YOU win some, you lose some. Scotland will be happy to have been given Ireland from the top band of seeds in the draw for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, but will not be so pleased to have been grouped with hosts Japan from Band Three.

 

What counts, of course, is which matches are won and lost two years hence rather than which fixtures look winnable now. But compared to a couple of the other pools, it is fair to say that Pool A, the one in which Scotland were placed when the draw was made in Kyoto yesterday, is relatively benign.

With two teams going through to the quarter-finals, qualification from Pool A should be a fight between those three. The other two members of the pool have yet to be decided, but one will be a European team such as Romania or Germany, and the other will be the winner of a play-off between the third team in the Pacific Nations Cup (possibly Tonga) and another more lowly-ranked European team.

Scotland, who were in Band Two thanks to their current world ranking of fifth, could have drawn New Zealand, England or Australia from Band One, and Italy, Georgia or Argentina from Band Three. While there is a lot of rugby to be played between now and the tournament itself, which starts on 20 September 2019, Gregor Townsend’s team can at least take a degree of comfort from the fact that they have won their most recent meetings against both the Irish and the Japanese.

The head coach himself, however, was taking nothing for granted after hearing the draw. “The first reaction is one of excitement that we know which pool we’ll be in,” Townsend said. “The Rugby World Cup now comes into sharper focus for everyone, and it looks from the draw today like it’s going to be another great tournament.

“It’s a new venue for the World Cup and I’m sure there’ll be a lot of interest in our Pool draw, especially when we get there, because we’re taking on the host country.

“The 2015 World Cup was a great tournament with some brilliant rugby played and I’m sure the next one in Japan will be even better.

“Ireland have been one of the most competitive and most-improved sides over the past few years and a lot of that is to do with their quality of players and the influence of head coach Joe Schmidt. They have shown real consistency over the past two or three years. They are one of the best teams in the world.

“Whichever side we drew from the top band was always going to be very tough. On the other hand, we know Ireland pretty well and have a couple more opportunities to play them before the World Cup, while we also know a lot about their players through the Guinness PRO12.

“We know how dangerous [Japan] can be, having played them in the World Cup and on tour last year. The majority of our players who will feature in the next World Cup have already had that first contact with them and the style of rugby they aspire to play. It’s likely they’re going to continue to improve over the next few years.

“Playing the hosts makes it a bigger challenge but one we will relish. It’s pretty much guaranteed we’ll play in front of a sell-out crowd. That will be great motivation for our players.”

The All Blacks, who have won the tournament the last two times it was played, are in Pool B along with their perennial rivals South Africa and Italy, as well as the winners of an African qualifying competition and a four-team repechage. England, France and Argentina are together in Pool C, which on paper is the toughest, and will be joined by either the United States or Canada (Americas 1) and the second best team from the Pacific Nations tournament (Oceania 2 - usually Fiji, Samoa or Tonga).

Australia, Wales and Georgia are the three definite qualifiers so far in Pool D.