full schedule, match dates and kick-off times

The Rugby World Cup, one of the highlights of the 2019 sporting calendar, gets underway in Japan in September.

Back-to-back champions New Zealand look set to start the tournament as favourites but they have some fearsome northern hemisphere challengers in the shape of Ireland, England and Six Nations champions Wales.

The tournament will kick off with hosts Japan taking on Russia in Tokyo, while the final will be held in Yokohama six weeks later.

Here are all the fixtures for England; all matches at the 2019 Rugby World Cup will be broadcast on ITV, which you can also stream on the ITV Hub.

England fixtures

England vs Tonga: 11.15am Sun 22 Sept (Sapporo)
England vs USA: 11.45am Thurs 26 Sept (Kobe)
England vs Argentina: 9am Sat 5 Oct (Tokyo)
England vs France: 9.15am Sat 12 Oct (Yokohama)

Kick-off time: 11.15am BST, Sunday 22 September at Sapporo Dome

TV channels: All matches at the 2019 Rugby World Cup will be broadcast on ITV, which you can also stream on the ITV Hub.

England‘s first match of the Rugby World Cup will be against Tonga, a physical opening contest for Eddie Jones‘ side.

Always confrontational, the Pacific Island nation play a brand of high-pressure offloading rugby which can undo teams not ready for the contest.

Ranked 15th in the World Rankings (as of early August), they came second to Fiji in the Pacific Tri-Nations earlier this year.

They are not expected to challenge for the knockout stages necessarily, however their skill, physicality and speed definitely should not be underestimated.

Kick-off time: 11.45am BST, Thursday 26 September at Kobe Misaki Stadium

TV channels: All matches at the 2019 Rugby World Cup will be broadcast on ITV, which you can also stream on the ITV Hub.

England have come out victorious in all of their previous three World Cup meetings with USA, and they’ll be hoping to replicate the performances of 1987 and 1991, where they claimed their joint largest winning margin over the Americans.

USA are ranked just 14th in the world, so on paper this should be a fairly easy game – the team’s best result in their seven World Cup appearances has been to win one game.

But don’t count the opposition out, anything can happen in a World Cup scenario.

Kick-off time: 9am BST, Saturday 5 October at Tokyo Stadium

TV channels: All matches at the 2019 Rugby World Cup will be broadcast on ITV, which you can also stream on the ITV Hub.

England‘s Pool C match against Argentina will represent only the second time the two nations have met in a Rugby World Cup.

Los Pumas have faced England once before in the tournament’s history, losing 9-13 in 2011 in Dunedin.

A try by Ben Youngs, converted by Jonny Wilkinson was the main difference between the sides, as Argentina kicked three penalties in retaliation to Wilkinson’s two.

Kick-off time: 9.15am BST, Saturday 12 October at International Stadium Yokohama

TV channels: All matches at the 2019 Rugby World Cup will be broadcast on ITV, which you can also stream on the ITV Hub.

England‘s final match in Pool C will be against an old rival in the form of Jacques Brunel’s France.

The last time the two teams met in the Rugby World Cup was in 2011 in Auckland, where Les Bleus prevailed in a 19-12 win, with tries from Maxime Medard and Vincent Clerc.

In their Six Nations contest in February, England won 44-8 at Twickenham in a one-sided affair, during which England exploited the poor French kick return and defensive organisation.

Rugby World Cup key dates

• Group stages: 20 September – 13 October
• Quarter-finals: 19-20 October
• Semi-finals: 26-27 October
• 3rd/4th play-off: 1 November
• Final: 2 November