World Rugby and the France 2023 organising committee have announced the 2023 Rugby World Cup draw will take place in Paris, at Palais Brongniart, on December 14.
Acknowledging the global Covid-19 impact on international rugby in 2020, with some teams not playing this year, and to be fair to all qualified teams, the Rugby World Cup board has decided the world rugby rankings as of January 1, 2020, will be used to determine the five bands.
This represents the fairest scenario given it was the last time that all teams were able to play.
The competition will be again contested by 20 teams, of which 12 are automatically qualified owing to a top-three place in their respective Rugby World Cup 2019 pools: champions South Africa, England, Wales, New Zealand, Japan, France, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Argentina and Fiji.
The remaining eight teams will come through the regional qualification process and will be allocated into bands four and five based on relative strength.
They consist of Americas 1, Americas 2, Europe 1, Europe 2, Africa 1, Oceania 1, Asia /Pacific 1 and the final qualifier winner.
World Cup draw bands:
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
Also Read: Latsha named among 12 leading women in African rugby
Also Read: SA Rugby gives update on amateur rugby return
