Warren Gatland, the Wales coach, believes his reigning RBS 6 Nations champions have landed "the toughest pool" of Rugby World Cup 2011.
Warren Gatland, the Wales coach, believes his reigning RBS 6 Nations champions have landed "the toughest pool" of Rugby World Cup 2011.
However, the New Zealander is also relishing tackling holders South Africa, Wales' 2007 World Cup destroyers Fiji and ever-dangerous Samoa.
The Samoans have yet to qualify, but they are red-hot favourites for the Oceania 1 berth, with Wales group' being completed by Africa 1 - probably Namibia.
Gatland (pictured), who took over as Wales head coach a year ago, has already guided his team to a Six Nations title and a leap of five places from 10th to fifth in the International Rugby Board world rankings.
Wales were also the solitary European team to defeat Tri-Nations opposition during a deflating autumn series, beating their possible 2011 World Cup quarter-final opponents Australia on Saturday.
Even in the games Wales lost - 20-15 to South Africa and 29-9 against New Zealand - they dominated 40 minutes of each Test match.
Gatland said: "It is a great draw and we are excited about it. Look at the World Cup last year - the winners of the competition came from the toughest pool. If we come out of it the group, then we are in pretty good shape for the quarter-finals as we will have played some tough rugby, as long as we don't pick up too many injuries. I think this is the toughest pool."
Wales have never met South Africa in a World Cup fixture, but they know all about Fiji and Samoa. Fiji knocked them out of last year's tournament, winning 38-34 in Nantes and ending Gareth Jenkins' miserable spell as Wales coach.
Samoa, meanwhile, can boast two World Cup wins against Wales, both in Cardiff, in 1991 and 1999.
Gatland added: "Fiji and Samoa will have a huge amount of support in New Zealand and the crowd will be really behind them.
"Hopefully, we will get a bit of support for South Africa, but we need it for the other two as well. We have played the three toughest teams in the world this autumn, and there is a significant amount of improvement to come from our game. We are trying to get some confidence against the southern hemisphere by winning a few games. The players learn from time in the middle, they learn about keeping their composure against these teams."
Declan Kidney fears Ireland will be targeted by lesser nations after being drawn alongside Australia. The Wallabies, Italy and qualifiers from Europe and the Americas - possibly Georgia and Canada - will form Ireland's group rivals in a reasonably kind Pool C.
After failing to emerge from the group of death' last autumn, the make-up of their pool for New Zealand in three years time comes as something of a relief. But Kidney refuses to dismiss the minnows and is determined to build a squad that will survive what he views as a gruelling schedule.
"If it's Georgia or Romania they will be coming at us hard," he said. "Being ranked second will make us the target team for the other sides in the pool. They'll be looking to have a go at us.
"This draw is a fantastic way to start the competition but the World Cup is so far away that it's impossible to say who will be around or involved.
"We have played against Australia in World Cups before and Italy being in the group will add spice to our Six Nations matches over the coming three years. But tournament rugby is so different to competitions like the Six Nations because there are a lot of games in a short period of time.
"We need to build a squad in the Six Nations. Every match is physical at the World Cup so we need to be prepared for that."
