England return to the pool of death,hope they bring their armbands

Today saw the draw of the group stage of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan with the top 3 bands learning their fate. So here's a quick round up of what the draw threw up:

Pool A: Ireland

Scotland

Japan

Europe 1

Play-off winner

Pool A is the battle of the Brits as Ireland take on Scotland for top spot. At the draw Jamie Heaslip seemed rather pleased by this draw, pumping his fist when it was announced. This sparked outrage among Scots on Twitter as they felt he was underestimating Scotland's capabilities and obviously forgetting the recent Six nations result between the two sides. I can see Scotland winning this group if Gregor Townsend can continue the momentum that Scottish rugby has developed over the past couple of years. There is also the added challenge of the formidable Japanese that have proved they can perform on a world stage and will want to make the country proud and bring Rugby to the forefront of Japanese sport for a month and hopefully years to come. They are joined by Europe 1 which could most likely be a Romania or a Russia who may not pose much of a threat but always add a bit of fun to the worlds biggest Rugby competition.

Pool B: New Zealand

South Africa

Italy

Africa 1

Repechage winner

Pool B could be seen as a group of death in some senses as two big superpowers in world rugby fight it out against the plucky Italians who surprised the Springboks in the autumn. However I feel it will be a straight shoot out for 1st as the competition in the rest of the group is no where near challenging a top tier side of this calibre. New Zealand will win the group with flying colours and South Africa will scrape through with a few close results.

Pool C :England

France

Argentina

Americas 1

Oceania 2

Now this is what you call a group of death and once again England are the victims. England are a ever improving side with world class talents but after two dreadful performances in the past two tournaments they are looking to get it right this time. France are a big threat as they showed much potential over the six nations and always peak at the world cup. As for Argentina they are a side that has improved a lot over the past couple of years and can compete with the best nowadays. It may get worse with a dark horse entry from the likes of Fiji or Samoa as the Oceania 1 entry or USA or Canada as the Americas entry. Good luck lads.

Pool D: Australia

Wales

Georgia

Oceania 1

Americas 2

Probably one of the easier pools but Australia and Wales will be looking to prove their credentials as they will both look to top the group and Wales will look for revenge after their 15-9 defeat to Oz in the last world cup. The rest of the group won't have much of a say in the advancing teams but Georgia will look to show the world and the six nations that they should be in it.

Hopefully once again it will be a very entertaining World Cup with lots of great Rugby on show. My two main ambitions for 2019 are that England reach the final and that a rugby legacy is established in Japan as they have come so far in recent years. It's not much to ask is it?