Rugby World Cup 2023: Wales boss Warren Gatland says lopsided draw 'not our fault'

Warren Gatland says the controversial World Cup draw is not Wales' fault and any teams feeling a sense of injustice should have performed better at the last tournament.

The top four sides in the world face each other in the quarter-finals, with Ireland taking on New Zealand and France playing South Africa.

In the other half of the draw, Wales play Argentina while England face Fiji.

"It's not our fault this happened," said Gatland.

"I'd just say to the other teams they should have done better in the last World Cup, that's where the draw came from."

The top five ranked sides coming into the tournament - Ireland, France, South Africa, New Zealand and Scotland - were drawn in Pools A and B.

Ireland, Scotland and South Africa were drawn in Pool B with Gregor Townsend's Scots bowing out of the tournament.

This has resulted in the top four colliding in the last eight in Paris as hosts France tackle reigning champions the Springboks and Ireland look to bring down three-times winners the All Blacks.

The World Cup draw was made in December 2020, just under three years before the tournament started.

The seedings were based on world rankings from January 2020, which was effectively the end of the 2019 World Cup in Japan when Wales were fourth-ranked globally.

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Wales had dropped to ninth in the world when the draw was made in late 2020 and came into the 2023 tournament ranked 10th.

In future, the Rugby World Cup board has recommended the draw takes place closer to the event to ensure the pools better reflect performance at the time.

Wales came to France ranked lower than Fiji (seventh) and Australia (ninth) in their pool, but won all four games to top the group.

Gatland's side now sit seventh in the rankings and will rise to fifth if they beat the Pumas in Marseille on Saturday.

"You didn't hear us complaining in 2015 about Fiji, Australia and England and ourselves in the same pool, we didn't complain about that," said Gatland at a news conference.

"You're dealt a hand and you've just got to deal with that. I agree with the sentiment that the draw may have been done too early, it's been done too early in the past.

"Whether the people in control of that next time can put the pools together a bit later, that's up to them. We can't change what's been done. All I can say, we were in control of what we're doing.

"We're happy with the progress we've made, considering a lot of people in this room saying we wouldn't get out of our group."

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