CARDIFF (Reuters) - Wales must win one of their remaining two Six Nations matches to stay in the top eight of the World Rugby rankings and avoid a potential Group of Death at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. Failure to win either game will see the Welsh drop to ninth and into the third pot in the World Cup first-round draw, which will take place in Kyoto, Japan, on May 10. Wales were ranked ninth when the draw was made before the last World Cup, in England in 2015, and ended up with the hosts and Australia in their pool. But by the time the World Cup was played, they had risen to fifth, with Australia second and England fourth, and it was England who missed out on the quarter-finals. World Rugby has since moved the group stage draw closer to the start of the tournament after drawing criticism following Wales’ rise in 2015.

Source: The Star March 07, 2017 14:37 UTC