The English side together with Wales find themselves placed in an identical pool for the 2027 RWC, promising a highly-anticipated pool stage encounter in Australia. They are joined in Pool F by Tonga and the Zimbabwean Sables.
This draw mirrors their famous meeting in the pool stages 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 have likewise been drawn in a pool together, replicating the situation from the France 2023 tournament. In that tournament, Ireland claimed a convincing victory, with Scotland unable to progress to the quarter-finals.
Los Teros and Os Lobos, who each made a strong impression as surprise packages in the last World Cup, complete that Pool D.
Notably, the victors of these two groups are kept apart from holders and top-ranked the Springboks until the showpiece match, assuming the South Africans top their own group.
Tournament Implications
Should the groups conclude in line with the current world rankings, further leading contenders like New Zealand and Les Bleus would also be kept apart from the likes of England and Ireland all the way to the final.
Under those circumstances, Los Pumas would be the other highly-seeded nation on that side of the elimination bracket as England and Ireland.
Tournament Hosts Face Major Fixture
Hosts Australia have been drawn together with their trans-Tasman rivals and triple champions the All Blacks in Group A.
The Wallabies will kick off the tournament in Perth on October 1st, 2027 in a blockbuster match aimed at jump-start the event.
Elsewhere, holders the Springboks have been paired with Italy, Georgia and Romania. The French team are grouped with the Brave Blossoms, 2031 hosts the United States and Manu Samoa.
Larger Tournament for 2027
Argentina will face Fiji, Los Leones and Canada as the tournament grows to twenty-four nations from the 20 who competed in 2023.
The 2027 tournament will feature a last-16 round for the very first time in the competition's history.
Although the winner of Pool F may avoid some of the rugby's biggest beasts initially, they will meet the second-placed team from Group B – most likely Italy – in the first knockout round.
A total of four of the remaining six pool winners will play a team that finished third from the initial group phase.
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
