Sport Story

08 January 2009 01:34 BST

England and Scotland drawn in same group for RWC 2011

England and Scotland have been placed in the same group for the 2011 Rugby World Cup after the draw was made in London today.

However, both home nations rivals will harbour hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals from pool B after being drawn alongside arguably the weakest of the four top seeds, Argentina.

Hosts and overwhelming favourites New Zealand have been drawn in pool A and paired with their bogey side France, who knocked the All Blacks out in the last-eight in 2007 as well as scuppering their chances in the 1999 tournament with an equally surprising win against the odds.

The winners and runners-up from pool A will face the two qualifiers from pool B in the first knockout round.

In the other half of the draw, pool C saw top seeds Australia drawn alongside European heavyweights Ireland and Italy.

And pool D threw up another interesting rematch as Wales were paired with defending champions South Africa and fellow southern hemisphere side Fiji, who knocked out the Welsh in the group stage in 2007.

The bottom two seeded teams in each group are yet to be determined behind the 12 automatic qualifiers, which were decided courtesy of their current world rankings.

Full draw for group stages of 2011 Rugby World Cup:

Pool A

New Zealand
France
Tonga
Americas 1
Asia 1

Pool B

Argentina
England
Scotland
Europe 1
Playoff winner

Pool C

Australia
Ireland
Italy
Europe 2
Americas 2

Pool D

South Africa
Wales
Fiji
Oceania 1
Africa 1