The 2023 Rugby World Cup may still be the best part of three years away but the draw for the group stage will take place this morning from 1130.
The tournament will be competed for by 20 teams and with the qualification of all the major teams a foregone conclusion, the division into four groups of five can take place with only the developing nations still to be decided.
There are effectively twelve teams that will have a say in the destiny of the title and the seeding of those has been determined by where they were in World Rugby rankings at the beginning of this year.
It creates the anomaly whereby Wales, who would currently be raked as a third seed, are actually in the first group and France who would be in their place alongside England, New Zealand and South Africa are in the second group.
As hosts, France will be drawn first and then the division of teams will run from the bottom to the top seeds.
The eight qualifiers likely to include the likes of USA, Canada, Georgia, Kenya and Russia will be allocated and then it will be one from Scotland, Argentina, Fiji and Italy.
Ireland is in the second band with Australia and Japan, then it will be the number one seeded teams.
Ireland cannot, therefore, be drawn with France which is a bonus. A potential worst-case scenario would see Andy Farrell’s side come out alongside New Zealand and Scotland, with a best-case including, on current form, Wales and Italy.
Hosting the draw so early seems to be a strange decision given that other tournaments of greater scale and complexity leave the group stage draw until after full qualification, in the main, and manage OK.
World rugby has tacitly accepted this with a recommendation that future draws should not be held until one year out from the tournament.
If you like draws then you might as well enjoy this as the next one on that basis will not be for another six years.
Click the image below to go to the live draw. The pre-show gets underway at 11.15 this morning, Dublin time.
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