Reaction to today's 2019 Rugby World Cup draw, which pits England against France and Argentina in the group stage.
Eddie Jones believes England's latest World Cup 'group of death' will improve their chances of winning the 2019 tournament.
For the second time in succession the 2003 champions have been drawn in the competition's most challenging pool, featuring France and Argentina and two qualifiers, most likely the USA and Samoa.
England crashed out of the World Cup at the group stage in 2015 following defeats by Wales and Australia, resulting in the dismissal of Jones' predecessor Stuart Lancaster.
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England head coach Jones, however, believes the tough Japan 2019 pool will leave his players battle hardened for the knockout phase.
"You think it's difficult, but we're excited by it. It's not a a tough group, it's a good group," Jones said.
"To win the World Cup you have to win seven games.
"We've got two very big games in our pool against France and Argentina so it's great preparation for getting to the final stages.
"We're looking forward to it. We want to win the World Cup. We want to come here and win it, that's our ambition."
Jones replied "nobody is going to die" when it was put to him that England had been drawn in the 'pool of death', but he did joke that he will be seeking divine intervention.
"I'm going to visit the temples because I need to pray. I need to pray really hard," he said.
Ireland and Scotland were pooled together at the draw, with Japan also in their section.
Ireland will be favourites to win Pool A as they set about trying to improve a World Cup record that has never seen them progress beyond the quarter-finals.
Host nation Japan are likely to feature strongly, while Scotland, who beat Japan in the 2015 pool stage, will not lack confidence. The group also includes the top European qualifier, possibly Romania, and a play-off winner completing the picture.
Reflecting on the draw, Japan head coach Jamie Joseph said: "Any pool that we were going to get put in was going to be a big challenge.
"But now there's some certainty around it, we can start our planning and we are really looking forward to it.
"I think we are fortunate in that we play Ireland in June, so that will give the players a good understanding about that team because Japan haven't beaten Ireland or Scotland to date, so we know that the challenge is going to be big.
"There is still a long time to go - we are still a couple of years away - and I guess all teams are blooding some young players who are coming through, so it's going to be really exciting."
Wales have drawn Australia for the second successive World Cup - Georgia are also in their pool - while there is a shuddering showdown ahead between holders New Zealand and twice world champions South Africa in Pool B.
Wales once again find themselves in direct competition with the Wallabies, a team they have consistently struggled to beat during head coach Warren Gatland's nine-year coaching reign.
The current record shows that Wales have suffered 12 successive defeats against Australia, having not defeated them since 2008.
Wales lost to Australia during the 2015 World Cup, and they also face tough opposition from rapidly-improving Georgia. Australia and Georgia are both on Wales' autumn Test agenda later this year.
"Obviously, we get Australia again, and it looks like we could also get Fiji, so there are a couple of teams from 2015," Gatland said, on the Welsh Rugby Union website.
"We are pretty happy with the draw. Every group is going to have some tough teams in it, but from a Welsh perspective, I'm happy how it has turned out."
Samoa, against whom Wales scraped a victory at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, or Fiji are set to feature in the group as Oceania 1, with Americas 2 completing the picture.
New Zealand's clash with South Africa promises to be the pool stage highlight, but reigning world champions the All Blacks will not be unduly worried by a group that also contains Italy, Africa 1 and the repechage winner.
Jones sees the Wallabies' unexpected passage to the final of England 2015, in which they lost to champions New Zealand, as proof that being present in a brutal pool can be beneficial.
"Australia showed in 2015 that the tough games helped them for the ones further ahead. Australia went past Ireland and Argentina," Jones said.
"My experience of the World Cup is that having two tough games is the best preparation.
"We want to win the World Cup and to do that we need to be well prepared and there are no better teams than France and Argentina.
"France are probably the most improved team in world rugby, Argentina are improving rapidly, so it couldn't be any better.
"And there's no better rivalry than England and France. We play Argentina in two Tests in the summer, so we'll have plenty of experience of them."
Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie dismissed Lancaster after England became the first host nation to fail to progress from the group stage, but he surveyed the result of Wednesday's draw and declared: "Bring it on!"
"We know they're difficult games, but it's a World Cup. Get on with it is what we need to do," Ritchie said.
"We need to get better. It's a tough draw, but everybody will be looking at us as well. We'd better be well prepared. Bring it on!"
All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen insists there are a number of credible challengers to New Zealand's crown.
"England are one of our main rivals, but South Africa, Australia and France are improving sides. By time World Cup comes around any one of those sides could win," Hansen said.
"It's knockout rugby so you can't afford to lose. A number of teams could beat another team on a bad day.
"England are going to be a force. They're getting better and better all the time, but they're in a really strong pool.
"Everyone will be sitting back and saying Pool C is the pool of death, while saying Pool A or Pool B are a little easy. You can't win.
"You're either in an easy pool or a tough pool. England will be looking forward to it and I think we get to play them before, so that'll give us a good guideline."
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt said of his side's task: "I think it's very hard to assess where teams are going to be in two years' time."
He has been impressed by Japan's "upward curve" and said: "They got very close to beating Wales last autumn, and obviously their heroics in the last World Cup were pretty spectacular."
Saying Ireland would "need to be on our mettle" for a possible clash with Romania, Schmidt also suggested the clash with the team from Oceania would be a significant test.
He told World Rugby: "We lost to Scotland recently so it's a mixed bag but I think it's incredibly exciting to draw the host nation in that the crowd, the enthusiasm and the interest in that game is going to be huge."
New Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend declared his first reaction to the draw was "excitement".
He said: "Ireland have been one of the most competitive and most improved sides over the past few years and a lot of that is to do with their quality of players and the influence of head coach Joe Schmidt.
"They have shown real consistency over the past two or three years. They are one of the best teams in the world. Whichever side we drew from the top band was always going to be very tough.
"On the other hand, we know Ireland pretty well and have a couple more opportunities to play them before the World Cup, while we also know a lot about their players through the Guinness PRO12.
"Japan obviously made a memorable impact at the World Cup two years ago, beating South Africa, and will have tremendous support going into the tournament. They'll be targeting getting out of the pool and I'm sure that we'll see them play close to their best in every game."