SCOTLAND coach Gregor Townsend has highlighted the threat posed by hosts Japan after the two countries were drawn together in Pool A for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Ireland are the top seeds in the pool, which will be completed by two qualifiers yet to be decided.

“Japan obviously made a memorable impact at the World Cup two years ago, beating South Africa, and will have tremendous support going into the tournament,” Townsend said. “They’ll be targeting getting out of the pool and I’m sure that we’ll see them play close to their best in every game.”

Scotland beat Japan in a match played just four days after that historic triumph over the Springboks, and the Japanese just failed to get out of the pool. With home advantage in the next tournament, they will be even tougher opponents according to the head coach.

“Playing the hosts makes it a bigger challenge but one we will relish. It’s pretty much guaranteed that we’ll play them in front of a sell-out crowd.”

With the host nation traditionally kicking off the competition, there is a good chance the Japan-Scotland match could be chosen for that honour.

The other two qualifiers are so far identified only as Europe 1 and Play-off Winners. Europe 1 will be the winners of the Rugby Europe Championship (excluding Georgia, who have already qualified). The play-off place will be decided by a home-and-away tie between the third team in the Pacific Nations Cup and the second team (again, excluding Georgia) in the Rugby Europe competition.

Pool B includes holders New Zealand, their traditional rivals South Africa, Italy, Africa 1 and the winner of a four-team repechage. Pool C is the toughest on paper, pitting England against France, Argentina, Americas 1 and Oceania 2. In Pool D, Australia, Wales and Georgia will be joined by Oceania 1 and Americas 2. The United States and Canada are favourites to get the two Americas places, while Fiji, Samoa and Tonga are traditionally the strongest teams in Oceania.

Meanwhile, World Rugby’s ruling council, meeting in Kyoto ahead of the draw, agreed to change the international residency criterion for players from three years to five years. The change to Regulation 8 does not come into effect until the end of 2020, meaning anyone from overseas who wants to qualify for Scotland, for example, has until the end of the year to settle here and begin the current three-year period. The decision was made unanimously, and follows a long campaign led by World Rugby vice-chairman Agustin Pichot to reform the regulation.