England and Wales find themselves placed in the same pool for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, promising a major pool stage encounter in Australia. Completing the group in Group F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and Zimbabwe.
This draw echoes their famous meeting in the pool stages of the 2015 tournament, where a Welsh win at England's home ground contributed to the English team's surprise group stage elimination.
Other Notable Pool Pairings
Ireland and the Scots have likewise been drawn in a pool together, replicating the situation from the 2023 edition. In that tournament, they claimed a convincing victory, with their opponents unable to advance to the knockout stages.
Los Teros and Os Lobos, who each made a strong impression as surprise packages in the last World Cup, complete that same group.
Significantly, the winners of these two groups cannot meet defending champions and top-ranked South Africa until the final, assuming the Springboks win their own group.
Tournament Implications
If the pools conclude according to the current global standings, further leading contenders like the All Blacks and France would remain separated from both England and Ireland all the way to the championship decider.
Under those circumstances, Los Pumas would be the other highly-seeded nation on that side of the knockout draw as those northern hemisphere teams.
Hosts Face Major Opener
Hosts Australia find themselves alongside their trans-Tasman rivals and triple champions New Zealand in Group A.
Australia will kick off the tournament in the city of Perth on 1 October 2027 in a blockbuster fixture designed to jump-start the event.
In other groups, holders the Springboks have been paired with Italy, Georgia and the Oaks. France are grouped with the Brave Blossoms, 2031 hosts the USA and Manu Samoa.
Expanded Format for 2027
Los Pumas will face the Flying Fijians, Spain and the Canadian team as the World Cup expands to 24 teams from the twenty who took part in 2023.
This edition will introduce a round of 16 stage for the first time in Rugby World Cup history.
Although the winner of Pool F may avoid some of the rugby's heavyweights early on, they will meet the second-placed team from Group B – probably the Italians – in the first knockout round.
A total of four of the remaining six group winners will face a team that finished third from the pool stages.
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
