adminKYOTO. – New Zealand and South Africa will meet in the pool stages of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan after the draw for the competition was made at the State Guest House in Kyoto yesterday.
The two Southern Hemisphere powerhouses clashed in the semi-finals of the 2015 edition of the tournament in England, but will meet in the opening stage of the event in Pool B in two years’ time.
New Zealand, who went on to retain the trophy against Australia in the final, and South Africa, who won the tournament in 1995, have been drawn alongside Italy as well as two unknown qualifiers from the Americas continent and a repechage round winner.
Hosts Japan will meet Scotland and Ireland in Pool A, alongside a European qualifier and the winner of a play-off featuring teams from Oceania and Europe.
Australia will be looking to go one better than two years ago and will meet Wales and Georgia in Pool D.
Two nations who will qualify from the Americas and Oceania qualifying events will complete the pool.
England, who have won 18 out of 19 Test matches under new head coach Eddie Jones since his appointment in 2015, have a tough draw as they will meet European rivals France and Argentina, who lost in the semi-finals to Australia in 2015.
The England team produced a disappointing performance on home soil two years ago as defeats against Wales and Australia in what was considered the tournament’s toughest group saw them become the first hosts to not progress past the opening round.
Jones’ men will also play two play-off winners, one from Oceania which will be either Samoa, Tonga or Fiji and another out of the United States or Canada from the Americas zone.
All qualifying will be finished by the end of next year and the top two teams from each pool will reach the quarter-finals, with the tournament beginning on September 20 before concluding with the final at the International Stadium in Yokohama on November 2.
“It’s all very exciting isn’t it?” deadpanned England coach Jones, who has led England to 17 wins in 18 games and two straight Six Nations titles, said after yesterday’s draw.
“We’ve got two Tests against Argentina in June so we can practise a little bit.” Yesterday’s draw could complicate Jones’s oft-repeated vow to dethrone top-ranked New Zealand, who have won the World Cup three times.
England have a mixed World Cup record against France and their last meeting was a quarter-final defeat in 2011 in Auckland.
They have won both of their World Cup games so far against Argentina, but the Pumas are much improved and reached the semi-finals in 2015.
“It’s a death pool for sure,” said France coach Guy Noves. “It’s very difficult and we will try to match our rivals and to get out of the pool.
“The competition starts today but let’s not forget that two teams haven’t qualified yet, so we must respect all rivals.”
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said their Pool B match-up against South Africa would now give their annual Rugby Championship games extra meaning. New Zealand lost to South Africa in the 1995 final but they have won their last two World Cup meetings, including their 2015 semi-final.
“Everyone will get excited by it, and we know each other pretty well so we’ll just continue to get to understand each other before we get here,” Hansen said.
Twelve teams were included in yesterday’s draw in Kyoto by virtue of finishing in the top three of their groups in 2015. – AFP.
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