The much awaited pool draw for the Rugby World Cup 2015 took place yesterday at the Tate Modern art gallery in London. The Draw was followed by the annual IRB Awards presentations where New Zealanders walked away with majority of the major awards
Entertaining Draw for England 2015
Pool A has drawn the most entertaining teams with hosts England drawing the second seeded Australia and Grand Slam winners Wales. South Africa will go up against the feisty islanders Samoa and Scotland in Pool B. Defending champions New Zealand will face Tonga and the dark horses of the southern hemisphere Argentina in Pool C. France, Ireland and Italy will be the top contenders in Pool D.
Each pool will also have two more teams that are yet to qualify. The qualifiers will include 2 teams from Europe (Probably Georgia and Russia), 2 from the Americas (Probably Canada and USA), 1 from Asia (Probably Japan), 1 from the Oceania’s (probably Fiji), 1 from Africa (probably Namibia) and one team that will qualify through the play-off. The eight pool places to be filled by qualifiers will be finalised by the end of 2014.
At the draw it was also confirmed that the knockout phase structure will be the same as previous Rugby World Cups:
QF1: Winner Pool B v Runner-up Pool A
QF2: Winner Pool C v Runner-up Pool D
QF3: Winner Pool A v Runner-up Pool B
QF4: Winner Pool D v Runner-up Pool C
SF1: Winner QF1 v Winner QF2
SF2: Winner QF3 v Winner QF4
Bronze Final: Loser SF1 v Loser SF2
Final: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2
IRB Awards presentation
Dan Carter walked away with the IRB player of the year award for the second time in his career having last won it in 2005. Carter, who endured a rare poor display as the All Blacks were upset by England at Twickenham on Saturday, beat off competition from team-mate Richie McCaw, England fly-half Owen Farrell and France’s Frederic Michalak to claim the sport’s highest honour.
Carter joins McCaw, who won it in 2006, 2009 and 2010, as a multiple winner of the award having been named player of the year in 2005. The Crusaders fly-half has amassed 135 points in nine internationals this season as he bounced back from the despair of missing the All Blacks’ World Cup triumph in New Zealand through injury.
New Zealand boss Steve Hansen also claimed the Coach of the Year honours in his first season since taking over from World Cup winning coach Graham Henry while the All Blacks also took out the Team of the Year award.
The All Blacks suffered just a single loss all season – the 38-21 defeat at Twickenham – as they claimed the inaugural Rugby Championship crown, whitewashed a touring Ireland and wins over Wales, Italy and Scotland on their end of season tour.
IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “New Zealand have again been the stand out team of the year with their 20-match unbeaten run and thoroughly deserve the IRB Team of the Year Award along with Steve Hansen as IRB Coach of the Year for his feats in keeping a Rugby World Cup winning-team winning.”
“Dan Carter has bounced back from the disappointment of missing the majority of the World Cup through injury to show what a truly magnificent player he is and a wonderful ambassador for our sport. Winning this Award for the second time reflects his sheer talent and ability.”
