Wales boss Warren Gatland believes his reigning Six Nations champions have landed 'the toughest pool' of Rugby World Cup 2011.
But New Zealander Gatland is also relishing tackling Webb Ellis Trophy holder South Africa, Wales' 2007 World Cup destroyers Fiji and ever-dangerous Samoa.
The Samoans have yet to qualify, but they are red-hot favourites for the Oceania 1 berth, with Wales group' being completed by Africa 1 - probably Namibia.
Gatland, who took over as Wales head coach a year ago on Monday, has already guided his team to a Six Nations title and a leap of five places from 10th to fifth in the International Rugby Board world rankings.
Wales was also the solitary European team to defeat Tri Nations opposition during a deflating autumn series, beating its possible 2011 World Cup quarter-final opponent Australia on Saturday.
England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy, meanwhile, suffered a total of eight defeats between them as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa ran riot.
Even in the games Wales lost - 20-15 to South Africa and 29-9 against New Zealand - it dominated 40 minutes of each Test match.
Gatland said: "It is a great draw and we are excited about it."
"Look at the World Cup last year - the winners of the competition came from the toughest pool."
"If we come out of it [the group], then we are in pretty good shape for the quarter-finals as we will have played some tough rugby, as long as we don't pick up too many injuries."
"I think this is the toughest pool."
Wales has never met South Africa in a World Cup fixture - but it knows all about Fiji and Samoa.
Fiji knocked it out of last year's tournament, winning 38-34 in Nantes and ending Gareth Jenkins' miserable spell as Wales coach.
Samoa, meanwhile, can boast two World Cup wins against Wales - both in Cardiff - in 1991 and 1999.
Gatland added: "Fiji and Samoa will have a huge amount of support [in New Zealand] and the crowd will be really behind them."
"Hopefully, we will get a bit of support for South Africa, but we need it for the other two as well."
"We have played the three toughest teams in the world this autumn, and there is a significant amount of improvement to come from our game."
"We are trying to get some confidence against the southern hemisphere by winning a few games."
"The players learn from time in the middle, they learn about keeping their composure against these teams."
"Our first target was to try to be in the [world's] top five. We are there now - we were ranked 10th when I took over."
"The players can see some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of where we are going."
The overwhelming majority of Gatland's existing squad are likely to be around in 2011, and he hopes world-class flanker Martyn Williams will be among them.
Williams, who will be 36 when Wales head to New Zealand, remains an inspirational presence for his team-mates.
Gatland said: "Martyn will still be playing if we look after him."
"He is pretty important for us, and long-term we've been thinking about how we get him through to the World Cup."
Springboks coach Peter de Villiers backed Wales to go from 'strength to strength' under Gatland, with both de Villiers and skipper John Smit accepting South Africa found themselves in a demanding