England and Wales have been drawn in an identical pool for the 2027 RWC, promising a highly-anticipated pool stage clash in Australia. Completing the group in Pool F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and Zimbabwe.
This draw echoes their memorable clash in the pool stages of the 2015 World Cup, where a Welsh win at England's home ground contributed to the English team's surprise group stage elimination.
Other Notable Group Draws
The Irish alongside Scotland also share a pool together, just as the situation from the 2023 edition. In that tournament, they claimed a convincing victory, with their opponents failing to progress to the knockout stages.
Los Teros and Portugal, both made a strong impression as surprise packages in the last World Cup, round out that Pool D.
Notably, the winners of both Pool D and Pool F are kept apart from holders and top-ranked South Africa until the showpiece match, presuming the Springboks top their assigned pool.
Knockout Ramifications
If the pools conclude in line with the current world rankings, further top favourites like the All Blacks and France would also be kept apart from both the English and the Irish until the championship decider.
In that scenario, Argentina would be the other highly-seeded nation on the same side of the elimination bracket as those northern hemisphere teams.
Hosts Face Blockbuster Opener
Hosts the Wallabies have been drawn together with their great rivals and triple champions New Zealand in Group A.
Australia will open the World Cup in Perth on 1 October 2027 in a blockbuster match designed to launch the event.
In other groups, reigning champions the Springboks have drawn the Azzurri, Georgia and Romania. The French team are grouped with the Brave Blossoms, 2031 hosts the United States and Manu Samoa.
Larger Tournament for 2027
Los Pumas will face Fiji, Spain and the Canadian team as the tournament grows to 24 teams from the twenty who took part in 2023.
This edition will feature a round of 16 stage for the first time in the competition's history.
While the victor of England and Wales's group may be kept apart from some of the rugby's biggest beasts initially, they will meet the second-placed team from Group B – most likely Italy – in the first knockout round.
A total of four of the remaining six pool winners will face a team that finished third from the pool stages.
RWC 2027 Groups
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
