England and their Welsh counterparts find themselves placed in an identical pool for the World Cup in 2027, promising a highly-anticipated pool stage clash in Australia. They are joined in Group F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and Zimbabwe.
This pairing mirrors their famous clash in the pool stages of the 2015 World Cup, where Wales' victory at Twickenham contributed to the hosts' surprise group stage elimination.
Other Notable Pool Pairings
Ireland and Scotland also share a pool once again, replicating the situation from the France 2023 tournament. In that tournament, they claimed a 36-14 victory, with their opponents unable to progress to the quarter-finals.
Los Teros and Os Lobos, both impressed as surprise packages in the last World Cup, round out that Pool D.
Significantly, the victors of these two groups cannot meet defending champions and top-ranked the Springboks until the final, presuming the South Africans win their assigned pool.
Tournament Implications
Should the pools conclude according to the current world rankings, further top favourites like the All Blacks and France would remain separated from both England and the Irish all the way to the final.
Under those circumstances, Los Pumas would be the remaining highly-seeded nation on that side of the elimination bracket as those northern hemisphere teams.
Hosts Face Blockbuster Opener
Tournament hosts the Wallabies find themselves together with their great rivals and three-time winners New Zealand in Pool A.
Australia will kick off the tournament in the city of Perth on 1 October 2027 in a marquee fixture aimed at jump-start the competition.
In other groups, reigning champions South Africa have drawn Italy, the Lelos and the Oaks. France are grouped with Japan, future hosts the United States and Samoa.
Larger Format for 2027
Argentina will face the Flying Fijians, Los Leones and the Canadian team as the tournament expands to twenty-four nations from the twenty who took part in 2023.
The 2027 tournament will feature a last-16 round for the first time in the competition's existence.
Although the victor of England and Wales's group may be kept apart from some of the rugby's biggest beasts initially, they will have to face the second-placed team from Group B – probably the Italians – in the first knockout round.
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
