WALES’ PATH TO WORLD CUP FINAL
ALL THE REACTION FROM JAPAN
WALES are on a potential 2019 Rugby World Cup quarter-final collision course with back-to-back Six Nations champions England after yesterday’s draw in Japan.
The 2016 Grand Slam winners have unfinished World Cup business with Wales, as their loss to Warren Gatland’s side at Twickenham in 2015 helped contribute to the Red Rose becoming the first host nation in the competition’s history not to make the knockout stages.
And, though Eddie Jones’ men avoided Wales in the pool stages when the 2019 Rugby World Cup draw was made in Kyoto yesterday morning, should results go as expected then the two rivals, who are due to play a warm-up game earlier that summer, could well contest the lasteight stages.
Wales avoided the ‘pool of death’ that framed their 2015 World Cup campaign, but Gatland broke off from his British and Irish Lions coaching commitments to be in the State Guest House, in Japan, to see his side drawn with the Wallabies for a second successive tournament and Six Nations hopefuls Georgia.
The Wallabies beat Wales in the pool stages in 2015 and inflicted a 32-8 defeat on Rob Howley’s side at the start of the 2016 autumn Test series at the Principality Stadium.
This year, Wales will have a first taste of the challenge the eastern Europeans could well pose in Japan when they host Georgia in November at the Principality Stadium as well as the Wallabies providing the first opponents of the autumn.
The other two teams in Pool D with Wales, Australia and Georgia – Oceania 1 and Americas 2 – are still engaged in qualifying process, but it could well be Fiji, which would be the fourth successive tournament they face the Dragons, and Canada.
The Red Rose, meanwhile, are in Pool C with France and 2015 semifinalists Argentina, in addition to the winners of Americas 1 and Oceania 2 which could well mean Samoa and the United States making it the toughest pool of the competition.
England head coach Jones, however, believes the tough Japan 2019 pool will leave his players battle-hardened for the knockout phase.
“You think it’s difficult, but we’re excited by it. It’s not a tough group, it’s a good group,” Jones said.
“To win the World Cup you have to win seven games.
“We’ve got two very big games in our pool against France and Argentina, so it’s great preparation for getting to the final stages.
“We’re looking forward to it. We want to win the World Cup. We want to come here and win it, that’s our ambition.”
Jones replied “nobody is going to die” when it was put to him that England had been drawn in the ‘pool of death,’ but he did joke that he will be seeking divine intervention.
“I’m going to visit the temples because I need to pray. I need to pray really hard,” he said.
Ireland and Scotland were pooled together at the draw, with hosts Japan also in their section.
Ireland will be favourites to win Pool A as they set about trying to improve a World Cup record that has never seen them progress beyond the quarter-finals.
Host nation Japan are likely to feature strongly, while Scotland, who beat Japan in the 2015 pool stage, will not lack confidence.
The group also includes the top European qualifier, possibly Romania, and a play-off winner completing the picture.
Reflecting on the draw, Japan head coach Jamie Joseph said: “Any pool that we were going to get put in was going to be a big challenge. But now there’s some certainty around it, we can start our planning and we are really looking forward to it.
“I think we are fortunate in that we play Ireland in June, so that will give the players a good understanding about that team because Japan haven’t beaten Ireland or Scotland to date, so we know that the challenge is going to be big.”
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt said of his side’s task: “I think it’s very hard to assess where teams are going to be in two years’ time.”
He has been impressed by Japan’s
“upward curve” and said: “They got very close to beating Wales last autumn, and obviously their heroics in the last World Cup were pretty spectacular.”
New Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend declared his first reaction to the draw was “excitement”.
He said: “Ireland have been one of the most competitive and most improved sides over the past few years and a lot of that is to do with their quality of players and the influence of head coach Joe Schmidt.
“They have shown real consistency over the past two or three years. They are one of the best teams in the world. Whichever side we drew from the top band was always going to be very tough.
“On the other hand, we know Ireland pretty well and have a couple more opportunities to play them before the World Cup, while we also know a lot about their players through the Guinness PRO12.
“Japan obviously made a memorable impact at the World Cup two years ago, beating South Africa, and will have tremendous support going into the tournament. They’ll be targeting getting out of the pool and I’m sure that we’ll see them play close to their best in every game.”
The victor of Pool A will face the runner-up of Pool B in the quarterfinals of the 2019 competition, while the runners-up in Pool A will take on the winners of Pool B in the last eight.
The same format applies to Pools C and D, meaning Gatland’s side could potentially lock horns with England in the quarter-finals.
For that to happen, Wales would need to win Pool D and England would have to finish second in their group, or the Red Rose would have to top Pool C and see Gatland’s side end as runners-up in their pool.