Favourable draw for England

Eurosport - Tue, 02 Dec 09:16:00 2008

England have been handed a favourable draw for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand and will face Argentina and Scotland in Pool B.

Martin Johnson - England - 0

In the draw in London, England avoided the southern hemisphere giants New Zealand, South Africa and Australia and instead were pooled with fourth-ranked Argentina, who finished third in the 2007 tournament.

European champions Wales have been drawn with holders South Africa in Pool D along with Fiji, who knocked them out of the tournament last year, while Ireland will take on Australia and Italy in Pool C.

Top-ranked New Zealand have been handed fixtures with France, who downed them in the quarter-finals of the 2007 World Cup, and Tonga in Pool A.

England will be delighted at having avoided the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies after going down heavily to all three at Twickenham in the past month.

But the Pumas proved in beating France, twice, and Ireland in 2007 that they are serious contenders in world rugby and will be confident of beating Martin Johnson's (pictured) current England side.

Scotland have also improved in the past year and will take heart from having drawn a series in Argentina last summer, while Wales pushed South Africa all the way at the Millennium Stadium last month before going down 15-10.

Ireland will be pleased with their draw as twice champions Australia are arguably the weakest of the Tri-Nations teams.

But Declan Kidney's side will be well aware of the Wallabies' ability to over-achieve in the tournament.

Pool A

New Zealand

France

Tonga

Americas 1

Asia 1

Pool B

Argentina

England

Scotland

Europe 1

Play-off winner

Pool C

Australia

Ireland

Italy

Europe 2

Americas 2

Pool D

South Africa

Wales

Fiji

Oceania 1

Africa 1

Knockout stages

Quarter Final 1: Winner Pool B v Runner-up Pool A

Quarter Final 2: Winner Pool C v Runner-up Pool D

Quarter Final 3: Winner Pool A v Runner-up Pool B

Quarter Final 4: Winner Pool D v Runner-up Pool C

Semi-Final 1: Winner QF1 v Winner QF2

Semi-Final 2: Winner QF3 v Winner QF4

Bronze Final: Loser SF1 v Loser SF2

Final: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2

* Tournament begins on September 10, 2011 with the final taking place on October 22

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport

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  1. ALL ENGLISH FOOTBALL
    PREMIER LEAGUE – FA CUP – CARLING­ CUP
    CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – UEFA CUP
    ALL MATCHES ON WEB: ­ PREMIER LEAGUE, LIGA, SERIE A, BUNDESLIGA AND CHAMPIONS­ LEAGUE - UEFA CUP
    ALL THE HIGH-LIGHTS OF PREMIER­ LEAGUE MATCHES

    From go to www.premiership.altervista.org, on Tue 2 Dec 3:44PM

  2. Jon, I don't think everyone hates the English -I do­ however think that the English media in particular like­ to build up their National team, regardless of sport,­ just to tear them down! It is unfortunate that many­ south of the border seem to sway towards the media­ opinion - perhaps through some reasonable measure off­ success in the past. The celts perhaps dampen optimism­ with reality, although Wales can be forgiven their­ cockiness on 6 nations form recently.

    On the rugby?­ The true rugby fan in the British Isles supports good­ play and good players - that doesn't mean a bit of­ ribbing shouldn't be expected at the expense of­ other's on field misfortune!

    From hblackburn, on Tue 2 Dec 1:59PM

  3. does everyone hate the english or is it that the­ english media assume that everything that we enter we­ should win that causes the hate???
    I support all home­ nations against southern hemisphere sides even so far­ as at the last world cup drank guinness when ireland­ was on, whisky when scotland was playing and sang out­ of tune when wales was playing.

    I personally don't­ think England have a hope in hell of winning. It took­ Clive Woodward 6 years to build up a squad for the 2003­ cup and that only worked due to several outstanding­ players. Johnno, backy and richard hill done the most.

    From jondennis9, on Tue 2 Dec 11:24AM

  4. As a proud Welshman " COME ON YOU JOCKS " ,

    From equico.lewis, on Tue 2 Dec 11:07AM

  5. Why would the Scots complain? On recent form (autumn­ internationals excepted) we deserve to be in the third­ band. Unlike our neighbours, we don't feel we have­ a God given right to win - we still believe we have to­ deserve victory! If the form shown in the Autumn­ continues and grows through the next 3 years then­ Scotland might be in good shape. But as with all the­ teams, 2011 is a long way away! And All Blacks­ Favourites? There is still time for them to scour the­ South Sea Islands for their next batch of All Blacks -­ I am all for it - there is plenty room for a few more­ Kilted Kiwis north of the border who can't get a­ game for the Mighty AB's!

