Cape Town - The Springboks have been drawn in a relatively easy group for the 2015 Rugby World Cup to be played in England.
The Boks were drawn alongside Scotland and Samoa in Pool B after the draw was made in London on Monday.
South Africa, currently second in the International Rugby Board’s world rankings and Rugby World Cup winners in 1995 and 2007, head Pool B for the 2015 tournament.It’s the fourth consecutive
time that the Springboks have been drawn in the same pool with Samoa, and the
second time they are in the same group as Scotland, as in 1999.
The other two teams in the group will come from qualifiers from Asia and America.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer, who attended the draw at the Tate Modern in London, was satisfied with the pool allocation.
“Our aim was to be in the first band of teams and we achieved that, moving from fourth at the start of the year to second in the IRB world rankings,” said Meyer.
“As I said before the draw was made - to us it doesn't matter who we are drawn against, because to win the World Cup, you have to beat the best teams out there.
“If ever there was testimony that the gap between the top teams have closed, we saw that over the past month in the Northern Hemisphere. There really is very little to choose between the top sides in the world, while the next batch of teams has also improved a lot recently.”
The World Cup will get underway on September 18, 2015, with the final to be held at Twickenham on October 31.
Draw for the 2015 Rugby World Cup made in London on Monday:
Pool A
Australia
England
Wales
Oceania 1
Repechage winner
Pool B
South Africa
Samoa
Scotland
Asia 1
Americas 2
Pool C
New Zealand
Argentina
Tonga
Europe 1
Africa 1
Pool D
France
Ireland
Italy
Americas 1
Europe 2
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