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Rugby World Cup 2015: Australia, England, Wales Drawn into Pool of Death
Published: December 4, 2012
But it is Pool A that remains most intriguing and will add extra interest to the early stages of 2015. Never before has a World Cup featured three such highly touted teams in the same pool.
2011 saw something of a pool of death with South Africa, Wales and Samoa all placed together, while 2007 saw France, Ireland and Argentina take the toughest road to the playoff stage.
But to group together three teams who will have legitimate ambitions to win the tournament is something that has never happened before. It is a result of the poor form of Wales over the autumn internationals, which has seen their world ranking plummet. Losses to Argentina, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia have seen them find a place in the third tier of qualifiers and meant they would be drawn with two of the top eight teams.
This immediately creates a situation where three top teams will be drawn together and in a way shows the flaws in the IRB's system. Why should it be form in the post-World Cup year that determines the draw for the next tournament? Particularly when most countries use this as a year to rebuild, filling the gaps of the men who have left at the end of the previous Cup.
One could argue that it is as good a time as any to use. But it does seem to have the obvious flaw of teams often being at their weakest in the four year cycle at this stage. The old system used the rankings from the previous World Cup to develop the draw. While this may have just as little relevance, it at least shows the strength of each country at their best, as every team will be aiming to peak for the World Cup.
The current situation is made even more i...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union
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