England and Wales find themselves placed in an identical pool for the World Cup in 2027, promising a highly-anticipated early clash in the tournament Down Under. Completing the group in Pool F by Tonga and the Zimbabwean Sables.
This pairing echoes their famous meeting in the group phase of the 2015 tournament, where Wales' victory at England's home ground contributed to the hosts' shock early exit.
Key Pool Pairings
The Irish and the Scots also share a group once again, replicating the situation from the France 2023 tournament. On that occasion, they secured a convincing victory, with Scotland failing to progress to the quarter-finals.
Los Teros and Os Lobos, who each impressed as surprise packages in France, round out that Pool D.
Notably, the victors of both Pool D and Pool F cannot meet defending champions and top-ranked the Springboks until the final, presuming the Springboks win their own group.
Knockout Ramifications
If the pools conclude in line with the current world rankings, further top favourites like New Zealand and Les Bleus would remain separated from the likes of England and Ireland until the championship decider.
In that scenario, Argentina would be the other highly-seeded nation on the same side of the knockout draw as those northern hemisphere teams.
Hosts Draw Blockbuster Fixture
Tournament hosts Australia have been drawn together with their great rivals and three-time winners the All Blacks in Pool A.
Australia will kick off the tournament in Perth on October 1st, 2027 in a blockbuster fixture aimed at jump-start the competition.
Elsewhere, reigning champions South Africa have drawn the Azzurri, the Lelos and Romania. France are grouped with Japan, 2031 hosts the United States and Manu Samoa.
Larger Tournament for 2027
Los Pumas will take on Fiji, Los Leones and Canada as the tournament expands to 24 teams from the twenty who took part in France.
This edition will feature a last-16 stage for the very first time in the competition's history.
Although the winner of Pool F may be kept apart from some of the rugby's biggest beasts early on, they will have to face the runner-up from Pool B – probably Italy – in the last 16.
A total of four of the remaining six group winners will play a third-placed side from the pool stages.
Rugby World Cup 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
