Winners and Losers: Rugby World Cup 2023 Draw
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The 2023 Rugby World Cup Pools are in.
Hosts France have been drawn with the All Blacks as well as Italy while the defending Champions, South Africa, have been drawn alongside Scotland and Ireland in Pool B.
Pool C a familiar trio go head to head with Wales, Australia and Fiji drawn together, as they were in 2019. Finally, England have been drawn alongside Japan and Argentina in Pool D.
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We take look at the winners and losers from the draw.
Losers - Italy
For a second Rugby World Cup in a row, Italy have been drawn in the same pool as the All Blacks.
They missed out on the opportunity of facing off against the All Blacks in Japan and will get their shot in France in three years time but their record against New Zealand suggests it will be a one-side affair.
To make matters worse for the Italians, they have been drawn alongside the hosts, France, and will more than likely face the USA and Namibia in their other two matches.
The USA may well target the Italian game as a potential upset making it an incredibly tough group overall for the Six Nations side.
Winners - The Fans
The All Blacks never fail to entertain at Rugby World Cups and some of their toughest encounters in the past have come against the hosts for 2023.
With France having rapidly improved since the tournament in Japan and look set to continue that rise in coming years with a young squad, France v New Zealand will certainly be one of the most sought after tickets in the pool stages of the competition.
Losers - Ireland
The hope of Ireland making the Rugby World Cup semi-finals have been dealt an early blow with Andy Farrell's men having a particularly difficult route to the playoffs.
Ireland have the tough task of playing the current World Champions in the Pool stages, which will be the first time the two face off in a World Cup, as well as Scotland.
Tonga or Samoa could fill another spot in the pool depending on how the qualification pans out while the likes of Russia, Romania and Spain could claim a spot with Georgia likely to claim the first Europe qualification.
If Ireland are to get out of their group they will face one of the two top sides from Pool A, which could well be France or New Zealand.
Losers - The Tournament Organisers
For the third tournament in a row Wales, Australia and Fiji feature in the same group.
As mentioned before, Georgia are likely to qualify as Europe 1 and again join the previous three sides mentioned in the same pool as the Rugby World Cup in Japan and Uruguay could well qualify as the final qualifier winner to make it exactly the same as in 2019.
While Uruguay did produce the upset of the tournament by beating Fiji, which will make the potential grudge match a thriller, it does put somewhat of a damper on the Pool as a whole.
Winners - England
England will be dubbed as the favourites to top Pool D despite the recent form of Japan and Argentina but Eddie Jones will be somewhat happy with the draw.
If England are to top their pool, they are on the more favourable side of the playoffs with New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and France all on the opposite side.
England have been dealt difficult Pools in the previous two World Cups and while this one is by no means easy, on paper it looks far less intimidating.
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