The Draw for the Women's World Cup took place today in Belfast City Hall and Irish team has been drawn against France, Australia and Asia/Oceania 1 which will be the winners of a round robin tournament between Fiji, Japan and Hong Kong.
The draw for the Women's Rugby World Cup:
Pool A: Canada, New Zealand, Wales, Asia/Oceania
Pool B: England, USA, Italy, Europe 1
Pool C: France, Ireland, Australia, Asia/Oceania 1
After the draw Ireland Women's Captain Niamh Briggs said:
This is a huge opportunity for the Irish team. We've been drawn with France who we know well from the Six Nations, as well as Australia and then one of Fiji, Japan or Hong Kong so we will be looking forward to the challenge of taking on those teams in UCD in nine months time.
With the competition taking place in our own back yard, it gives the Irish fans a huge opportunity to bring as much passion and support to Dublin and Belfast as possible so we're looking forward to seeing lots of green at the venues next August.
The Women's World Cup takes place from August 9th to 26th next year, with the pool games taking place in University College Dublin between the 9th and 17th August and the play-off games and Finals set to be played in Belfast at Queens University and Kingspan Stadium.
August 2017 just got more exciting #WRWC2017 #BRINGIT #pooldraw pic.twitter.com/bYcIPvGWEv
— sophie spence (@spence_87) November 9, 2016
One of the abiding memories from the previous Women's World Cup was Ireland's defeat of the New Zealand women's team 17-14.
