RWC Sevens: Ireland Pooled With World Champions

Ryan Constable’s Ireland side have been drawn with 2001 World champions New Zealand in Pool A, for next month’s Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in Hong Kong.

Qualified by virtue of last summer’s European series, the Irish – who finished as Bowl semi-finalists at December’s IRB George event – were drawn on Thursday, with the All-Blacks, eighth seeds Scotland, Tonga, Korea and the USA.

The fourth running of the Sevens World Cup since 1993, sees 24 teams compete in four pools (A-D) on the opening two days (Friday, March 18-Saturday, March 19) – with the top two from each then progressing into the headline Melrose Cup competition, teams ranked 3-4 go into the Plate competition, with the final two in each pool contesting for the Bowl.

Ireland have won nine of their 22 games over the past three World Cups, with their best finish coming at Murrayfield, Scotland twelve years ago.

The inaugural tournament saw a Denis McBride-led outfit pocket six wins before bowing out to Australia, 21-19 in the Cup semi-finals.

IRB RUGBY WORLD CUP SEVENS, March 18-20, 2005, Hong Kong Stadium, Happy Valley, Hong Kong Island:

Pool A: New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, Tonga, Korea, USA

Pool B: England, Samoa, France, Italy, Georgia, Chinese Taipei

Pool C: Fiji, Australia, Canada, Portugal, Japan, Hong Kong

Pool D: Argentina, South Africa, Kenya, Tunisia, Russia, Uruguay