World champions England were once again paired with South Africa when the draw for the 2007 World Cup finals was made today (Wednesday).
The two sides enjoyed a bruising pool encounter at last year's finals in Perth, Australia, which Clive Woodward's men won 25-6 before going on to beat Australia in the final.
And four years prior to that they met at the quarter-finals stage with the Springboks getting the better of it on that occasion winning 44-21 in Paris.
They were drawn in Pool A alongside the top side from the Oceania qualifiers, the third team from the Americas zone and the second team from the repechage play-off system.
Pool B saw Australia and Wales drawn together, Pool C has New Zealand and Scotland and Pool D has France and Ireland.
The finals will be held mainly in France, but with some games in Scotland, Wales and Ireland in September/October 2007 with the final at the Stade de France, Paris on October 20.
With the four semi-finalists from Australia seeded 1-4, the draw was mainly a question of pairing off the four losing quarter-finalists who for the first time in World Cup history were not seeded.
It could have resulted in a mirror-image of the Australian draw, especially after the Springboks came out against England, but this time Australia got Wales instead of Ireland, the All Blacks got Scotland instead of Wales and Six Nations Grand Slammers France got Ireland instead of Scotland.
The zonal qualifiers for the finals will get underway later this year, but France and Ireland look likely to get Argentina who are expected to top the Americas zone with Italy going in against New Zealand and Scotland.
Apart from the top eight teams, 10 places will be filled by Europe (3), Americas (3), Oceania (2), Africa (1) and Asia (1). The remaining two spots will be decided by two inter-zone play-offs.
Pool A England, South Africa, Oceania 1, Americas 3, Repechage 2.
Pool B Australia, Wales, Oceania 2, Americas 2, Asia 1.
Pool C New Zealand, Scotland, Europe 1, Europe 2, Repechage 1.
Pool D France, Ireland, Americas 1, Europe 3, Africa 1.
Top two in each pool will qualify for the quarter-finals.
AFP - 2004.