South Africa’s Rugby World Cup title defence in 2023 will require them to see off Ireland and Scotland.
The 2019 winners were drawn alongside the Celtic nations in Pool B in the draw that took place in Paris on Monday.
The rest of the pool will be completed by qualifiers from Asia/Pacific one and a team from Europe.
While South Africa’s pool looks tricky‚ the All Blacks of New Zealand drew their bogey World Cup side France in Pool A‚ with Italy also joining them.
The structure of these two pools can and will draw potentially mouth-watering quarterfinal ties‚ with South Africa meeting New Zealand at that stage a distinct possibility.
Pool C saw Wales‚ Australia‚ Fiji paired with two qualifiers from Europe and a qualifier‚ while Pool D has put together England‚ Japan and Argentina with qualifiers from Oceania and the Americas.
These tricky pool pairings could also lead to tasty quarterfinals with Wales/ England/Australia/Fiji/Argentina and Japan all in with a play-off shout.
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