The pools for the 2023 Men's 15s Rugby World Cup have been confirmed.

We still don't know exactly where the USA will be playing because they have yet to go through the qualification process, but none of the pools provides an easy path.

Americas 1 will be in Pool A with three-time champions New Zealand, three-time finalists France, as well as Italy and the top qualifier from Africa.

Americas 2 will be in Pool D with 2019 finalists England, Japan, Argentina, and the top qualifier from Oceania.

The Final Qualifier winner (what we used to call the repechage), which is how Canada qualified in 2019 and how the USA qualified in 2003, will be in Pool C with Wales, Australia, Fiji, and the top qualifier from Europe.

Pool B will be three-time champs and 2019 winners South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, the top Asia/Pacific qualifier, and Europe #2.

Remember, the top three from each pool in 2019 qualify automatically, so when we talk about Europe #1, that would be the top qualifier from who's left, which lately has been either Georgia or Russia. 

Similarly, Argentina automatically qualified for France 2023, so the battle for those two Americas spots will likely be between the USA (Americas 1 for 2019), Uruguay (Americas 2 for 2019), and Canada (won the final qualifier over Germany, Hong Kong, and Kenya).