England and Wales will face off in the same pool for the World Cup in 2027, promising a highly-anticipated pool stage encounter in Australia. They are joined in Pool F by Tonga and Zimbabwe.
This pairing echoes their famous meeting in the group phase of the 2015 tournament, where a Welsh win at Twickenham contributed to the hosts' surprise early exit.
Other Notable Group Draws
Ireland alongside the Scots also share a pool once again, replicating the situation from the France 2023 tournament. In that tournament, they claimed a 36-14 win, with Scotland failing to advance to the quarter-finals.
Uruguay and Portugal, who each impressed as underdogs in France, round out that same group.
Significantly, the victors of these two groups cannot meet defending champions and top-ranked South Africa until the showpiece match, presuming the Springboks win their assigned pool.
Tournament Ramifications
Should the pools conclude in line with the current global standings, other top favourites like New Zealand and Les Bleus would also be kept apart from the likes of the English and the Irish all the way to the championship decider.
In that scenario, Argentina would be the other highly-seeded nation on the same half of the elimination bracket as those northern hemisphere teams.
Tournament Hosts Face Blockbuster Fixture
Hosts Australia have been drawn together with their great rivals and triple champions the All Blacks in Pool A.
The Wallabies will open the World Cup in Perth on 1 October 2027 in a blockbuster match designed to launch the competition.
In other groups, holders the Springboks have drawn Italy, Georgia and the Oaks. France are grouped with Japan, 2031 hosts the United States and Samoa.
Larger Format for 2027
Argentina will take on the Flying Fijians, Spain and the Canadian team as the tournament grows to twenty-four nations from the 20 who took part in 2023.
The 2027 tournament will feature a last-16 round for the very first time in the competition's history.
While the victor of Pool F may avoid some of the game's heavyweights initially, they will have to face the second-placed team from Pool B – most likely the Italians – in the last 16.
A total of four of the other six pool winners will play a team that finished third from the pool stages.
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
