'Horrendous' Rugby World Cup draw slammed as Wales top seeds and half the four best teams in the world can’t make semi-finals

Stuart Barnes says the “ridiculously early” World Cup draw has “distorted” next year’s tournament in France and created a “horrendous situation”, amid Wales being one of the top seeds.

The pools were drawn way back in December 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, World Rugby decided the seedings would be based on how the world rankings looked at the start of that year, when Wales were still reigning Six Nations Grand Slam champions and ranked fourth. It meant they were among the top seeds for the draw.

Ireland and France, meanwhile, who dominated this year's Six Nations and provided all four teams in the recent European Champions Cup semi-finals, were both only second seeds.

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After a hugely disappointing season, Wayne Pivac’s men are now down in ninth spot. But the way the draw was organised means they have avoided any of the current top five, with Australia, Fiji, Georgia and a final qualifier providing their group opposition.

Former England fly-half Barnes is unhappy that the tournament format will see two of the top four in the world - South Africa, France, New Zealand and Ireland - missing out on the semi finals.

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