World Rugby has released the 2023 Rugby World Cup schedule, and as promised there will be no more quick turnarounds.

A small variation to the schedule for everyone, namely not being wedded to having every high-profile team play on the weekends, has resulted in a schedule where there are no more four- or five-day turnarounds. All but one team in every pool has close to a two-week gap between two of their games, with two other teams having to play basically every week. But the teams that have to play without the bye week have, at worst, a six-day gap between games.

(That would translate into a game day, five non-competition days, and then another game day.) Americas 1, which could well be the USA, is one of the four-in-a-row teams. Here is the schedule for the Americas 1 seed:

Thursday September 14 vs France at Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille
Wednesday September 20 vs Italy at Stade de Nice in Nice
Wednesday September 27 vs Africa 1 at Parc OL in Lyon
Thursday October 5 vs New Zealand at Parc OL in Lyon

The Americas 2 schedule, which could be USA, Canada, Uruguay, or even an improving Brazil, would be:

Sunday September 10 vs Japan at Stadium de Toulouse in Toulouse
Saturday September 16 vs Oceania 1 at Stade de Bordeaux in Bordeaux
Saturday September 23 vs England at Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille
Saturday September 30 vs Argentina at State de Beaujoire in Nantes

While these are slightly more sympathetic schedules than the old way of the four-day turnaround, it will still be difficult for Tier 2 nations. Lille to Nice is an all-day train trip from the northern end of France to the southern end, which means September 15 is devoted almost entirely to travel. That leaves Americas 1 with only September 16-18 for any work to be done (September 19 would be the Captain's Run and little else).

Lille to Nantes for Americas 2 is not as big a trip, but still enough to eat up most of the day.

Of the 20 teams in the tournament, eight will have no large break (12 to 14 days) between games. The shortest distance between games is six days, and nine teams have that turnaround. Fifve teams have no extra week and a six-day turnaround: Africa 1, Americas 1, Americas 2, Oceania 1, and South Africa.