Gareth Jenkins’ Welsh side had their World Cup hopes ripped apart by the rampant Fijians in last year’s World Cup in France. The other two teams drawn in the same group are qualifiers Oceania 1 and Africa 1.
In Pool A, New Zealand have been grouped with France for the very first time in the tournament’s history at the group stage while England will meet Scotland for the first time at the same stage.
Italy will be drawing a sigh of relief as they have been drawn with the All Blacks for five of the previous six World Cups but on this occasion they have avoided the men in black and will play in Pool C where Australia will be firm favourites to progress with Ireland and Italy also fancying their chances.
2011 Rugby World Cup draw
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
How the draw worked:
The 12 pre-qualified teams were: Argentina, Australia, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Tonga and Wales.
From these 12 teams, the top four in the IRB World Rankings on 1 December 2008 were be allocated to band one – or the top line in each pool – and drawn randomly into the pools. The next four teams were allocated into band two with the remaining four teams allocated into band three.
Banding of 12 automatic qualified teams:
Band 1: Top four ranked qualified teams (1 to 4 in IRB World Rankings)
Band 2: Next four ranked qualified teams (5 to 8 in IRB World Rankings)
Band 3: Bottom four ranked qualified teams (according to World Rankings)
This means that teams ranked in the top four of the IRB World Rankings on 1 December 2008 were not drawn in the same RWC 2011 pool. Equally, a team ranked five to eight in the rankings would definitely be in the same pool as a team ranked one to four.
