World Cup pool draw to be held in May 2017

Twelve of the 20 teams for the tournament, including hosts Japan, have already been decided, with the other eight coming through a global qualifying process.

(Reuters)

These 12 teams will be split into three bands based on their current world rankings, while the eight teams that come through the qualifiers will be divided in two more bands.

The four pools will contain one randomly selected team from each band for a total of five teams in the group.

Organisers will be hoping for no repeat of the pool draw for the 2015 World Cup in England when the hosts were grouped with Australia, Wales, Fiji and Uruguay and failed to reach the quarter-finals.

The 2019 World Cup will be the ninth edition of the tournament, which New Zealand has won three times, and Australia and South Africa twice each.

(Reporting by Debanjan Bose in Bengaluru, editing by Nick Mulvenney)