[5] At a special meeting held in Dublin on 28 July 2009, the IRB confirmed that England would be hosts in 2015 and Japan in 2019, with the approval of the tournament organisers Rugby World Cup Ltd (RWC Ltd), going in favour 16–10.

[6] The IRB (which was renamed World Rugby in November 2014), RWC Ltd, the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) and host organisers Japan 2019 went through a process of asking for expressions of interest and meeting with and explaining game hosting requirements to interested parties from late 2013.

Hong Kong and Singapore had expressed interest in hosting some of the matches and were included in Japan's bid,[7] but were not among the 14 stadiums announced in 2014.

[citation needed] The new National Stadium in Tokyo being constructed for the 2020 Summer Olympics was expected to be the primary venue of the tournament.

[15] But after complaints from the Spanish into an investigation of ineligible players, it was deemed that Romania, Spain and Belgium all broke the eligibility rules and were deducted points which meant Russia qualified for the World Cup while Germany headed to the play-off against Samoa.

[21] The seeding system from previous Rugby World Cups was retained with the 12 automatic qualifiers from 2015 being allocated to their respective bands based on their World Rugby Rankings on the day of the draw: The remaining two bands were made up of the eight qualifying teams, with allocation to each band being based on the previous Rugby World Cup playing strength: This meant the 20 teams, qualified and qualifiers, were seeded thus (world ranking as of 10 May 2017): The draw saw a representative randomly draw a ball from a pot; the first drawn ball went to Pool A, the second Pool B, the third Pool C and the fourth Pool D. Each team submitted a squad of 31 players for the tournament, the same as the 2015 tournament.

[27] Six jet aircraft of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's Blue Impulse aerobatic team flew over the stadium.

[29] The tournament was officially declared open by Fumihito, Prince Akishino of Japan; both he and World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont gave speeches at the end of the ceremony, with Beaumont saying:[30] "Over the next six weeks we will experience the very best of rugby and the very best of Japan as excitement sweeps this great nation.

[31] The opening match of the 2019 Rugby World Cup was played in Pool A with Japan scoring a 30–10 win over Russia.

"[38] Three days later, Kobe Misaki Stadium held another match in Pool A – this time it was Ireland, who whitewashed their opponents (Russia) in a 35–0 victory with five different players getting tries for the Irish.

[43] But after an inspection deemed the match to go ahead,[44] Japan held their nerve against a fast-finishing Scotland to take home a 28–21 victory with Kenki Fukuoka scoring two tries.

[65] After the England–France game was cancelled due to Typhoon Hagibis,[54] Tonga ended their World Cup campaign with a 31–19 victory over the United States.

Three Fijian tries in the second half were to no avail as two penalty goals from Felipe Berchesi gave Uruguay their first win in a World Cup since 2003.

[70] Over in Chōfu, Dan Biggar scored the fastest drop goal in World Cup history as Wales led 23–8 at the half.

[71] A second half performance from Fiji at a wet Hanazono Rugby Stadium saw the Fijians record their first win of their 2019 World Cup campaign as they won 45–10 over Georgia.

[72] Another slow start for the Australians in their game with Uruguay did not stop them from recording a win over the South Americans, with Tevita Kuridrani and Dane Haylett-Petty each getting two tries in the 35-point victory at Ōita Stadium.

[75] Wales finished undefeated with a 35–13 win over Uruguay at Kumamoto Stadium to record a bonus-point victory and set up a quarter-final with France while Australia came in second.

[76] The knockout stage of the Rugby World Cup consisted of three single-elimination rounds leading to a final and a third-place playoff.

Aaron Wainwright opened the Welsh account with a try in the 12th minute before Virimi Vakatawa scored the French's third, giving them a 19–10 lead at the break.

In response to New Zealand's haka, England's players stood in a V-shape formation, for which they were later fined having crossed the halfway line.

Wales again equalised thanks to Josh Adams scoring down the short side from an attacking scrum on the South African five-metre line; however, they were penalised for collapsing a maul with five minutes left in the game, allowing Pollard to kick the winning points and book South Africa a spot in the final.

[88] South Africa tight forwards Bongi Mbonambi and Lood de Jager left the field through injuries in the 21st minute.

[92] The decisions had been made on safety grounds with considerations on the expected impact the typhoon would have on Tokyo, including likely public transport shutdown or disruption.

[98][99] Shortly after the announcement of the cancellation of the Namibia–Canada game, it was confirmed that the matches between Wales and Uruguay and the United States and Tonga would go ahead as scheduled.

[55] By noon on 12 October, it was confirmed that the match between Japan and Scotland was unaffected by the typhoon and would take place as scheduled, in front of spectators who had previously feared that they might have missed out with the game played behind closed doors.

[100] In line with tournament rules, the canceled pool matches were declared as drawn, the points being shared two each with no score registered.

[31] With these cancellations, France were unable to compete for the top pool position (held by England at the time), with a victory to secure that place.

For Italy, however, the cancellation effectively eliminated them from the tournament; a victory against defending champions New Zealand could have seen them qualify for the knock-out stage, dependent on the margin of the win.

IGBS used production resources from traditional rugby nations such as Australia, France, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

[54] ^2 Typhoon Hagibis and an associated evacuation order for Kamaishi caused the match between Namibia and Canada to be cancelled and recorded as a 0–0 draw.