Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is putting a brave face on a brutal 2015 Rugby World Cup draw which puts Australia in the pool of death with fellow heavyweights England and Wales.
Only two can advance to the quarter-finals and – being the team to miss out from the cut-throat pool A, which also includes two qualifiers – is an unthinkable prospect for two-time World Cup winners Australia.
Fresh from their stunning 38-21 defeat of the world champion All Blacks at the weekend, the young England team loom as a huge hurdle in three years time with their World Cup host home-ground advantage.
And the Wallabies are keenly aware of how tough Six Nations champions Wales are these days, having snatched a lucky last-gasp 14-12 win on Saturday in the last of the two teams’ four close encounters in 2012.
Deans admitted the draw finalised in London on Monday would be seen as the toughest in the competition.
“When you look at the sides and you look at history, that’s an easy suggestion to make, but they’re all tough,” Deans said.
“The fact of the matter is once you get into the tournament, there’s no such thing as an easy draw.”
He said it was early days to be making judgments about teams’ World Cup chances.
“We’ve seen in recent times Test match rugby is about in-the-now, it’s about on-the-day, and nothing that’s happened before has any relevance on what’s coming after, so we (have) just got to keep working our way through the program,” Deans said.
Flanker David Pocock was also present for Monday’s draw in London and toed the same line, while admitting England’s Cup host status would give them an added edge.
“As Robbie said, there’s going to be no easy games and, to win the tournament, you have to beat the best and deal with what you’re dealt,” said Pocock.
However, the 23-year old added that England go into the tournament with an edge as host nation.
England coach Stuart Lancaster called it “fate” that his side drew a pool with Australia and Wales.
“It’s a pretty tough pool,” said Lancaster. “Wales, I’ve got a huge amount of respect for what they’ve done recently.
“Australia have just beaten us and are an incredibly competitive nation. We’ll look forward to it in a few years’ time,” added Lancaster, bidding to follow Clive Woodward, the man behind England’s 2003 Webb Ellis Trophy triumph.
Pool B brings together seeds South Africa, Samoa and Scotland.
Top-ranked New Zealand headline Pool C along with Argentina and Tonga while, in Pool D, the top teams are France, Ireland and Italy.
The quarter-final draw could put New Zealand up against France – who knocked them out in the last eight in 2007 and met them in the 2011 final – or Ireland.
Meanwhile the winners of England, Australia or Wales will face the runners-up from Pool B who, on current form, are likely to be Samoa or Scotland.
Whoever wins Pool A will avoid New Zealand until the final provided the All Blacks, as they’ve done at every previous World Cup, win their group.
The Pool B winners will meet the runners-up from Pool A with the winners of Pool D, where France will be the favourites, facing the runners-up from Pool C, likely to be Argentina or Tonga.
The 2015 World Cup in England, the eighth edition of the tournament, will run from September 18 to October 31, 2015, with the final at Twickenham.
Dean
Guest
From a boy born in the Shire - GO THE ALL BLACKS. Had an absolute gutful of Robbie Dean's incompetence and lack of vision. Only when he is gone will I support our NATIONAL team again.
soapit
Guest
not a particularly good strategy stamping anyone 'never again' on the basis of one team performance. funny how he makes up his mind so quickly for some people but others have to get themselves injured before they get dropped.
Sage
Guest
"no one was going to beat the all balcks in a world cup in new zealand particularly because they have one of the best sides in the history of the game if not the best! " - Just reading with interest until now but Mark your above statement is absolute tosh. And - I'll never forgive Robbie for ignoring Beau Robinson as an openside option at the WC. And I believe he wasn't able to galvanise his troops or change his game plan at half time to adjust to the way the Irish had approached that game and the WB's. Kidney outhought and outcoached him.
Bakkies
Guest
Yes too well.
The Bush
Roar Guru
What exactly do you require for evidence? Is not picking a back-up openside flanker in a World Cup squad evidence of his "talents"? I see he can now find room for two of them in a twenty-two (which no one does and is a tactic that has never worked and been tried before) - wonder why he couldn't find space in a squad of thirty? Bringing through new players is not actually the mark of someone with any talent. I could just scattergun pick players too, wouldn't make me a good coach. Turning players into stars is the sign of a good coach. I see he really brought through Richard Brown and Ben McCalman, great coaching there... Oh wait, we have a thirty-six year old as our back up No8 now - super development there. What about McCabe, that plan was a brillant one - oh wait again, injuries forced him to pick proper players - wow, great coaching.
