Gatland unfazed as Wales draw short straw

THE GROUP of Death, the Pool of Sharks; call it what you will, but as Irish eyes scanned across the four pools they could probably feel a modicum of relief at having avoided Wales' fate, who were pitched in with South Africa and their bete noires from the last World Cup, Fiji.

Furthermore, Oceania 1 lurked as the country from the fourth band to be most avoided given that to fill that slot from the qualifying campaign Samoa have to negotiate the collective might of the Solomon Islands, the Cooke Islands and Niue.

It seems safe to assume Samoa might fill that slot, while, as Ireland know only too well, were Namibia to qualify as Africa 1 they mightn't be inclined to roll over.

"You know you're going to be sore after those games," said Brian O'Driscoll.

Not that Warren Gatland saw it that way. In typically bullish mode, the Wales coach was already looking forward to the tournament in his native land and welcoming the draw. "Bring it on," was the gist of his response.

"If you come through a pool of that intensity you'll be match hardened, and if we come out of it I think we'll be in pretty good shape for the quarter-final," he pointed out.

He also cited the example of New Zealand last year when they sauntered through a pool featuring Scotland, Italy, Romania and Portugal, only to be beaten in their first real test against a fired-up France.

"If you don't beat Fiji and Samoa you don't deserve to reach the quarter-finals," reasoned Gatland. "England came through the same group (they faced Samoa and Tonga in their pool) and reached the final, while South Africa came through against England, Fiji (a quarter-final) and Samoa and won the tournament, and Jake White has been continually saying that it was the toughness of their pool that prepared the Springboks for the knock-out stages."

English eyes could scarcely stop smiling, but when it was put to Martin Johnson that it constituted a dream draw he literally burst out laughing. "The old days of one big win to win the pool have gone. There's some pretty tough teams in our group. But if you want to get to the last week of the World Cup you've got to be able to beat the best."

Neither New Zealand nor France were particularly upset about the draw. In the case of the hosts, as one of their media entourage put it, "at least we avoid France in the quarter-finals and semi-finals", in reference to their French muggings at those stages last year and in 1999.

While the All Blacks will no doubt have the whiff of revenge for that Cardiff defeat, the French rationale was that, even if they finish second, they are in the same half of the draw as the winners or runners-up from Pool B - the Pumas, England and Scotland.

There is also the distinct probability that the French will have the honour of playing in the opening match against the All Blacks.

"I'm pretty happy with the draw," admitted coach Marc Lievremont. "We know that we will be involved in at least one exceptional match, which will be the opening game. There may be other great moments, but at least we know we will be involved in that one.

"Thereafter, we have an equal chance of progressing if we qualify from our pool as it is likely we would meet one of three teams at our level," he said, in reference to a probable quarter-final against Argentina, England or Scotland," "and we know we cannot meet New Zealand again until the final."

The tournament will take place throughout New Zealand starting September 10th, 2011, with the final weekend October 22nd-23rd.