Australia have been handed a "dream draw" after landing Wales and Fiji in their 2023 Rugby World Cup pool.
That's the view of the Australian media, after the Wallabies, ranked sixth in the world, managed to end up in a pool full of teams ranked below them - despite being in the second band of seeds.
The Sydney Morning Herald believes Dave Rennie’s Aussie side have hit upon “almost a best case scenario” in avoiding champions South Africa, the All Blacks or England.
Instead they will face Wales, who were still seeded highly because rankings from earlier in the year were used as a consequence of the Covid-19 interruptions.
"The Wallabies have scored a dream 2023 Rugby World Cup pool draw after it was confirmed the men in gold will face Wales and Fiji, just like they did in the 2015 and 2019 tournaments," wrote Tom Decent.
"In what is almost a best-case scenario for Dave Rennie’s side, Australia managed to avoid lining up against reigning champions South Africa, heavyweights New Zealand or arch-rivals England."
News.com.au called the draw "weird but good" for Australia.
"It’s a frustrating result for fans looking to see something different but a favourable draw for Dave Rennie’s side as they look to progress further than a quarterfinal finish in 2019," they wrote.
"The Wallabies comfortably defeated Fiji but lost 29-25 to the Welsh in Japan last year to finish second in their group and set up a meeting against a powerful England side, which they lost.
"They will likely need to reverse that result this time around to avoid another quarterfinal against the Poms, who are in pool D with Japan and Argentina."
England have also been handed the best possible 'draw', according to sections of the media, while others have slammed the whole affair as "preposterous" given that the draw took place three years before the tournament.
The Telegraph said that England “have a favourable draw in Pool D” alongside Japan and Argentina.
“However it is hard to get a read on Japan as they have not played international rugby since the last World Cup. Argentina and Japan could yet be formidable opponents for Eddie Jones’ side.”
The Times wrote “England get kind group draw but path to final is treacherous.”
“It is, of course, fairly preposterous to make such a draw almost three years before the event itself because there is so much time for form to fluctuate,” wrote Owen Slot, the chief rugby correspondent.
“Nevertheless, Japan and Argentina face clear struggles which, at this point at least, appear to play into England’s hands.”
