Right, I’m going to knock this on the head. It’s been a joy. Here’s a report on the draw. Bye!
“Very excited,” says Foster. “The World Cup’s a very special event and there’s no such thing as an easy Pool. We’ve got a lot of history of playing Italy. We missed out on playing them at the last World Cup because of a hurricane so in some ways it’s going to be a special occasion to play them. To have France in our pool is going to be special, it’s a country with a lot of history and we’ve watched in admiration as they rebuild their team, they’re building something very special for 2023.”
Ian Foster, the All Blacks’ head coach, is about to give his reaction to the draw. It is a little after 2am in New Zealand, and he’s rubbing his eyes. As he joins the world’s rugby journalists on Zoom, someone phones him. You’d have thought most people would know either that they shouldn’t phone him right now because it’s 2am, or that they shouldn’t phone him because he’s on Zoom.
Wales face Australia and Fiji, plus one other European side and the winner of the final qualifying play-off mini-tournament. Wales, Australia and Fiji were in the same pool in 2019, and it’s entirely possible that another 2019 Pool D alumnus, Georgia, could join them. Uruguay, the last team in that pool, can’t be in 2023’s Pool C.
Excited to do this all over again, @wallabies @fijirugby. #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/bmykNqsXwF
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏉 (@WelshRugbyUnion) December 14, 2020
There will be 200,000 tickets for sale on a first come, first serve basis. “We have two principles: accessability and prestige,” we’re told. “We want to make matches accessible to everyone, for the less attractive matches. There will be tickets at €15, that’s a fact. For France matches there will be tickets at €30. For the final there are 400-500,000 ticket demands, and of course prices are much higher, but there will be tickets for €15.” Local fans can get a 20% discount. Ticket prices will not be fixed until next month. They have pandemic cancellation insurance.
The Samoan rugby union aren’t taking anything for granted:
Pools for RWC2023 sets. Its either Pool D or Pool B. Will find out July 2021 after our qualifier with Ikale Tahi Tonga 🇹🇴🇹🇴 #roadtoparis #lemanu #rwc2023 https://t.co/dD4i1s1uqY
— Manu Samoa (@manusamoa) December 14, 2020
Claude Atcher, president of the organising committee, is asked where we stand with the organisation of the competition, with under 1,000 days to go. “I don’t want to talk about the organisation too much,” he says, though we are assured that they are following their road map and are ahead of schedule. “We’ve put a lot of things in place, but half the project has to be the sport. We can all now look forward to the programme that’s emerging. We have the ambition to promote it as a festival event. In 2023 we all want to be back together in stadiums. It’s a mission we’ve given ourselves and we want to make it better every day.”
If you want to know which games will be played when and where, you can - but not until late February. Tickets then go on sale in March.
Here’s Owen Farrell on the draw. “It’s a great pool. If you look across them all, they’re all tough pools, but the way that Japan and Argentina are going at the minute, obviously it’s going to be a tough pool.”
"It's a great pool to be a part of"@englandrugby's @owen_faz reflects on England being drawn in Pool D with Japan and Argentina at Rugby World Cup 2023 #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/FVPkeiYh8V
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) December 14, 2020
Apparently World Rugby intend to have “a much later draw” for the 2027 tournament, which is surely a positive development.
I’m expecting some post-draw reaction shortly. Quite how shortly remains to be seen.
Ekstrand concludes by exhorting fans to buy tickets when they go on sale in March, and to “join the 2023 family to take advantage of certain special advantages”. With that, the 2023 World Cup draw is over!
Bernard Laporte, World Rugby vice-chairman, is asked how important the tournament is: “It’s 90% of the revenue of World Rugby. We can’t hide away from the fact that economically it’s vital, this tournament.” Ah, be still my beating heart. Romance isn’t dead.
The draw in full
New Zealand v France and Wales v Australia will thus become the most-played fixtures in World Cup history, on eight each after 2023. England v Australia could join them later in the tournament.
Pool A
New Zealand
France
Italy
America 1
Africa 1
Pool B
South Africa
Ireland
Scotland
Asia-Pacific 1
Europe 2
Pool C
Wales
Australia
Fiji
Europe 1
Final qualifier winner
Pool D
England
Japan
Argentina
Oceania 1
Americas 2
Updated
It's Wales v Australia again!
Here are the last three pools in full:
Pool B
South Africa
Ireland
Scotland
Asia-Pacific 1
Europe 2
Pool C
Wales
Australia
Fiji
Europe 1
Final qualifier winner
Pool D
England
Japan
Argentina
Oceania 1
Americas 2
New Zealand complete France's Pool A!
