Band 2

World Rugby and the France 2023 Organising Committee have announced that the Palais Brongniart in Paris will host the Rugby World Cup 2023 Draw.

The Draw will be pushed back from the previously announced date by two weeks to 14 December 2020 owing to the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on rugby and event hosting activities.

World Rugby rankings as of 1 January 2020 to be used to determine seedings which is bad news for Ireland who will be in band 2 following a poor showing at Japan 2019.

This means they will be in a group with one of South Africa, New Zealand, Wales or England.

Ireland were number one in the world ahead of last year’s World Cup but dropped to fifth following defeats to Japan and New Zealand.

The bands as of 1 January 2020 are:

Band 1: South Africa, New Zealand, England, Wales
Band 2: Ireland, Australia, France, Japan
Band 3: Scotland, Argentina, Fiji, Italy
Band 4: Oceania 1, Europe 1, Americas 1, Asia / Pacific 1
Band 5: Africa 1, Europe 2, Americas 2, Final Qualifier Winner

Meanwhile, the Rugby World Cup Board has recommended that the draw for future Rugby World Cups should take place no earlier than one year proceeding the event to ensure the pools better reflect performance at the time.