New Zealand have been seeded third for the under-21 rugby world championship in France on June 9-25.
South Africa, who beat Australia in the final of the championship last year, have been handed the No 1 seeding.
New Zealand have been grouped in pool C with sixth seeds Scotland as
well as the Oceania qualifiers, to be decided in March between Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
However, under the competition's unusual format, New Zealand will play the three teams in pool B during the group phase - Australia, England and Italy.
The top team from each pool qualify for the semifinals.
The world championship runs from June 9-25.
* Pools (seedings in brackets):
Pool A: South Africa (1), Wales (8), Ireland (9)
Pool B: Australia (2), England (7), Italy (10)
Pool C: NEW ZEALAND (3), Scotland (6), Oceania qualifiers (winners of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga) (11)
Pool D: France (4), Argentina (5), Georgia (12)
(Pool A teams play against Pool D teams; Pool B teams play against Pool C teams.)
* New Zealand's schedule:
June 9: v Italy
June 13: v England
June 16: v Australia
- NZPA
