England and Wales find themselves placed in an identical group for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, promising a major early encounter in the tournament Down Under. Completing the group in Group F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and Zimbabwe.
This pairing mirrors their memorable clash in the group phase of the 2015 World Cup, where a Welsh win at England's home ground contributed to the hosts' shock group stage elimination.
Other Notable Pool Draws
The Irish and Scotland also share a group together, replicating the situation from the France 2023 tournament. On that occasion, they claimed a convincing victory, with their opponents unable to progress to the quarter-finals.
Uruguay and Portugal, who each made a strong impression as underdogs in France, complete that same group.
Notably, the victors of these two groups cannot meet defending champions and world number one the Springboks until the final, presuming the South Africans top their own group.
Knockout Implications
Should the groups play out according to the current world rankings, further top favourites like New Zealand and France would also be kept apart from both the English and Ireland all the way to the championship decider.
In that scenario, Los Pumas would be the remaining highly-seeded nation on the same half of the elimination bracket as those northern hemisphere teams.
Tournament Hosts Draw Major Opener
Hosts the Wallabies find themselves together with their trans-Tasman rivals and triple champions New Zealand in Pool A.
The Wallabies will kick off the tournament in Perth on 1 October 2027 in a blockbuster match aimed at launch the competition.
Elsewhere, holders the Springboks have been paired with the Azzurri, Georgia and the Oaks. France are in a pool with the Brave Blossoms, 2031 hosts the USA and Samoa.
Larger Format for 2027
Argentina will take on the Flying Fijians, Los Leones and the Canadian team as the tournament expands to twenty-four nations from the 20 who competed in 2023.
The 2027 tournament will feature a last-16 stage for the very first time in the competition's history.
Although the winner of Pool F may avoid some of the game's heavyweights early on, they will meet the runner-up 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 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
