Ireland have been handed one hell of a World Cup 2019 draw

Not a bother to the men in green...

In a little over two years, Ireland will embark on their ninth quest to win the William Webb Ellis trophy. In truth, Ireland would be delighted to get beyond that sticky quarter final stage but, sure, once we're in the last four, we might as well go win the whole thing. The pool stage draw for the 2019 World Cup was held in Kyoto, Japan this evening [9:30am Irish time] and it threw up one hell of a challenge for top seeds Ireland. IRELAND

• Scotland
• Japan
• Europe 1 [Qualifier]
• Play-off winner

FULL POOL STAGE DRAW   The qualification stages for Americas [North and South], Europe, Oceania and Africa are still taking place so we will have to wait a while yet to get the complete run-down of Ireland and England's pool. So, not long to wait now. Just the 28 months...