Six teams battle for final three World Cup spots
Six European sides will play off for the final three 2017 World Cup places this October.
Eleven teams have already qualified and include the co-hosts Australia and New Zealand along with Papua New Guinea, England, France, Samoa, Fiji, Scotland, Tonga, Lebanon and the USA who were the last team to qualify in December 2015.
The three remaining qualifiers will come from Europe and will be determined by a tournament to be played in October 2016.
The European leg will see Serbia, Wales, Italy, Ireland, Russia and Spain play off over a seven-match tournament in October 2016. Details of the venues for this qualifying tournament are yet to be confirmed.
The Pools are outlined below:
Pool A
Pool B
Ireland
Russia
Spain
Europe Qualifying Fixtures
Wales vs Serbia 15 Oct 2016 TBC
Russia vs Spain 15 Oct 2016 Moscow, RUSSIA
Serbia vs Italy 22 Oct 2016 TBC
Spain vs Ireland 22 Oct, 2016 Valencia, SPAIN
Italy vs Wales 29 Oct Monza, ITALY
Ireland vs Russia 30 Oct 2016 TBC
2A vs 2B 5 Nov 2016 Leigh Sports Village, Leigh, UK