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The Rugby World Cup pools look promising! We can count down to some exciting matches in France in 2023. The pools for this tournament have been confirmed and some top teams meet each other in the pool phase.
Host France plays against the title favourite New Zealand. World champion South Africa is challenged by two British opponents. And England seems to be the absolute favourite in their pool.
Which other teams are favourites in their pool? Who’s going to be in trouble? And who can buy their tickets for the knockout phase already? Let’s take a look at the four pools of Rugby World Cup France 2023.
1. POOL A
2. POOL B
3. POOL C
4. POOL D
5. THE RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 POOL FORMAT
6. GET YOUR TICKETS FOR RUGBY WORLD CUP FRANCE 2023
France was the first nation to be drawn, being the host of the tournament. They hope to receive a lot of support from fans in their own country, even more because they have a big match already in the pool phase. They meet New Zealand, the top favourite for the title according to the bookmakers.
Based on their mutual history, it will be a tough challenge for France to beat New Zealand. The countries played each other 61 times, of which New Zealand won 48 matches and France twelve.
The third country in Pool A is Italy, a side that never got passed the pool phase and is currently ranked fourteenth on the world ranking. Uruguay is the fourth country in Pool A that was qualified. The pool will be completed with a country from Africa that still needs to qualify.
The current world champion South Africa will meet two British opponents in Pool B. The competition with Ireland stands out. The Irish have developed well in recent years and were at the top of the world rankings in 2019. However, they stranded in the quarter-finals of the last World Cup, where South Africa took the win.
It’s clear that South Africa and Ireland will compete for the first and second place. Scotland is the dark house in Pool B. They have a chance to continue to the next round if the can profit from mistakes of other.
The additional country from Asia Pacific and Spain can only hope they can keep up with these difficult opponents.
In this pool the two favourites for the next round are also clear: Wales and Australia are expected to finish first and second. Looking at their mutual history, Australia has won the most duels: thirty wins against twelve of Wales.
For years Australia won every match against Wales, but this series has been stopped. Their last meeting, in the pool phase of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, was a spectacular match that ended in a 25-29 victory for Wales.
Fiji, Georgia and a team, the last winner of the qualification, that still has to qualify, will be challenged to keep Wales and Australia from the top two places.
It looks like England has been lucky with their draw. The finalist of the previous World Cup will meet Japan, who normally don’t pass the pool phase, and Argentina, against whom England normally wins. We think it’s safe to say that the fans of England can already book their tickets for the knockout phase.
Japan and Argentina will compete for the second place. They played each other once before at Rugby World Cup 1999. The final score was 33 – 12 in favor of the South Americans. Japan, however, made progress in recent years and during the last World Cup in their own country they passed the knockout phase for the first time.
That’s going to be an interesting showdown for the second position in this pool.
The countries in the current Rugby World Cup pools were automatically qualified for Rugby World Cup 2023 based on the results of World Cup 2019 in Japan. The pools will be completed with eight other countries, which will play a qualifying tournament per continent. They join the different pools according to the draw.
After the pool phase, the two best teams from each pool will advance to the knockout phase. Each winner of a pool plays the quarter-finals against a number two from a different pool. The semi-finals will follow as the last stop before the final.
Eventually, on 21 October, two teams will decide who deserves the title of the Rugby World Cup France 2023.
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