Okay, that was nice and painless (look and learn Fifa) so we’ll sign off now. Only a 1,018 days to go. Our draw was as benign as we could have hoped. Happy days.
So, the toughie is A with hosts England, Australia and Wales all in the same pool. B is South Africa, Samoa and Scotland, World champs New Zealand have Argentina and Tonga. We have France and Italy, a mini Six Nations, along with USA and the second European qualifier.
…bar Americas 1. Sorry. So probably USA.
Okay, Tier 1. Australia in A, South Africa in B, New Zealand in C and France with us in D. Not too bad at all. All European in our Pool.
Okay, Tier 2. England in A (with Wales), Samoa in B, Argentina in C and Ireland go in D with Italy. Nice for us, eh?
Okay, here’s Boris with Tier 3. Wales go into Pool A. Scotland go in B. Tonga go in C and Italy go in D.
Maggie Alphonsi, one of the English female rugby team stars, is choosing the tier 4 countries per pool. Again, we won’t bore you with the details.
Okay, here we go. Richie McCaw to draw. He picks the fifth tier countries for each pool. We won’t bore you with the details of these yet.
Now they are explaining the other eight teams. Drawn from 80 competing countries, the qualification process runs until 2014. Anyway, that was quickly dealt with so now they are going through the top three tiers.
Right Will Greenwood is now introducing us to the top 12 teams, or all that matter really. Sorry but it is true…
Still going…
4.2 billion people will watch the tournament, acccording to Boris. Sounds a bit high to us. Boris delivered the line like he didn’t believe it either. Right, video montage time.
Okay, we have the stream going now and the draw is almost upon us. There is a suit waffling away now though, something we may have to endure for a while. Hold on, here’s Boris. This should be good.
While waiting for the draw to start on the RTE Player, caught a bit of the weather with Jean Byrne. It appears she is wearing a pimped out ET tribute necklace. Or something.
The draw kicks off in five minutes. Until then, here’s highlights of Ireland beating Australia last year in New Zealand. Would we like the Wallabies again?
Obviously, all the teams in the top tier, even three years from now, will still be tough to beat. Tucked away safely in Tier 2, Ireland will avoid England, and old foes Argentina, but lurking in Tier 3 are Wales. A group with the All Blacks, Ireland and Wales is a real possibility. Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen.
We don’t know who the teams will be in tiers four and five just yet but the real focus is on the top three tiers and everyone will be trying to avoid the famed ‘Group of Death’.
Then, with a little help from Boris Johnson (God help us all) they will be divided up into four pools of five, one team from each tier.
Okay, first things first. Here are the five tiers for today’s draw:
* Tier one is New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and France.
* Tier two is England, Ireland, Samoa and Argentina.
* Tier three is Wales, Italy, Tonga and Scotland.
* Tier four is Oceania 1, Europe 1, Asia 1 and Americas 1.
* Tier five is Africa 1, Europe 2, Americas 2, Repechage winner.
So after all the fuss about the top eight and what tier everyone is in, today sees the draw for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England.
Keep it with us as we explain the draw, take you through the event live, and then digest who Ireland will face in three years time.
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