Borthwick smiling on the inside after England get good World Cup draw

LONDON, Dec 3 : Steve Borthwick is probably the last man on earth who would dare to say he was pleased with how the Rugby World Cup draw panned out and though the England coach played his usual straight bat when discussing it, he must have been beaming inside.

England were placed with Wales, Tonga and Zimbabwe in Wednesday's draw, which, if the games in two years go anywhere close to current form, would put them into a Round of 16 game against a third-placed finisher.

Their probable quarter-final opponents would then be the loser of the Australia v New Zealand pool match, with a probable semi-final against Argentina or Ireland the reward for the winners.

It means that England are highly unlikely to face world number one and double-defending champions South Africa, who they lost to by a point in the 2023 semi-finals and in the final of the 2019 tournament, until the final.

It is a starkly different scenario than in the last few tournaments. In 2023 England went to Marseille ranked below Argentina but beat them in their opening game en route to topping the pool to earn a quarter-final against Fiji.

In 2019 they had Argentina again, and France, in their group, which they topped again by beating the Pumas and sharing the points with France after the game was cancelled due to a typhoon.

Four years earlier England suffered their only pool-stage exit, losing to Wales and Australia on home soil, while in 2011 they had to again beat the Pumas, and Scotland, to top their pool.

NEW FORMAT

The new format of the 2027 tournament has removed the concept of such a "group of death" and England can prepare for it safe in the knowledge that even if they were to be shocked by Wales again, they would still go through.

Even two years out, that looks