Ireland in second rank for France World Cup
IRELAND’S calamitous campaign in 2019 has come back to haunt them with Andy Farrell’s squad confirmed as second seeds ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup pool draw. It means Ireland will be drawn with one of New Zealand, South Africa, England or Wales, who are in the top band of seedings. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, World Rugby decreed that the bands for the pool draw would be based on the rankings as of January 1. Ireland were fifth at the time, meaning they missed out on a top seeding. ‘While Covid-19 means that, in the interests of fairness for all qualified teams, we have needed to draw a line under the rankings at the beginning of the year, everyone should appreciate that this is a unique time, we can’t delay, and we must continue to accelerate planning for what is going to be a truly spectacular and special Rugby World Cup 2023 in France,’ said World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont. ‘The RWC 2023 Draw will be a greatly anticipated beacon of hope and excitement as we look towards France 2023 and beyond the global pandemic.’ Ireland were top seeds at the 2019 World Cup, but Joe Schmidt’s squad would suffer a shock loss to tournament hosts Japan before crashing out in the quarter finals at the hands of New Zealand. The draw will take place in Paris on December 24. Meanwhile, selfisolating Glasgow pair Tom Gordon and Zander Fagerson will miss their Pro14 opener against Connacht in Galway today. Warriors announced in n a brief section of their r team news announcement ment ahead of the trip to face Andy Friend’s men that flanker Gordon and Scotland prop Fagerson would be unavailable. A statement read: ‘Tom Gordon and Zander Fagerson are unavailable for selection for the upcoming game in order to comply with the necessary Scottish Government Covid-19 isolation protocols and to protect the medical integrity of the wider squad.’ Glasgow are also without Leone Nakarawa because of coronavirus restrictions with the Fiji lock in quarantine following his return from his homeland, which was delayed because of family reasons. Huw Jones again starts at fullback following new head coach Danny Wilson’s experiment in the two games against Edinburgh which rounded off last season in August. Aki Seiuli returns to the squad following a thumb injury and new signing Fotu Lokotui is also named among the replacements. Ahead of the trip to Galway, Wilson said: ‘I need to learn a lot about the squad, I need to learn a lot about their ability to adapt to the way perhaps we do things as a coaching group and also us learning from that senior group about things they want to maintainmaintain. ‘The tthings we want to impimprove on generally frofrom last season are aabout game mmanagement and that defensive record, which are probably linked. “It’s not just what hhappens when you dodon’t have the ball, it’s a lot to do when you have the ball as well to make suresu you don’t leave ourselves exposed if you do turn over. ‘It’s step by step, it will take some time to develop those things.” Wilson added: ‘It’s a tough venue to go, I have experienced every weather condition there is at Connacht, and sometimes in the same game. ‘It’s a tough old place to go and you have got to be ready to deal with the conditions as much as the opposition. They are a good side, they play some decent rugby. They had a good win against Ulster recently.’ Friend will be looking for his team to recreate that verve which caught Ulster a few weeks ago and he has an extremely potent looking backline to call on. ‘I know we’ve got the talent,’ said Friend this week. ‘To me it’s not a talent thing, to me it’s a mental thing. It’s your belief that you have the ability.’