The draw for the 2015 Rugby World Cup has thrown up a mouthwatering group with England lining up alongside fellow superpowers Wales and Australia in Pool A.
The trio all found themselves in the “group of death” at a draw conducted at London’s Tate Modern gallery. This means one of the sport’s traditional powers will be knocked out before the quarter-finals, with only the top two teams from each of the four pools going through to the knockout stages.
Wales were beaten 14-12 by Australia, world champions in 1991 and 1999, in Cardiff on Saturday – their eighth straight defeat by the Wallabies.
England are currently in confident mood after their 38-21 victory over reigning world champions New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday, which led All Blacks coach Steve Hansen to label them a World Cup-winning outfit.
However, that win followed defeats by Australia (20-14) and South Africa (16-15) at Twickenham last month. The Springbok loss was especially painful as it condemned England to fifth place in the world rankings.
That left them outside the top four who were the leading seeds for Monday’s draw, with New Zealand in top spot followed by South Africa, Australia and France.
England, world champions in 2003 after they beat Australia, have never previously been drawn in the same World Cup group as Wales. Their last World Cup meeting was during the 2003 tournament in Brisbane, when England won a tense quarter-final after trailing at half-time.
“It’s a pretty tough pool,” said England coach Stuart Lancaster. “Wales, I’ve got a huge amount of respect for what they’ve done recently. “Australia have just beaten us and are an incredibly competitive nation. We’ll look forward to it on a few years’ time,” he added.
Meanwhile bullish Wales boss Warren Gatland said a tough draw could work in his side’s favour, as it had in New Zealand last year when they reached the semi-finals after emerging from a pool featuring South Africa – who beat them 17-16 in Wellington – Samoa and Fiji.
“We put ourselves in this position,” said Gatland, whose side defeated Ireland to reach the semi-finals last year. Our experience of 2011 is that if you come out of a tough group, it sets you up for the quarter-finals and semi-finals. The tougher the group, the better.”
The All Blacks, also the inaugural 1987 champions, were drawn in a Pool C with Argentina, Tonga and two as yet unqualified teams in Europe 1 and Africa 1.
South Africa, World Cup winners on home soil in 1995 and in France in 2007, were in Pool B with Samoa, Scotland, Asia 1 and Americas 2. It was the fourth consecutive time the Springboks have been drawn in the same pool with Samoa, and the second time they were in the same group as Scotland, as in 1999.
“Our aim was to be in the first band of teams and we achieved that, moving from fourth at the start of the year to second in the IRB world rankings,” said South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer.
“As I said before the draw was made – to us it doesn’t matter who we are drawn against, because to win the World Cup, you have to beat the best teams out there,” he added.
France, three times losing finalists, including in New Zealand last year, were in a Pool D with a strong Six Nations bias as it also included major European rivals Ireland and Italy, as well as Americas 1 and Europe 2.
But it was as favourable draw as France could have hoped for, a point not lost on coach Philippe Saint-Andre, who said: “It’s not the pool of death.”
The eight remaining teams will come from a series of global qualifying matches that started in Mexico in March and will culminate in 2014.
The quarter-final draw could see New Zealand up against either France, who knocked them out in the last eight in 2007, or Ireland.
Meanwhile the winners of England, Australia or Wales will face the runners-up from Pool B, who on current form are likely to be Samoa or Scotland.
Whoever wins Pool A will avoid New Zealand until the final provided the All Blacks, as they’ve done at every previous World Cup, win their group.
The Pool B winners will face the runners-up from Pool A with the winners of a Pool D where France will be the favourites facing the runners from Pool C, likely to be either Argentina or Tonga.
The 2015 World Cup in England, the eighth edition of the tournament, will run from September 18 to October 31, with the final at Twickenham.
FULL DRAW
Pool A – Australia, England, Wales, Oceania 1, Repechage winner
Pool B – South Africa, Samoa, Scotland, Asia 1, Americas 2
Pool C – New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga, Europe 1, Africa 1
Pool D – France, Ireland, Italy, Americas 1, Europe 2
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