By AP
July 5th 2008 @ 2:50am
Change for Rugby World Cup draw
The draw for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand will be held in London on December 1 and will be based for the first time on current world rankings.
Tournament chief executive Martin Snedden said today that the 20 teams competing in the tournament will be divided in four pools of five with the top 12 teams at the time of the draw earning automatic qualification.
“For the first time … the seedings and the pools will be constructed around the use of the IRB (International Rugby Board) world rankings, the 12 automatically qualified teams will be banded together and the pools will be constructed from that,” Snedden said.
The cutoff point for rankings will be midnight November 30, following the match between New Zealand and England at Twickenham.
“I think this is something that, because it is new and because it has an air of unpredictability about it, will capture the attention of the international rugby media and will create a lot of excitement,” said Snedden.
The tournament will be the seventh Rugby World Cup since 1987 and the second, after the inaugural event, to be held in New Zealand.
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Justin said | July 5th 2008 @ 10:04am | Report comment
Typical IRB. They get it half right. The concept of earning a seed is excellent as it can help you progress favorably through tournament but why should the seeds be decided just over 12 months after the finish of the last RWC? Ridiculous - I would go 2 steps further and make the cut off date Nov 30 2009 (ideally it would be later but this at least gives the IRB time to set locations for teams and ticketing arrangements must be taken into consideration). Also I would look at having only the top 4 automatically qualify. This would ensure (I would like to think) that pathetic c grade teams do not tour internationally in the qualifying period and give us some of the farcical matches we endure in the SH in June. Test matches should be just that, a real Test. I think pride would be a major motivator for countries to not miss a top 4 spot.
Sluggy said | July 5th 2008 @ 2:23pm | Report comment
In theory the NH should have sent proper teams on this wnter’s tours to try to pick up the away win ratings points. The system has already failed, and the NH clubs will no doubt refuse release of any PI players whenever it matters to try and stop the PI teams overaking the fading 6N sides in the rankings.