Brian Odong and Justine Kimono are on the team Credit: © Kawowo Sports | AISHA NAKATO

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The Africa Gold Cup winner will have a daunting task of facing world champions New Zealand and South Africa at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

The draw was held on Wednesday and the Africa winner will join reigning champions New Zealand, South Africa, Italy and repechage winner in Group B.

Uganda will face off with Kenya, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Senegal for the lone ticket to the event.

England and France were drawn to meet in Pool C while Australia and Wales will clash in Pool D. Ireland and Scotland will lock horns in Pool A.

The 2019 draw was conducted along similar lines to past tournaments, with the top-12 teams from 2015 qualifying automatically.

They were divided into three ‘bands’ based on their current world rankings, with the first band including New Zealand (top-ranked), England (second), Australia (third) and Ireland (fourth).

Band two contained Scotland, France, South Africa and Wales – the teams currently ranked fifth to eighth – and band three was made up of Argentina, Japan, Georgia and Italy.

One team from each band was drawn randomly for each pool, with bands four and five made up of allocated spots to regions yet to stage their final qualifying events.

It will be the fifth World Cup with 20 teams divided into four pools of five teams.

The final eight teams will only be confirmed following the continental qualification process, which will only be fully completed in November 2018.

Pool A: Ireland, Scotland, Japan, Europe 1, Playoff winner

Pool B: New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Africa 1, Repechage winner

Pool C: England, France, Argentina, Americas 1, Ocenia 2

Pool D: Australia, Wales, Georgia, Ocenia 1, Americas 2

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