It must be an odd time for the Welsh sports fan. Watching the Welsh football team romp from victory to victory whilst the rugby team prepares itself for potential disappointment must leave them looking for headless horseman patrolling the countryside. Of course, whilst the footballers’ success is all well and good, it doesn’t change the woes of the Rugby team. Being drawn in Pool A alongside England, Australia, Fiji and Uruguay leaves three of the top five teams in the world in a single World Cup group, and Pacific Nations Champions Fiji are unlikely to be pushovers either.

But how did a Group of Death of such ferocity occur? Labelled as the toughest ever group in a World Cup, how did four of the top nine teams in world rugby come to play together at such an early stage of the tournament? Scotland (ranked 10^th in the world) are the second best team in Pool B and Argentina (ranked 8^th) are the second best team in Pool C.

The issue comes down to the timing of the draw. The pools were drawn way back in December 2012, where Wales suffered a temporary loss of form. Though this was only a few months after the 2011 World Cup, where Wales were semi-finalists in after an impressive tournament, Wales subsequently lost a string of tight games to Australia which saw them slip down the rankings. Though all the games were tight (the three games only saw Wales with 11 fewer points than Australia), Wales started to slip down the rankings. Two shock defeats to the hands of Argentina and Samoa saw Wales slip even further.

Then, as the rankings for the World Cup groups were about to be decided, Wales organised two needless games against Australia and New Zealand, then (and now) ranked number 1 and 2 in the world. The game against Australia was organised outside of the international window, and organised for profit for the Welsh Rugby Union. As Australia won with the last action of the game, Wales were sent out of the top 8 in the world rankings just as the seeding was to be decided. Thus, in a very similar fashion to England in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, a needless friendly saw Wales land themselves in the toughest group in the competition. And this meaningless friendly is likely to damage at least one of the home nations’ chances in the following weeks.

Of course, one might ask whether a poor run of form, three years prior to the tournament should in fact make such decisive impacts upon the tournament itself. Six months later, by July 2013, Wales sat 6^th in the world, and if the draw was taken then this article would not have been written. Whilst it seems insane for the IRB to not account for a wider view of nations’ ability, or to choose rankings closer to the tournament date, the finger must also be pointed at Wales’ booking of needless friendlies.  A short term lust for funding has resulted, most likely, in either England or Wales’ expulsion from the World Cup at an unfortunately early stage.

Whilst one must question the seeding process and timing, Wales Online’s confession that the fiasco is “all Wales’ fault” is understandable. Whilst the system may not be perfect, all those involved in Rugby must be aware of the rules, and best to bend them to your favour. To fail to do this might just end the Welsh’s hopes of World Cup glory for another four years.

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