These Are The 12 Games That Will Determine Ireland’s RWC 2019 Seeding
Latest posts by Will Matthews (see all)
08 Nov 2014 — 8 November 2014; Rob Kearney, Ireland, evades the tackle of Jannie du Plessis, South Africa. Guinness Series, Ireland v South Africa, Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin. Picture credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE — Image by © Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE/SPORTSFILE/Corbis
World Rugby today confirmed that the RWC 2019 pool draw will take place in May 2017 with rankings again being used to place teams into bands.
This gives Ireland 12 games in which maintain a top eight position in the rankings. Joe Schmidt’s side are currently ranked seventh in the world. Should Ireland fall outside the top 8 they could end up in a ‘pool of death scenario’ so the next twelve games are vital for Joe Schmidt’s men.
Ireland’s 12 games leading up to the draw are as follows:
June 11th: South Africa (A)
June 18th: South Africa (A)
June 25th: South Africa (A)
November 5th: New Zealand (Soldier Field, Chicago)
November 12th: Canada (H)
November 19th: New Zealand (H)
November 26th: Australia (H)
February 4th: Scotland (A)
February 11th: Italy (A)
February 25th: France (H)
March 10th: Wales (A)
March 18th: England (H)
Not the easiest of run-ins for Ireland.
