Draw does Ireland few favours

Under-19 World Cup:Ireland will take on the defending champions, Australia, in the opening game of the 2007 Under-19 World Cup at Ravenhill next April. The IRB has confirmed the draw for a tournament that will be staged entirely in Belfast and split into two divisions - elite and second-tier - of 12 teams.

The Irish match is part of a brilliant opening day at the home of Ulster rugby that will see the number two seeds and last year's beaten finalists, New Zealand, take on France. The elite section will be played in double-headers at three venues: Ravenhill, Shaw's Bridge and Deramore Park.

Ireland will play all their games at Ravenhill, but the draw has hardly been kind to the hosts; after playing Australia, they face Scotland and South Africa.

The Scots have improved hugely at this level and are no longer easy pickings, while the Baby Boks vacillate between brilliant and surprisingly inept from year to year.

The cross-fertilisation in terms of pools and fixtures makes for a convoluted way to rerank countries after the pool matches.

Depending on the results, there are two further matches for each team: the final round of games will determine the place in which they finish and by extension their seeding for the following season. The bottom team are relegated to the second tier, a fate that last season befell Romania, who are replaced by Fiji in Division A.

The seedings of all teams in Division A and the top six teams in Division B are based on the final standings at the 2006 tournament. The teams ranked seventh to 12th in Division B represent countries who have qualified for 2007 via regional tournaments and are seeded at random. All 24 participating teams will be confirmed by January 2007.

Ireland, who won the tournament in 1998 with a team that included Brian O'Driscoll, Donncha O'Callaghan and Paddy Wallace, performed very well last year in Dubai, eventually finishing fifth.

They beat England (17-16) and Samoa (16-15) at the pool stage, losing to France (26-18) before going on to edge past Argentina (19-13) and Wales (20-15).

It represented a great achievement considering the English would eventually finish third and the French fourth. Australia beat New Zealand 17-13 in the final.

Charlie McAleese will once again guide Ireland's fortunes as coach. Killian Keane and Bobby Byrne assisted last year but just the latter remains for the upcoming campaign, while there is a change of manager, with Fr Ger Slattery taking over from Keith Patton.

The three venues for the Division B sides will be chosen following negotiations over television coverage of the event.

Under-19 World Cup: Pools and Fixtures

POOL A (Seeding in brackets)

Australia (1)

South Africa (8)

Scotland (9)

POOL B

New Zealand (2)

Argentina (7)

Samoa (10)

POOL C

England (3)

Wales (6)

Japan (11)

POOL D

France (4)

Ireland (5)

Fiji (12)

ROUND ONE:Thursday, April 5th. Australia v Ireland, Ravenhill (7.30); South Africa v Fiji, Deramore Park (5.30); Scotland v France, Deramore Park (7.30); New Zealand v Wales, Ravenhill (5.30); Argentina v Japan, Shaw's Bridge (5.30); Samoa v England, Shaw's Bridge (7.30).

ROUND TWO:Monday, April 9th. Scotland v Ireland, Ravenhill (7.30); South Africa v France, Ravenhill (5.30); Samoa v Wales, Shaw's Bridge (5.30); Australia v Fiji, Shaw's Bridge (7.30); New Zealand v Japan, Deramore Park (5.30); Argentina v England, Deramore Park (7.30).

ROUND THREE:Friday, April 13th. South Africa v Ireland, Ravenhill (7.30); New Zealand v England, Ravenhill ( 5.30); Samoa v Japan, Deramore Park (5.30); Australia v France, Deramore Park (7.30); Scotland v Fiji, Shaw's Bridge (5.30); Argentina v Wales, Shaw's Bridge (7.30). After the pool matches teams are ranked one to 12 to decide round-four fixtures.

ROUND FOUR:Tuesday, April 17th. (Match 43) Team 10 v Team 11, Shaw's Bridge; (44) Team 9 v Team 12, Deramore Park; (45) Team 6 v Team 7, Deramore Park; (46) Team 5 v Team 8, Shaw's Bridge.

Semi-finals:Both played at Ravenhill April 17th (1 v 4; 2 v 3).

ROUND FIVE:Saturday, April 21st. (Teams will again be ranked 1-12 post Round Four to schedule Round five fixtures): Loser Match 43 v Loser Match 44 for 11th place (tbc); Winner Match 43 v Winner Match 44 for 9th place (tbc); Loser Match 44 v Loser Match 45 for 7 th place (tbc); Winner Match 44 v Winner Match 45 for 5th place (tbc); Loser semi-final 1 v Loser semi-final 2 for third place, (Ravenhill).

Final:Ravenhill, April 21st.