The All Blacks went on a try-scoring spree as expected against Japan at the World Cup on Friday as elsewhere six teams geared up for some heavyweight showdowns at the weekend.

The New Zealanders touched down 13 times with six in the first period and seven in the second before a packed house at Waikato Stadium in the North Island rural town of Hamilton.

It was a second straight win for the hosts and sets them up nicely for Pool A's crunch match against France in Eden Park on September 24.

If the New Zealand v Japan match was one-way traffic, the weekend promised some tighter affairs.

Australia take on Ireland in a mouthwatering Pool C clash and there was a late scare for the Wallabies with specialist open-side flanker David Pocock reporting in with a back strain.

"At this stage it was just a precautionary measure and we'll see how he pulls up in the morning with tightness in his back," a team spokesman said.

Ireland, who like Australia won their opener, are plotting to exert maximum pressure to nullify key Wallaby halves Will Genia and Quade Cooper.

And they are also hoping that they will have most of the crowd in the Eden Park Stadium on their side with the home fans keen to see arch-rivals Australia beaten.

Saturday's other games see defending champions South Africa take on Fiji in Wellington while the day starts down south in Invercargill where both Argentina and Romania need to win to stay alive.

Sunday's big clash is in Hamilton where Wales will be looking to take revenge for past World Cup defeats on muscular Samoa.

Wales are unchanged despite losing 17-16 to the Springboks in their opener while the Pacific Islanders make just one change from the side that defeated Namibia.

Warren Gatland's men will be paying special attention to rampaging Samoan winger Alesana Tuilagi who ran in three tries against the south Africans.

"We have to match his physicality," the coach said.

"A lot of the guys know Tuilagi from (English club) Leicester and what he does there. He's not unfamiliar to a lot of players in the northern hemisphere and it's no surprise to us that he's made an impact early on in this competition."

France against Canada and England against Georgia are Sunday's other matches.

England returned to their base in Dunedin after a few days break in the mountain resort of Queenstown with coach Martin Johnson and his management still trying to stamp out the embers of the Mike Tindall affair.

Britain's Sun tabloid reported Tindall, who recently married Zara Phillips, the granddaughter of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, had kissed an unidentified blonde woman while watching a dwarf-throwing contest in a Queenstown bar on Sunday as the team celebrated victory over Argentina in their opening World Cup match.

The story took a new twist Friday when alleged CCTV footage from the bar showing the woman kissing Tindall was posted on the YouTube website.

Johnson spent the bulk of his Friday press conference, where he named the team to play Georgia on Sunday, defending his squad's conduct after a "real high pressure game against Argentina".

"The players said 'we are going to go out for a beer on Sunday night', I said it was a great idea," Johnson told reporters. "You've got to relieve the pressure, let off steam at the right time."

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