    From hblackburn, on Tue 2 Dec 9:58AM

  6. as a Pumas fan, I can only aspire to a similar­ performance to the previous world cup, where they upset­ France (twice), the same team won against Scotland,­ Ireland and also beat England in Twickenham... I'm­ really excited to see where the Pumas will be in 3­ years time! In my opinion, England was not favoured at­ all!!

    From Carlos, on Mon 1 Dec 11:48PM

  7. The draw has been made and already New Zealand has won­ it. Seems this was the way it was supposed to happen in­ France but no South Africa went onto win it. It's­ on the day that counts, anyone can win it, even­ England!!

    From william, on Mon 1 Dec 9:27PM
  8. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    its the rugby world cup not the proper one

    From , on Mon 1 Dec 8:39PM

  9. My way of thinking is England have a tough group, you­ can pair any two from three in that group...Better to­ be thrown in with NZ and three minnows, lose to the All­ Blacks and hopefully beat the rest..The same goes for­ Ireland, again its another case of two from three..If­ we do qualify its either France or NZ in the quarters,­ for this current team that surely is a step too far...

    From steven, on Mon 1 Dec 7:39PM

  10. On current form that is. Lot's can happen before­ 2011.

    From Daft, on Mon 1 Dec 7:17PM

  11. With the Boks, Fiji, Samoa(probably) and whoever from­ Africa, I'll just be happy if we make it out of the­ group with 15 uninjured players. England/Scotlands­ group by far the easiest of the lot though.

    From Daft, on Mon 1 Dec 7:16PM

  12. the cup is already inscribed with the name, Roman­ Riquelme... yet there might be time to secure him a­ visa before 2011 so that he's wearing white when he­ lifts the trophy... the best England can hope for is­ fewer red cards

    From Tony, on Mon 1 Dec 6:14PM

  13. If Scotland knock England out of the group, I will­ agree that the article was biased. Until then....

    From Donald D, on Mon 1 Dec 6:13PM

  14. the cup is already inscribed with the name, Roman­ Riquelme... yet there might be time to secure him a­ visa before 2011 so that he's wearing white when he­ lifts the trophy... the best England can hope for is­ fewer red cards

    From Tony, on Mon 1 Dec 6:12PM

  15. @#$% YAHOO AND THEIR BIAS

    From Creaven91, on Mon 1 Dec 6:00PM

  16. This article does not contain anti-Scottish bias- it is­ just based upon the fact that any supporter in their­ right mind would believe their team have a better­ chance of beating Scotland than New Zealand. I­ don't care if you are the biggest Scotland­ supporter in the world- you have to admit that that is­ true. In the same vein, Scotland got a favorable draw,­ because they don’t have to play Australia, New Zealand,­ or South Africa.

    From BRS, on Mon 1 Dec 5:55PM

  17. Wallabies ability to overachieve.Are you having a­ laugh.They have won this tournament twice so far.Kindly­ try and report factually in future or better still get­ some decent journalists.This type of error strewn­ reporting does you no favours at all.

    From MICHAEL, on Mon 1 Dec 5:51PM

  18. your dead right there andrew scotland have as good a­ chance as england 2 get out of da group. the pumas will­ win it. georgia could b n there to. they could b hard­ bet just ask eddy o,sullivan!! 2nd will play new­ zealand in da 1/4 wouldnt fancy dat, they will win it­ outright.

    From mcdonagh_brian, on Mon 1 Dec 5:47PM

  19. Why even comment on articles like this when yahoo will­ ignore the bias non factual reporting in their usual­ off hand manner the world championships are not until­ 2011 and a lot could happen in that time. England could­ start to play rugby again and become the world­ champions or continue to self destruct and become the­ worst team in the competition as could happen with­ Scotland or Argentina or any other team in the pool.­ All teams are there because of how they have been­ playing not how they are playing this is a fact that­ all teams in the competition should remember.

    From fordellman, on Mon 1 Dec 5:41PM

  20. This just shows that no one has any FAITH of the­ ENGLISH SIDE.
    WATCH SCOTLAND AND ARGENTINA RUN CIRCLES­ AROUND THEM.

    WITH OUT JOHNNY THEY ARE NOTHING.

    From p.marshall76, on Mon 1 Dec 5:33PM
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