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From Japan beating South Africa to Fiji pushing England and Australia close... this is the most competitive World Cup ever

Sponsored by Duracell

Many pundits tipped this to be the most competitive World Cup ever and it has not disappointed in the opening week
South Africa were stunned by minnows Japan on the opening weekend
England and Australia both pushed hard by Fiji
Georgia shook off their underdogs' tag to beat Tonga in Gloucester

Published: 09:48 EST, 25 September 2015 | Updated: 20:07 EST, 26 September 2015

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The opening week of the Rugby World Cup has provided proof of what many people had predicted: that this will be the most tightly contested World Cup ever.

Japan's stunning win against South Africa in Brighton captured the imagination of us all and will be forever remembered, but they were by no means alone in upsetting the odds in the opening week.

Argentina led the All Blacks for long periods at the Olympic Stadium, Georgia stunned Tonga in Gloucester, Fiji gave both England and Australia a scare and New Zealand and France had it nowhere near as easy as most thought they would against Namibia and Romania respectively.

Japan celebrate their historic 34-32 win over South Africa at the Brighton Community Stadium

The Duracell #PowerCheck measures power and endurance of each player during the World Cup using a number of performance indicators including tackles, rucks, carries and turnovers won during the course of each game, with a greater weighting towards players that remain on the pitch for longer.

Here, MailOnline takes a closer look at the standout matches from the opening week of the Rugby World Cup to see which players scored best on the Duracell #PowerCheck and how they helped their teams defy the odds...

Japan stun South Africa

A week on and everybody is still talking about the match that really ignited this tournament.

Probably the greatest ever World Cup shock, it was not just the fact that Japan won one that got the spine tingling, but how they did it.

Ayumu Goromaru is mobbed by his team-mates after scoring the second of three tries for the underdogs

This was a high tempo, high scoring match in which Eddie Jones' side scored three tries and won the hearts and minds of many, sending the Springboks into crisis.

Top-scoring for Japan in the #PowerCheck was second row Luke Thompson, who got through a mountain of work.

All Duracell #PowerCheck scores are out of 100

South Africa's players look shell-shocked as a Japan player breaks down in tears of joy

Brilliant Brown sees off flying Fijians

The scoreline looked comfortable in the end as England beat Fiji 35-11 on an incredible opening night at Twickenham but Stuart Lancaster's men were really made to sweat for the victory.

The Fijians competed ferociously at the breakdown and dazzled with flair in attack and at one stage in the second half trailed by just seven points.

They didn't account for Mike Brown though; the England full-back scoring two tries and creating a third on his way to registering the fifth-highest Duracell #PowerCheck score since records began in 1999.

England full-back Mike Brown makes a burst forward and is hunted down by three Fijians

Brown celebrates during a brilliant individual game in which he scored two tries and nearly had a hat-trick

Fiji's top performer in that match, second row Leone Nakarawa, performed even better five days later as they also gave Australia a run for their money, only being outscored on the Duracell #PowerCheck by two-try Wallaby David Pocock.

In both matches five of the top 10 PowerCheck scorers were Fijian.

All Duracell #PowerCheck scores are out of 100

Fiji second-rower Leone Nakarawa (centre) has been one of the players of the tournament so far

Nakarawa clings on to the ball as he is challenged by England captain Chris Robshaw (left) at Twickenham

Georgia pack a punch

Tonga v Georgia was always going to be a battle of the packs and it was the nation by the Black Sea who won the arm-wrestle up front in an enthralling match in Gloucester.

Though it was overshadowed somewhat by the Japan-South Africa result on the same day make no mistake: this too was a shock that demonstrates the increasing depth in international rugby.

Georgia captain and No 8 Mamuka Gorgodze (front centre) is congratulated after scoring against Tonga

Five of Georgia's pack made the top 10 #PowerCheck scores on the day with try-scoring No 8 Mamuka Gorgodze the pick of the bunch. His fellow back-rower Giorgi Tkhilaishvili also scored and was another in the top 10.

Georgia face New Zealand on October 2 and, facing a pack this powerful, the world champions are bound to come away with a bruise or two.

All Duracell #PowerCheck scores are out of 100

The Duracell #PowerCheck is a new measurement of power and endurance based upon data from Official Rugby World Cup data providers, Opta. The #PowerCheck tracks a combination of performance indicators including tackles, rucks, carries and turnovers won during the course of each game, with a greater weighting towards players that remain on the pitch for longer. Just like the power check on a Duracell battery, this data is then used to create a score out of 100. The whole process rewards the performances of players who stay stronger for longer.