Rugby World Cup 2019: Ireland Coach Joe Schmidt Excited To Be In Same Group As Host Japan

The groups for the 2019 Rugby World Cup were announced on Wednesday, and Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt says he finds it “exciting” that his team has been drawn with Japan, the tournament’s host country.

Joe Schmidt’s Ireland Drawn With Host Japan For 2019 Rugby World Cup

“I think it’s incredibly exciting to draw the host nation,” said Schmidt. “I think the crowd, the enthusiasm and the interest in that game is going to be huge.”

Ireland, the No. 4 rugby team in the world, have faced Japan twice previously in the World Cup, winning both times in Dublin (1991) and South Africa (1995). Scotland is also in Ireland’s first-stage group for the 2019 tournament.

Schmidt’s Ireland team will also take a summer tour of Japan starting next month to play two test games against the Asian nation.

“We’ve seen the upward curve that Japan have taken in recent times – they got very close to beating Wales in the Millennium Stadium last autumn and obviously their heroics in the last World Cup were pretty spectacular,” Schmidt said. “It’s very hard to assess where teams are going to be in two years’ time. We lost to Scotland recently, so it’s a mixed bag.”

Scotland beat Ireland in this year’s Six Nations campaign and previously defeated the Irish in their only other World Cup matchup in a pool game in Edinburgh in 1991.

England are widely believed to be placed in the most difficult group for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The English will face France and Argentina in the opening round.

Wales and Australia, who were drawn together along with England in the previous World Cup in 2015, are again matched up in the same group this year along with Georgia.

England failed to advance to the knockout stage in the rugby tournament four years ago, when they were also considered to be selected in the “group of death.” Wales lost to Australia in 2015.

“We want to win the World Cup in 2019, and to win it, we need to be ready to play and beat anyone,” said England head coach Eddie Jones. “Our pool will be highly competitive and full of intensity, as a World Cup group should be. History shows that you need to win seven games to win the tournament and we will greatly respect every team we play.”

New Zealand — the defending champions — South Africa and Italy comprise the fourth and final three-nation group for the 2019 World Cup.

All qualifying will be over by the end of next year. Here is the full draw, which includes two qualifiers in each pool:

Pool A: Ireland, Scotland, Japan, Europe 1, play-off winner (Europe 2 v Oceania 3)

Pool B: New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Africa 1, repechage winner

Pool C: England, France, Argentina, Americas 1, Oceania 2

Pool D: Australia, Wales, Georgia, Oceania 1, Americas 2

The Americas 1 qualifier could be the United States or Canada, while the Oceania 2 qualifier would be either Samoa or Fiji. The Europe 1 group would include Romania, and Oceania 1 would include Tonga.

The top two countries from each group will advance to the quarter-finals in 2019. Here is what the quarter-final draws would look like: