Rugby World Cup 2015: The tournament's best beards

Plenty of Canadian beards were on show during their 50-7 loss to Ireland on the opening weekend

Rugby World Cup
Hosts: England Dates: 18 September-31 October
Coverage: Live on BBC Radio 5 live and sports extra, BBC local radio, plus live text commentary on every match on the BBC Sport website
Further coverage: BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Local Radio

One week in, the World Cup has already captured the imagination.

Eye-catching tries, eye-watering collisions, and arguably the biggest shock in the competition's history.

But while we continue to marvel at the rugby on display, this year's tournament may be best remembered for something rather different - some of the bushiest beards you could ever wish to see.

BBC Sport looks at six of the best.

Prop Hubert Buydens lasted only 47 minutes of Canada's opening weekend defeat by Ireland, but the 33-year-old's brilliant beard did not go unnoticed. The Maple Leafs face Italy in Pool D on Saturday

Wales lock Jake Ball has impressed us with his bushy ginger beard for a while now, and it was on display for the full 80 minutes in their eight-try thrashing of Uruguay. The only concern that remains is the colour clash with his red scrum cap

Geoff Cross was one of the stars of our 'Beards of the Six Nations' earlier in the year but, with the 32-year-old not part of Scotland's World Cup squad, Josh Strauss is the man now flying the flag for surreal Scottish facial hair. Strauss came on to make his debut in his side's thumping win over Japan

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Although Sonny Bill Williams stole the headlines coming off the bench in New Zealand's battling victory over Argentina, it was Charlie Faumuina's arrival after 49 minutes that ensured the All Blacks won the battle of the beards

Unlike Jake Ball, Romania's Viorel Lucaci has got his beard/scrum cap combination down to a tee. The 29-year-old flanker was part of an Oaks pack that gave France's disjointed front eight the runaround for the opening 30 minutes on Wednesday

The Webb Ellis trophy may not be heading Canada's way on 31 October, but if there was a title for the most brilliantly bearded team there would surely only be one winner. A Test debutant at the age of 32, hooker Ray Barkwill's flamboyant fuzz is the perfect note on which to end our round-up

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