Australia has been handed another showdown with Wales at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Key points:
- The Wallabies are chasing their third tournament victory at the Rugby World Cup
- Australia have been drawn with Wales and Fiji with another team to be announced one year out from the tournament
- The All Blacks will have an early showdown with tournament hosts France
The Wallabies have landed alongside the Welsh and Fiji in Pool C, while the final team in the pool will not be known until one year before the tournament in November 2022.
Three-times winners and perennial favourites New Zealand will face hosts France in the pool stage but both teams will be confident of advancing after landing Italy as the third seed in the group when the draw was made on Monday.
Holders South Africa received a tough draw and are grouped with Ireland and Scotland while 2019 runners-up England face the potentially tricky dual challenge of fast-rising Argentina and Japan.
The Pumas have recently shown some of the best form in their history defeating the All Blacks before holding the Wallabies to two consecutive draws late this year.
The seedings for the RWC have routinely been decided around three years out but this time, given the COVID-disruption of the international calendar, organisers decided to use the rankings as at the end of last year ahead of the tournament.
Consequently, Wales, beaten semi-finalists in 2019 but currently ranked ninth, were among the top four seeds but France, hosts and now ranked fourth, were placed in the second tier.
Scotland and Argentina would have been in the second tier of seeds on current rankings but were placed in the third level after failing to reach the knockout stages in 2019.
World Champions South Africa went into the draw having not played a single match since the 2019 final. Their victory in Japan marked the first time a team had won the competition after losing a pool match.
The All Blacks are the only team never to have lost a pool game. In 2011 they beat France at that stage, then again in the final.
The tournament, the sport’s 10th, will take place across nine cities from September 8 to October 21, with the final in Paris. France also hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
The tournament will consist of 20 teams drawn into four pools of five. Twelve nations have already qualified — making up the top three bands of seeds — while eight qualifiers are yet to be determined and will not be finalised until November, 2022.
Macron hoping for a French miracle
French President Emmanuel Macron was present at the draw.
“We cannot wait to get ready for this event,” Mr Macron said.
“In 2023, it will be 12 years since we last reached the final but this time it will be at home so you [the team] figure out a way of winning the [Webb-Ellis] Cup.”
France also reached the final in the 1987 and 1999 tournaments.
The Wallabies have not won the tournament since 1999, when they defeated France 35-12 in the final.
Since then they have twice finished runner-up, losing the finals in 2003 to England and in 2015 to New Zealand.
At the tournament, the All Blacks and Springboks will be hunting their fourth titles, the Wallabies their third and England their second.
No other team has lifted the Webb-Ellis trophy.
ABC/Reuters