Pool A
New Zealand
France
Italy
America 1
Africa 1
The next guest is chef Guy Savoy, who is asked how rugby has influenced his life. “My life? Well, at school I learned that by playing rugby we are stronger.” He also talks about teamwork, and giving chefs a position that suits them - “and that you learn from rugby. The team in my kitchen is linked with rugby, that’s for sure. I’m the captain and coach of this team. Sometimes I’m the referee as well.”
Band Two teams have now been added. Just four to go now!
Pool A
France
Italy
America 1
Africa 1
Pool B
Ireland
Scotland
Asia-Pacific 1
Europe 2
Pool C
Australia
Fiji
Europe 1
Final qualifier winner
Pool D
Japan
Argentina
Oceania 1
Americas 2
The next guest is ballerina Alice Renavand. She’s asked if she thinks rugby is dance. “It’s amusing, but why not? Sometimes violence is dance. When I watch rugby, sometimes I see choreography. I like watching sport as much as I like to watch dance. I find it incredible.”
“Great, let’s carry on with the draw then,” says Ekland.
Louboutin draws the teams from Band Three. We now know this:
Pool A
France
Italy
America 1
Africa 1
Pool B
Scotland
Asia-Pacific 1
Europe 2
Pool C
Fiji
Europe 1
Final qualifier winner
Pool D
Argentina
Oceania 1
Americas 2
Christian Louboutin is the next guest to be introduced. “Your shoes are renowned in the world. I believe you draw inspiration from different horizons. Have you ever been inspired by a match?” he’s asked. He turns out not to have been inspired to design a shoe by a game of rugby.
Bertrand has completed his Band 4 draw, and we now know this:
Pool A
France
America 1
Africa 1
Pool B
Asia-Pacific 1
Europe 2
Pool C
Europe 1
Final qualifier winner
Pool D
Oceania 1
Americas 2
Photographer Yann-Arthus Bertrand comes on, and warns that we have a duty to act on man-made climate change. “And you have a role to play now,” says Ekland, instructing him to make the draw from Band 5.
Wilmotte draws the teams from Band 5, and as a result we now know this much about the four pools:
Pool A
France
Africa 1
Pool B
Europe 2
Pool C
Final qualifier winner
Pool D
Americas 2
Updated
Architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte is our next guest, and says that “Bordeaux is a very nice city, and there is a very nice stadium designed by Herzog & de Meuron”. He himself designed the stadium in Nice.
The draw has started!
Dujardin picks a ball out of a hat, which turns out to be made of plastic (the hat, the ball looks woody). And as a result we know that France, who as hosts are the first team to be draw-affected, will be in Pool A.
Top acting ace Jean Dujardin comes on and explains why he liked rugby. “It’s synonymous with courage. It’s about commitment, fraternity as well. My dad played, my brothers too.”
Ekland shows us the Scrutineers, who have overseen the placing of balls into hats. They look menacing. I think Ho Hey is my favourite song by the Scrutineers.
Ekland is now talking us through the qualifying process, which you can find concisely explained a little downpage.
We’re onto our third video montage already.
They’re in absolutely no hurry about cracking on with the actual draw. Which I suppose is fair enough, as they’ve given themselves about three years to fill.
After a video montage of great moments from previous World Cups, Claude Atcher, in charge of the 2023 organising committee, comes on for a chat. He sounds a demanding sort. “I repeat to the team every day that we have to be the best at all times,” he says.
“There could be no better place than France to celebrate the 200th anniversary of our sport in 2023,” says Bill Beaumont, who predicts “an exciting time for everyone” and “one of the great rugby World Cups”.
Macron mentions Christophe Dominici, the French international who died last month, and Gerard Houllier, the French association football coach whose death was announced today. “Every 12 years we make the final. In 2023 we want to be in the final, and to win it!” he concludes.
President Macron wants the tournament to attract lots of tourists and be exemplary from an environmental point of view, which may be mutually exclusive goals, but shoot for the moon. “What we want is to have excellence in France,” he says.
Emmanuel Macron, president of France, is the first guest. He promises to bring “French knowhow and savoir-faire. We know how to organise things.” Also, “we hope to see all of the art-de-vivre that we have in France. We have the ability to welcome everyone and we can’t wait to have everybody here.”
The show is on! Louise Ekland, a British TV presenter famous mainly in France, is in charge.
We are 60 seconds away from action in Paris. Hold on to your hats (especially if you’re in the French capital and about to pull some names out of them).
The stage is set, including what looks a lot like several velvet bags, which will excite some draw purists.
While we wait for the ballons to be plucked from the chapeaus, here’s a video review of the sporting year:
People have been arriving at the Palais Brongniart in Paris ahead of the draw. Here’s Yann-Arthus Bertrand, another of the “six ambassadors for France” who will play a key role. He’s a photographer, the man behind the massive-selling Earth from the Air, and a wearer of fine moustaches.
