France 2023 draw to take place later this year

29 Jan 2020

Celebrating 200 years since the birth of the sport, France 2023 will feature 20 teams, of which 12 are automatically qualified owing to a top-three ranking in their respective Rugby World Cup 2019 pools: champions South Africa, England, Wales, New Zealand, Japan, France, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Argentina and Fiji.

As with previous Rugby World Cups, automatically qualified teams will be seeded based on the World Rugby Rankings after the November international test window (21-22 November) and positioned into three bands of four teams.

The news is particularly exciting ahead of Scotland’s three Autumn Tests against New Zealand, Japan and Argentina, the latter two of which could well represent crucial fixtures in the race to earn the most prominent seeding for November’s draw.

Those three fixtures come on the consecutive weeks ending 7, 14 and 21 November.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “The pool draw is an important milestone on the road to Rugby World Cup 2023 in France as it really drives excitement and momentum both in the host nation and throughout the global rugby family – it is the moment teams and fans can start to plan.

“With the World Rugby Rankings determining the bands for the RWC 2023 pool draw, it promises to be a fascinating year of men’s international rugby with every match counting towards seeding at the end of the November test series, which is exciting for fans.

“With planning and preparation for France 2023 gathering momentum, Paris will provide the perfect setting for what promises to be a fascinating Rugby World Cup 2023 pool draw.”

The location and date for the pool draw will be announced shortly.