Three-time winners and perennial favourites New Zealand will face hosts France in the pool stage of the 2023 Rugby World Cup (RWC), but both teams will be confident of advancing after landing Italy as the third seed in the group when the draw was made on Monday.
Holders South Africa were grouped with Ireland and Scotland while 2019 runners-up England face the potentially tricky dual challenge of Argentina and Japan. Wales will play Australia for the fourth time in five tournaments, with the ever-dangerous Fiji also in that pool.
The seedings for the RWC have routinely been decided around three years out but this time, given the Covid-disruption of the international calendar, organisers decided to use the rankings as at the end of last year – four years ahead of the tournament.
Consequently, Wales, beaten semi-finalists in 2019 but currently ranked ninth, were among the top four seeds but France, hosts and now ranked fourth, were placed in the second tier.
Scotland and Argentina would have been in the second tier of seeds on current rankings but were placed in the third level after failing to reach the knockout stages in 2019.
World champions South Africa went into the draw having not played a single match since the 2019 final. Their victory in Japan marked the first time a team had won the competition after losing a pool match.
New Zealand are the only team never to have lost a pool game. In 2011 they beat France at that stage, then again in the final.
The tournament, the sport’s 10th, will take place across nine cities from September 8 to October 21, with the final in Paris. France also hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
The tournament will consist of 20 teams drawn into four pools of five. Twelve nations have already qualified – making up the top three bands of seeds - while eight qualifiers are yet to be determined and will not be finalised until November 2022.
French President Emmanuel Macron was present at the draw.
"We cannot wait to get ready for this event," he said. "In 2023, it will be 12 years since we last reached the final. But this time it will be at home so you [the team] figure out a way of winning the cup. France also reached the finals of 1987 and 1999 – continuing the 12-year cycle.
"The Covid-19 crisis is terrible. In 2023, we want to offer what France can offer: the French way of life - friendliness, gastronomy, parties and culture," Macron added.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Dolittle
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen
One-and-a-half out of five stars
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
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3. Hajj
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5. Zakat
How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
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It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Day 4, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Lahiru Gamage appeared to have been hard done by when he had his dismissal of Sami Aslam chalked off for a no-ball. Replays suggested he had not overstepped. No matter. Two balls later, the exact same combination – Gamage the bowler and Kusal Mendis at second slip – combined again to send Aslam back.
Stat of the day Haris Sohail took three wickets for one run in the only over he bowled, to end the Sri Lanka second innings in a hurry. That was as many as he had managed in total in his 10-year, 58-match first-class career to date. It was also the first time a bowler had taken three wickets having bowled just one over in an innings in Tests.
The verdict Just 119 more and with five wickets remaining seems like a perfectly attainable target for Pakistan. Factor in the fact the pitch is worn, is turning prodigiously, and that Sri Lanka’s seam bowlers have also been finding the strip to their liking, it is apparent the task is still a tough one. Still, though, thanks to Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed, it is possible.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Uefa Champions League, semi-final result:
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