Hello world!
It’s a World Cup draw! World Cup draws are exciting! I am excited!
OK, I would be more excited if there were fewer than 999 days to go before the 2023 World Cup gets under way, a gap between draw and action that runs to very nearly 33 months. The next women’s World Cup, which will be played more than two years before the next men’s one, held its draw just a few weeks ago. That is an example of a rational pre-tournament draw-holding timeframe. I’m not sure how men’s rugby union slipped into the habit of ludicrously premature World Cup draws, but this isn’t the first and it won’t be the last.
Because of coronavirus and stuff, the draw for a World Cup which gets under way in September 2023 will be undertaken using by way of guidance the world rankings from 1 January 2020, 1,347 days, a smidgeon over 44 earth months, before the big kick-off. If the ranking-compiler decided, having completed his task on the first day of this year, to fill the time between then and the start of the World Cup whose qualification they will inform by listening to Hayley Westenra’s version of World in Union on repeat, they could do so 292,933 times. The current top 10 in the world rankings are as follows (with 1 January position in brackets):
- South Africa (1)
- England (3)
- New Zealand (2)
- France (7)
- Ireland (5)
- Australia (6)
- Scotland (9)
- Argentina (10)
- Wales (4)
- Japan (8)
Which makes Wales lucky, because they are in Band 1 despite currently being ranked ninth, and France unlucky, because they could have been in Band 1 themselves. But by the time the World Cup actually starts any of these teams could be much more or indeed less good than or otherwise different to how they are now, so the definitive final amount of luck remains to be apportioned.
So far 12 teams have qualified, all of them having done so by finishing in the top three of their pools at the last World Cup. Luke Thompson, the New Zealand-born Japan forward, thus played an active part in qualifying for a tournament that will kick off when he is 42 years, four months and 24 days of age, and three years, 10 months and 17 days after his retirement. This is all extremely curious.
Draw bands in full
Band 1 South Africa, New Zealand, England, Wales
Band 2 Ireland, France, Australia, Japan
Band 3 Scotland, Argentina, Fiji and Italy
Bands 4 and 5 Let’s not beat around the bush, these are complicated bands. If I had to compare these qualifying bands to a musical band, which of course I don’t but will anyway, they are like the Fall, in that they’re not very approachable and it’s hard to know what the line-up will be. So let’s take this one continent at a time:
North and South America – two guaranteed places
OK, having decided to take this one continent at a time I’ve started with two continents. That’s how unpredictable this thing is. The 2021 Rugby Americas North champion will play a two-match series against the 2021 Sudamerica Rugby champion, while the runners-up in those two competitions will do the same. The winner on aggregate of the series involving the two champions will qualify for the World Cup in Band 4, while the loser will qualify for another two-match series against the winner of other two-match series, with the winner of that two-match series also qualifying in Band 4. I think that’s clear.
Europe – two guaranteed places
The champion and runner-up from the 2021-22 Rugby Europe Championship will qualify for the World Cup in Band 4. The third-place side will head to a four-team final qualifying knock-out tournament thing in November 2022, the winners of which will go into Band 5.
Asia and Oceania – two guaranteed places
Yes, two continents again. Tonga will play a two-match series against Samoa, with the winners qualifying for the World Cup in Band 5. The runners-up will then play another two-match series against the winners of the 2021 Asia Rugby Championship, with the winners also qualifying in Band 5. The losers of the second two-match series will go into the four-team final qualifying knock-out tournament thing in November 2022, the winners of which will also go into Band 5. The very likely outcome of all this is that Tonga and Samoa will both qualify and no one else will, the two of them starting the process by playing off to decide which of them will qualify with the least hassle.
Africa – one guaranteed place
The winners of the 2022 Africa Gold Cup will qualify for the World Cup as Africa 1. The runners-up join that four-team final qualifying knock-out tournament thing in November 2022, the winners of which will go into Band 5.
Actual draw-based information
The 20 teams will be drawn into four pools. Band 5 will be drawn first and Band 1 fifth, with no surprises about the order of those in between. A “key role” in the draw will be played by six “ambassadors for France”, which include Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin and shoe magnate Christian Louboutin. As with the women’s draw, former England international Ugo Monye and South African TV presenter Elma Smit – who has covered the last three World Cups for SuperSport – will present an online-only programme around the draw via Zoom from their living rooms.
That’s about all I’ve got to tell you. Apparently f involved. Beyond that, and the 900 or so words of piffle that preceded these ones, I know little. Welcome! Let’s draw!
