Holders England will play South Africa in the group stages of the 2007 Rugby World Cup just as they did in the 2003 tournament.

In Wednesday's draw, England were placed with the Springboks in Pool A. In last year's World Cup England won a group game against South Africa 25-6 in Perth to earn an easier route to the final.

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Australia were paired with Wales in Pool B, hosts France with Ireland, in a repeat of a 2003 quarter-final which France won easily 43-21, in Pool D, while New Zealand will face Scotland in Pool C.

New Zealand played Scotland in each of the first four World Cups, winning all four games, before finally avoiding them last year.

The winner of England's Pool A will play the runner-up in Pool B in the quarter-finals, throwing up a possible repeat of the 2003 quarters when England survived a huge scare before beating Wales 28-17 in Brisbane.

As in 2003, the incentive for victory in the heavyweight England v South Africa game is to try to avoid southern hemisphere opposition in the quarter-finals. Last year it was the All Blacks. In 2007 Australia will probably be waiting in the wings.

The same format applies for Pools C and D where New Zealand, the likely winners of C, will probably play either France or Ireland.

The four pools will each be completed by the addition of three yet-to-be determined teams.

England's group also contains Oceania 1, which could be Samoa, who pushed them so hard in 2003, Americas 3 and Repechage 3, the winner of a play-off among other nations.

France will be the main host of the tournament, with Wales, Ireland and Scotland each staging three pool games.

Wales will also host one quarter-final at the Millennium Stadium and one will be at Marseille's Velodrome. The other two semis and the October 20 final will be at the 80,000 Stade de France.