Rugby World Cup draw: Ireland and Scotland to meet in the group stage

Ireland and Scotland will meet in the group stage of the Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.

It is the second consecutive World Cup in which Ireland and Scotland have drawn, with only Ireland making it out of the group last time.

Reigning champions South Africa also join the two teams in Group B.

Wales also faced Australia and Fiji in the 2019 group stages, finishing at the top of the group before falling to the Springboks in the semi-finals.

In Group A, hosts France will face three-time winner New Zealand and Italy, rivals from the Six Nations.

So far, only 12 teams have qualified for the tournament, and eight of them will be finalized in November 2022.

The sides are divided into four groups of five, with the top two of each group going to the quarterfinals.

Last year’s tournament in Japan was only the second time that Scotland failed to make it out of the group stages, and it did so in 2011 as well.

In 2019, Gregor Townsend’s men lost to Ireland and Japan, who advanced to the last eight.

The tournament will be played from September 8 to October 21, 2023 in 10 French cities, with the largest stadium in Paris, the Stade de France and the smallest, the Stade de Nice.

The full list of matches for the tournament, with date, location and times of all games, will be announced at the end of February 2021.

‘We want to be at our best in 2023’ – what they said

Ireland’s head coach Andy Farrell said: “There is nothing better than a Rugby World Cup draw to get the juice flowing. I am very excited.

“The way tier two and tier three nations are developing, if as a tier one nation you are not preparing properly, it is going to take off.”

Scotland’s head coach Gregor Townsend said: “It will be a wonderful tournament. I think it is the most difficult group in the current world rankings. It will be very competitive.

“Every four years, the World Cup gets bigger and bigger for our sport. There is a long-term focus on developing a team that can play its best rugby in 2023.”

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac said: “It’s a similar group but in another country. We are certainly very excited.

“It gives us a real focal point now. Everybody will have to be vigilant in every game. There is a lot of work to be done, but building depth is really important to us.”

England head coach Eddie Jones said: “Argentina is a great team, Japan is possibly the team that improves the most in the world.

“They are all tough groups. We just have to do our best. We can’t worry too much about other teams. The 2023 World Cup is when we want to be at our best, not before or after.”

Why is the draw taking place now?

There are just under three years left before the tournament begins and the draw was based on the world rankings from January this year.

Positions after this year’s Fall Trials would normally be used to form the tie bands, but some teams, for example South Africa and Japan, have not played in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Wales have benefited from this as they were included among the top favorites, but have since dropped to ninth place in the world.

Going forward, the Rugby World Cup leadership has recommended that the draw be held less than a year prior to the event to ensure that the groups better reflect performance at that time.