Boks face Samoa in Pool
Dec 03,2012
The draw for the 2015 Rugby World Cup has been made, with the Springboks handed Samoa and Scotland in their Pool at the tournament.
South Africa, currently second in the International Rugby Board’s world rankings, were Rugby World Cup winners in 1995 and 2007.
It’s the fourth consecutive time that the Springboks have been drawn in the same pool with Samoa, and the second time they are in the same group as Scotland, as in 1999.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer, who attended the draw at the Tate Modern in London, was satisfied with the pool allocation.
“Our aim was to be in the first band of teams and we achieved that, moving from fourth at the start of the year to second in the IRB world rankings,” said Meyer.
“As I said before the draw was made – to us it doesn't matter who we are drawn against, because to win the World Cup, you have to beat the best teams out there.
“If ever there was testimony that the gap between the top teams have closed, we saw that over the past month in the Northern Hemisphere. There really is very little to choose between the top sides in the world, while the next batch of teams has also improved a lot recently.”
Promptly named the 'Pool of Death', host nation England were pulled out of the container along with Wales and Australia.
Current holders New Zealand find themselves alongside Argentina and Tonga, while South Africa meet Samoa and Scotland in Pool C.
The final Pool has a largely Six Nations feel to it as France, Ireland and Italy are drawn together.
The eight remaining teams will come from a series of global qualifying matches that started in Mexico in March and will culminate in 2014.
The quarter-final draw could see New Zealand up against either France, who knocked them out in the last eight in 2007, or an improving Ireland.
Meanwhile the winners of England, Australia or Wales will face Pool B's runners-up, who on current form are likely to be Samoa or Scotland.
Whoever wins Pool A will avoid New Zealand until the final provided the All Blacks, as they have done at every previous World Cup, win their group.
The Pool B winners will face Pool A's runners-up with the winners of a Pool D, where France will be favourites, facing the runners-up from Pool C, likely to be either Argentina or Tonga.
The 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, the eighth edition of the tournament, will run from September 18 to October 31, 2015, with the final set to be played at Twickenham.
RWC 2015 Pools:
Pool A: Australia, England, Wales, Oceana 1, Play-off winner
Pool B: South Africa, Samoa, Scotland, Asia 1, Americas 2
Pool C: New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga, Europe 1, Africa 1
Pool D: France, Ireland, Italy, Americas 1, Europe 2
At the draw it was also confirmed that the knockout phase structure will stay the same:
QF1: Winner Pool B v Runner-up Pool A
QF2: Winner Pool C v Runner-up Pool D
QF3: Winner Pool A v Runner-up Pool B
QF4: Winner Pool D v Runner-up Pool C
SF1: Winner QF1 v Winner QF2
SF2: Winner QF3 v Winner QF4
Bronze Final: Loser SF1 v Loser SF2
Final: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2
Comments (11)
Dec 04, 2012 at 05:48:24
what's the rush people? We are still enjoying our Rugby World Cup! ;-))
Dec 04, 2012 at 08:38:43
scubby well spotted. Seems a very bad draw to me. Also this samoan thing has been vastly overdone. How come we draw these thugs 4 times in a row? Their main object is to injure as many Bok players as they can to help out NZ. These guys should be banned from rugby until they clean up their act.
Horrendous draw.
See ya on the ruckers forum!
Dec 05, 2012 at 04:12:10
Are you serious with your comment Beeno?? I'm of Samoan descent but a massive Springbok supporter and you cant honestly say that we are thugs?? How about Dean Greyling elbowing McCaw in the head?? Both Samoa and South Africa are physical sides however; if you dont like the physical side of things then I think you should watch lawn bowls!!
Dec 05, 2012 at 09:55:34
I enjoyed watching samoa play. they are hard physical players that are playing good rugby. think SA are going to have to play very well on this one.
Dec 05, 2012 at 16:01:41
Sobered up now have we? Just jokes boet, we all need to let off some bad steam once in a while..
Dec 05, 2012 at 21:11:18
yeah have boet. read my comment back a few times eish a bit OTT but hey such is life. again a pologies lads. onwards and upwards.
Dec 03, 2012 at 18:10:08
Great news for the Boks, they are most likely to finish the Pool stages an unbeaten side, watch-out for Samoa though as they seem to have significantly improved lately. Pool A and D are probably the toughest in my opinion!
Dec 04, 2012 at 08:18:31
Im not sure if this is such great news, and a terrible draw! Winning our pool means we will play whoever is lying 2nd between england and Aus( on current form and being it that the world cup is in England id have to think they'd take thier pool leaving us to play Aus in Quarter finals) then unless something goes horribly wrong being it that we win our Quarter final we will end up playing New Zealand in semi-final. And if we happen to beat them all things being equal we would probably play england(if they win their remaining games (they cannot face N.Z or Aus again before the final and would most probably meet france in semi's) at home in the final after 2 very tough play off games against AUS and N.Z to get their.... you could not ask for a tougher run in to the final?????
Dec 04, 2012 at 14:26:56
I wouldnt want it any other way. Winning aint easy and these are the teams i would like us to beat to the final to settle it once and for all. The only team i wouldnt want to play in the final is England because we have been beating them too much over the years! But the i fear the strategy and tactics these days though we have moved up two spots so something mus be going right slowly but surely. If we are a little patient then we wont expose our strengths befre the WC so i think we are moving in the right direction. I say we just aim for number one now and getting there will mean something before and for WC. Go SPringboks.
Dec 04, 2012 at 14:27:16
I wouldnt want it any other way. Winning aint easy and these are the teams i would like us to beat to the final to settle it once and for all. The only team i wouldnt want to play in the final is England because we have been beating them too much over the years! But the i fear the strategy and tactics these days though we have moved up two spots so something mus be going right slowly but surely. If we are a little patient then we wont expose our strengths befre the WC so i think we are moving in the right direction. I say we just aim for number one now and getting there will mean something before and for WC. Go SPringboks.