famously stepped and ran around David Campese for the Boks' opening score.
Joel Stransky then ran a good line to cross for what would prove to be the winning try, though Phil Kearns did add one more for the visitors.
The Boks won the match and thereby earned the seemingly easier route; avoiding England and New Zealand in the quarter- and semi-final respectively, and instead taking on Samoa and France.
The South Africans went on to win the title after beating the All Blacks 15-12 in the final after extra time in what is considered by many to be the most popular tournament due to the positive effect the Springbok win had on a country still fragile in the wake of Apartheid.
We wouldn't suggest that Scotland would have celebrated this win as an upset, but Romania have made it onto the list based on what was almost one of the great giant slayings in a World Cup.
The script appeared to be in good order when Mike Blair scored a try for Scotland inside 10 minutes to make it 8-0 to Alastair Kellock's men. But the conversion from Chris Paterson, right in front of the sticks, proved a telling indication of what kind of day was in store for the Scots when it skidded into a pair of Romanian shins - having touched every bit of grass in between them and the tee.
Scotland did extend their lead to 15-3 thanks to a Joe Ansboro try, but the Mighty Oaks fought back to ensure that they only trailed by seven at half-time.
Andy Robinson's troops dominated the early exchanges of the second half but had only a Paterson penalty to show for it, giving the Scots a 21-11 scoreline advantage.
After Paterson's penalty there was a period of pure Romanian force as two penalties and a try gave an unlikely lead to Romania with 13 minutes remaining.
The Scots eventually held their composure to slot a penalty to draw level before two tries gave them a more fanciable scoreboard to trudge under after the 80 minutes was up.
"I feel pretty dark," said Allan Jacobsen after the game. "A bit like we lost."
