Ireland face top seeds in Sevens World Cup

Ireland will have to negotiate a tough group at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong next month after they were drawn with top seeds New Zealand.

Ireland and the All Blacks - the 2001 winners - feature in Pool A along with Scotland, Tonga, Korea and the United States.

England, seeded second, were today drawn in Pool B with Samoa, France, Italy, Georgia and Chinese Taipei.

The top two sides in each of the four pools qualify .

Pool A (seeds in brackets):

New Zealand (1) , Scotland (8), Tonga, Ireland, Korea, USA,

Pool B:

England (2), Samoa (7), France, Italy, Georgia, Chinese Taipei

Pool C:

Fiji (3), Australia (6), Canada, Portugal, Japan, Hong Kong

Pool D:

Argentina (4), South Africa (5), Kenya, Tunisia, Russia, Uruguay