England together with Wales find themselves placed in an identical group for the World Cup in 2027, setting up a highly-anticipated pool stage encounter in the tournament Down Under. They are joined in Group F by Tonga and Zimbabwe.
This draw echoes their infamous meeting in the pool stages of the 2015 tournament, where Wales' victory at England's home ground played a part in the hosts' shock group stage elimination.
Key Pool Draws
Ireland and the Scots have likewise been drawn in a group once again, replicating the situation from the France 2023 tournament. In that tournament, they secured a convincing victory, with Scotland failing to progress to the quarter-finals.
Uruguay and Os Lobos, both impressed as surprise packages in the last World Cup, complete that same group.
Significantly, the winners of these two groups cannot meet holders and top-ranked the Springboks until the final, assuming the South Africans win their own group.
Knockout Ramifications
Should the pools play out 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 until the championship decider.
In that scenario, Los Pumas would be the other top-ranked nation on that half of the elimination bracket as those northern hemisphere teams.
Hosts Face Major Opener
Hosts Australia find themselves alongside their trans-Tasman rivals and triple champions the All Blacks in Pool A.
The Wallabies will kick off the tournament in the city of Perth on October 1st, 2027 in a blockbuster match designed to launch the event.
In other groups, holders the Springboks have been paired with Italy, the Lelos and the Oaks. The French team are in a pool with Japan, 2031 hosts the United States and Manu Samoa.
Expanded Tournament for 2027
Los Pumas will take on Fiji, Los Leones and Canada as the tournament grows to 24 teams from the 20 who took part in 2023.
This edition will feature a round of 16 round for the very first time in the competition's history.
While 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 – probably Italy – in the last 16.
Four of the remaining six pool winners will play a team that finished third from the pool stages.
RWC 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
