England and Wales will face off in the same pool for the 2027 RWC, setting up a highly-anticipated early encounter in Australia. Completing the group in Pool F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and Zimbabwe.
This pairing mirrors their famous meeting in the pool stages of the 2015 World Cup, where Wales' victory at Twickenham contributed to the English team's surprise early exit.
Key Pool Draws
The Irish alongside Scotland also share a pool together, just as the scenario from the France 2023 tournament. In that tournament, Ireland claimed a convincing win, with their opponents failing to advance to the quarter-finals.
Uruguay and Portugal, who each made a strong impression as surprise packages in the last World Cup, round out that same group.
Notably, the victors of both Pool D and Pool F are kept apart from defending champions and top-ranked South Africa until the showpiece match, assuming the South Africans top their assigned pool.
Tournament Implications
Should the groups conclude according to the current global standings, further leading contenders like the All Blacks and France would also be kept apart from both the English and Ireland all the way to the championship decider.
In that scenario, Argentina would be the remaining highly-seeded nation on the same side of the knockout draw as England and Ireland.
Tournament Hosts Face Major Fixture
Hosts the Wallabies have been drawn together with their trans-Tasman rivals and triple champions New Zealand in Pool A.
Australia will kick off the tournament in the city of Perth on October 1st, 2027 in a blockbuster match designed to jump-start the event.
In other groups, holders South Africa have drawn Italy, Georgia and Romania. The French team are grouped with the Brave Blossoms, 2031 hosts the United States and Samoa.
Larger Format for 2027
Argentina will face Fiji, Los Leones and the Canadian team as the tournament grows to 24 teams from the twenty who took part in 2023.
This edition will introduce a round of 16 round for the first time in Rugby World Cup existence.
Although the victor of England and Wales's group may avoid some of the game's heavyweights early on, they will meet the runner-up from Pool B – most likely Italy – in the last 16.
A total of four of the other six pool winners will play a third-placed side from the pool stages.
RWC 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
