England and their Welsh counterparts have been drawn in an identical group for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, promising a highly-anticipated pool stage encounter in Australia. They are joined in Group F by Tonga and Zimbabwe.
This pairing mirrors their famous clash in the group phase of the 2015 tournament, where a Welsh win at Twickenham contributed to the English team's surprise group stage elimination.
Key Group Pairings
The Irish alongside Scotland also share a pool together, just as the situation from the 2023 edition. In that tournament, they claimed a convincing win, with Scotland 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, round out that Pool D.
Significantly, the winners of these two groups cannot meet defending champions and top-ranked the Springboks until the showpiece match, presuming the South Africans top their assigned pool.
Knockout Ramifications
If the pools play out in line with the current global standings, further leading contenders like New Zealand and Les Bleus would also be kept apart from both England and the Irish all the way to the championship decider.
In that scenario, Argentina would be the remaining highly-seeded nation on that side of the knockout draw as those northern hemisphere teams.
Hosts Draw Major Fixture
Hosts the Wallabies have been drawn together with their great rivals and three-time winners New Zealand in Pool A.
The Wallabies will open the tournament in Perth on 1 October 2027 in a blockbuster match designed to jump-start the competition.
In other groups, reigning champions the Springboks have been paired with Italy, the Lelos and Romania. The French team are in a pool with the Brave Blossoms, future hosts the USA and Samoa.
Expanded Format for 2027
Argentina will take on Fiji, Los Leones and the Canadian team as the World Cup expands to twenty-four nations from the 20 who competed in 2023.
This edition will feature a last-16 stage for the very first time in Rugby World Cup history.
While the winner of England and Wales's group may avoid some of the rugby's biggest beasts early on, they will have to face the second-placed team from Group B – most likely the Italians – in the last 16.
A total of four of the other six group winners will face a team that finished third from the initial group phase.
Rugby World Cup 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
