World Cup 2007 Draw
Ireland have been drawn in Pool D for the 2007 Rugby World Cup along with Grand Slam champions France.
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.