Draw to reveal pool position for Ireland

Rugby 2007 World Cup seedings: It is a one-in-four chance, but Ireland could again face Australia as their principal opponents at the pool stage in World Cup 2007, just as they did in last year's World Cup.

England, the world champions, will head Pool One in the 2007 competition. Runners-up Australia are the top seeds in Pool Two. The third-placed side, New Zealand, will top Pool Three. And France, who ended up fourth last autumn, are the top seeds in Pool Four. Each pool will contain five teams.

The second band of teams for the 2007 pools will be drawn from the four other quarter-finalists of 2003: Wales, South Africa, Scotland and Ireland. A random draw will decide the allocation of pools for the second band.

The 12 remaining teams in the 2007 finals will be banded according to a combination of the Rugby World Cup 2003 results and the International Rugby Board (IRB) rankings and will be also drawn at random for pool allocations. Only the top eight teams from RWC 2003 will be automatic qualifiers, all others having to go through a qualification process leading into 2007.

The open draw - the first such for the finals - will take place at the Rugby World Cup headquarters in Dublin on Wednesday, May 12th.

According to a report in the French newspaper L'Equipe, a total of 48 matches will be played at 13 venues across France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with France acting as official hosts.

Ten of the venues are reported to be in France - at Lens, Paris, Paris St Denis, Nantes, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Montpellier, Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux - with the other three in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Dublin.

The IRB said yesterday, however, that none of the venues can be confirmed until inspected - and inspections have not yet happened.

l The South African rugby union have said the Springboks will play Wales in Cardiff in December, meaning their end-of-year European tour will take in the four home nations.

The Springboks will begin the tour against Ireland on the second weekend of November and play England and Scotland on the next two weekends.

The Wales date was requested by the Welsh union to mark the fifth anniversary of the Millennium Stadium.

l Gloucester have avoided punishment over the Henry Paul affair after reaching an agreement over the release of players for England sevens duty.

Two weeks ago the Kingsholm club refused to release Paul for England's defence of their Hong Kong Sevens title.

The RFU gave them the chance to escape punishment by providing two players for the sevens circuit's last two tournaments, and the club offered Marcel Garvey and Oliver Morgan.