Rugby: Draw mismatches - there's a better way

World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper. Photo / Getty Images

Wow! It's just struck World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper how dopey it is that three sides in the top six and four in the top 10 are in the same pool at the World Cup.

And he makes the bold statement that serious thought will be given to making a change to the seedings system for the next tournament, in Japan in 2019.

The draw for this year's World Cup was made almost three years ago on teams' world rankings.

At that stage, Wales were battling and were lumped in Pool A with England, the Wallabies and Fiji.

England, Australia and Wales are now in the top six in world rankings now and Fiji are ranked ninth.

"It did seem a long way out," Gosper said in a brave review of the system. "You've got to balance the proximity of the tournament with all of the planning that goes into it. We'll look at that next time to see if it's possible to make that draw closer to the tournament."

What a load of bunkum. If World Rugby wanted a tournament with a proper draw, it could assign numbered teams to hotels, training fields and match venues and make the draw at the start of the World Cup year.

On current rankings Wales is in the squeeze ranked below the Wallabies and England. Wales will draw on their strong showing at the last World Cup, the coaching experience of Warren Gatland and the leadership of Sam Warburton and other senior players.

The draw has the Wallabies and Wales meeting in the last round of their pool on October 10 in a game which is likely to decide who continues to the quarter-finals.

Both could progress if England lose the plot and are beaten by Wales and the Wallabies and Fiji doesn't cause any upsets.

They have the toughest run starting against England and followed by the Wallabies and Wales in an 11-day stretch.

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