Wales find themselves in a titanic tussle to attain a seeding at the 2019 World Cup.

The fact that World Rugby continues to insist on making the World Cup draw so far in advance of the tournament never ceases to amaze.

It leaves teams scrambling for ranking points immediately after the previous World Cup, and doesn’t compensate for form in the two seasons leading up to the subsequent tournament.

Indeed, in the aftermath of the 2015 World Cup, it appeared far more likely that England would be battling to maintain their place in the World’s top eight nations and not Wales.

However, England’s resurgence under Eddie Jones and Wales’ contrasting dip in form has created a scenario whereby Rob Howley’s side could now miss out on a 2019 seeding ahead of the World Cup draw being made in May 2017.

Prior to this weekend’s action, Wales were ranked fifth and appeared more likely to catch South Africa in fourth rather than potentially fall out of the world’s top eight.

However their defeat to Australia yesterday, their seventh in 10 test matches, in addition to Ireland’s victory over New Zealand, will leave Wales in seventh with 80.97 ranking points, only a fraction ahead of eight placed France (80.75) and Scotland in ninth (80.44).

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Therefore Wales play sixth placed Argentina in a must win test match next weekend. Should the Pumas win in the Principality Stadium and France beat Samoa on the same day, Wales will fall behind Scotland into ninth, regardless of their result against Australia.

There would then be considerable pressure on Wales to beat Japan and South Africa, before facing into a tough Six Nations schedule that includes away trips to Conor O’Shea’s Italy, Scotland and France.

Alan Drumm, Pundit Arena

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