Jutsie
Guest
Granted we had some bad luck with injuries leading upto the irish game (losing diggers, moore and pocock on the eve of a game would be a big deal for any team) but the fact is we still bottled that game and yes we were out coached. The worst part is that ireland didnt bring anything new to their game, every aspect of their game plan could have been identified in the last round of the 2011 6 nations when they thumped England. Cully wrote an article for SMH in the lead up to the pool game warning aus about the choke tackle that ireland used against england but it seems everyone bar the wallabies were ready for this tactic as we continued to run upright into the irish defenders without any support runners.
soapit`
Guest
yep, it was a classic example of a team being out coached.
soapit`
Guest
i wouldnt be surprised if oconnors team forced the issue a little as well, asking the question where he sits in the wallaby pecking order as he's had interest from other countries. then answered by selecting him to go on tour. all conjecture but not too far fetched i'd say.
soapit`
Guest
i support them but if they want my extra money and time and efforts (say encouraging others to watch) they need to provide more in return.
soapit`
Guest
france came within 1 point of breaking that record, its certainly quite possible. nothing stays the same forever.
soapit`
Guest
you have to look how well we played in the knockout though and i'd say it would have been touch and go to win any of those games (just like the bok game was very touch and go) i'm always of the opinion play well and the draw will look after itself - if your thinking you want to win the thing, lower nations may sweat the draw to try and get as deep as they can but they have different benchmarks. i do think it would be harder to beat SA, NZ 2 in a row then wales, france but it didnt have a huge impact compared to our own poor play
soapit`
Guest
yep we have the fifth highest win/loss ratio. would you reconsider your support for deans i wonder?
Jerry
Guest
They were doing ok, but were down by 9-5 and seeing as they only managed one score in the entire match, "nearly beat them" is just rubbish.
Ben.S
Roar Guru
Uncle, O'Brien is a blindside flanker. He played 7 solely to accomodate others and because he couldn't be left out.
Justin2
Guest
Mark - don't talk about Gill, what did go on tour for again? What a wasted opportunity this was...
Red Kev
Guest
"could have" ... DIDN'T FACT - every world cup champion WINS every match. Deans can't coach his way out of a cereal box, let alone to a streak of more then 5 wins in a row. FACT - NZ, SA, Samoa and France all have better win-loss ratios than the Wallabies in 2012 and are all top ten nations. Thanks for playing.
jeznez
Roar Guru
KP, not much point us covering old ground but I like believe that Vuna should have been nowhere near a test jumper this season. His athletic attributes are good and he is great with ball in hand but every other facet of his game is flawed. Until he fixes his defensive frailty, starts to work off the ball and develops an ability to read a game then he should not be in gold. Kicking would be nice as well but I could forgive him that flaw if he fixed the rest of his play. I know you feel differently.
jeznez
Roar Guru
agree, I'd say Burgess's passing was worse than Phipps - remember the pass over Giteau's head and the deadball line?
Bakkies
Guest
Markus we don't want to go down the road that Eddie Jones went down with neglecting scrummaging based on stats. Sure there were less then 10 scrums in a match but the reality was that those 10 scrums were costing us points and matches against teams who were stronger in that area. Teams were attacking us by setting up scrums in good field position as they knew the referee would get fed up and award penalties or even a penalty try. I heard those stats in a coaching session from the branch here in Ireland in two weeks ago and I said to the coaching coordinators that you don't want to go down the road that the ARU went down by neglecting scrummaging. I further added that Australia was sending teams to Europe every season for at least 10 years (and still continued in the French match) and we were getting belted in the scrums that was costing us matches and players. Went on to say the reason why this was occurring was that the ARU and it's coaches weren't focussing on developing props. Picking backrowers with the wrong physique and turning them in to props. Instead they wanted multi skilled players around the park rather then picking them on their scrummaging ability.
Parisien
Guest
great post uncle!