England and their Welsh counterparts find themselves placed in an identical group for the 2027 RWC, promising a highly-anticipated early clash in Australia. Completing the group in Group F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and Zimbabwe.
This pairing echoes their famous meeting in the group phase of the 2015 tournament, where Wales' victory at Twickenham contributed to the English team's surprise early exit.
Key Group Pairings
Ireland and Scotland also share a pool once again, just as the situation from the France 2023 tournament. On that occasion, Ireland secured a 36-14 victory, with their opponents failing to progress to the quarter-finals.
Los Teros and Os Lobos, who each impressed as surprise packages in France, complete that same group.
Notably, the winners of these two groups cannot meet defending champions and top-ranked the Springboks before the final, assuming the Springboks top their own group.
Knockout Implications
Should the groups conclude according to the current world rankings, other top favourites like the All Blacks and Les Bleus would also be kept apart from both the English and the Irish all the way to the final.
In that scenario, Los Pumas would be the other highly-seeded nation on the same side of the elimination bracket as those northern hemisphere teams.
Hosts Face Major Opener
Hosts Australia find themselves together with their trans-Tasman rivals and triple champions New Zealand in Pool A.
The Wallabies will kick off the World Cup in Perth on October 1st, 2027 in a marquee fixture designed to jump-start the event.
Elsewhere, holders the Springboks have drawn the Azzurri, the Lelos and the Oaks. The French team are grouped with Japan, future hosts the USA and Samoa.
Larger Format for 2027
Argentina will face Fiji, Los Leones and the Canadian team as the World Cup expands to 24 teams from the twenty who took part in 2023.
The 2027 tournament will introduce a round of 16 round for the first time in the competition's existence.
Although the victor of Pool F may avoid some of the rugby's heavyweights early on, they will have to face the runner-up from Pool B – probably the Italians – in the first knockout round.
A total of four of the remaining six group winners will play a third-placed side from the initial group phase.
RWC 2027 Draw
Pool A
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Chile
- Hong Kong
Pool B
- South Africa
- Italy
- Georgia
- Romania
Pool C
- Argentina
- Fiji
- Spain
- Canada
Pool D
- Ireland
- Scotland
- Uruguay
- Portugal
Pool E
- France
- Japan
- USA
- Samoa
Pool F
- England
- Wales
- Tonga
- Zimbabwe
