IRELAND WILL FACE Scotland and hosts Japan at the 2019 Rugby World Cup after the pool draw took place in Kyoto today.
Ireland went into the draw as one of the top seeds after playing their way to fourth place in the World Rugby rankings and could have faced Argentina or South Africa if the draw had been harsher.
The tournament will kick off in September 2019, and will see England pitted into an extremely tough pool again as they will face France and Argentina four years after crashing out of their home World Cup at the hands of Australia and Wales.
Ireland will begin to examine the threat of Japan this summer as they face the Brave Blossoms twice next month.
The qualification process for the eight teams not automatically will be completed by the end of November 2018. The Europe 1 qualifier will emerge from the European Nations Cup, but excludes Georgia as they were among the automatic qualifiers. The second-ranked team from the European competition will face the third-ranked team in Oceania to take the Playoff Winner’s berth in Pool A.
Here’s the full pool draw.
Pool A: Ireland, Scotland, Japan, Europe 1, Playoff winner.
Pool B: New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Africa 1, Repechage winner.
Pool C: England, France, Argentina, Americas 1, Oceania 2.
Pool D: Australia, Wales, Georgia, Oceania 1, Americas 2.
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