Rugby’s oldest rivalry will return to the World Cup stage after Scotland emerged with the best draw they could have hoped for when the groups for the 2011 competition were pulled from a bowl in London yesterday.

After all the depression that surrounded the team’s failure to claim a top-eight spot, the eventual draw, pitting them against Argentina and England, the only two sides who Scotland have beaten this year, could not have been kinder.

Which is not to say that it will be easy. The win over Argentina was helped by the Pumas — who beat Scotland in the World Cup last year en route to finishing third — having many of their leading players still on club duty in France at the time. England have three years to build their side and considerably more resources than are available to Frank Hadden, the Scotland coach.

The draw also adds extra spice to the 2010 summer tour, which is expected to see Scotland return to Argentina, knowing that they will face each other in the World Cup the next year. After their win in Buenos Aires this year, they can expect a boisterous reception next time.

Still, Hadden was happy with the outcome, in which Scotland avoided all three Sanzar nations in the pool stage. “It’s a good draw and one that gives Scotland every chance of maintaining our proud record of being one of only five countries to qualify for the quarter-finals of every World Cup,” he said yesterday. “We haven’t played England in the World Cup since the 1991 semi-final, and we lost out at last year’s World Cup to Argentina in the quarter-finals. We’ve missed the Pacific islands countries and, as they are pretty much playing on their home patch, that is a bonus.

“The draw is the first piece of the jigsaw. The second is the scheduling of games. It is absolutely imperative that games are scheduled to allow players proper recovery and preparation time given the intensity of international matches.”

The rest of the pool will be completed once the qualifying completion has ended. The fourth seeds will be whichever team come through the European leg of the tournament, likely to be Romania, Russia, Georgia or Portugal, plus the country that comes through the repechage play-offs — a position that in the past has been filled by the likes of Uruguay and Portugal.

Strangely enough, it will be only the second time that Scotland have played either England or Argentina in the World Cup, and the first time that they have faced either in the pool stage. They have never beaten either, losing last year’s quarter-final against the Pumas 19-13 in Paris and the 1991 semi-final against England 9-6, when Gavin Hastings missed a kick from in front of the posts that would have put Scotland ahead late in the game with neither side looking like scoring a try.

“To face England in New Zealand will be a terrific occasion,” Hastings said yesterday. “We have to be pleased to have the opportunity to play England again and I’m sure that it will inspire the players.”

Should Scotland emerge from their group, they will still need to find an extra gear if they are progress beyond the quarter-finals. New Zealand and France are almost certain to supply the opposition for whichever teams come through Scotland’s group. The Scots’ World Cup record against both is dismal; their final match in the first four World Cups saw them go down to the All Blacks and they did not even bother trying win the pool game against them last year.

They have played France three times, drawing in the first World Cup but losing the two matches since, conceding 51 points in 2003.

The other pools also throw up some enticing clashes. New Zealand will be desperate for revenge over France, who put them out of last year’s competition, while Wales will also be on a revenge mission against Fiji, who knocked them out last time, though they will also be wary of the probability that Samoa, who beat them in 1991 and 1999, will be the fourth seeds in their pool.