England together with Wales have been drawn in an identical pool for the 2027 RWC, promising a highly-anticipated early clash in Australia. Completing the group in Pool F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and the Zimbabwean Sables.
This draw recalls their famous meeting in the group phase of the 2015 World Cup, where Wales' victory at Twickenham played a part in the English team's surprise early exit.
Other Notable Group Pairings
Ireland and the Scots have likewise been drawn in a group together, just as the situation from the France 2023 tournament. In that tournament, they secured a convincing victory, with their opponents failing to progress to the knockout stages.
Los Teros and Portugal, both impressed as surprise packages in the last World Cup, complete that same group.
Notably, the winners of these two groups cannot meet holders and top-ranked the Springboks before the showpiece match, assuming the South Africans top their own group.
Tournament Ramifications
If the pools play out in line with the current world rankings, other top favourites 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, Argentina would be the other highly-seeded nation on the same half of the knockout draw as those northern hemisphere teams.
Tournament Hosts Face Major Fixture
Tournament hosts Australia have been drawn together with their great rivals and three-time winners the All Blacks in Group A.
Australia will open the tournament in the city of Perth on 1 October 2027 in a marquee fixture aimed at launch the event.
Elsewhere, reigning champions South Africa have been paired with the Azzurri, Georgia and Romania. France are grouped with the Brave Blossoms, future hosts the United States and Manu Samoa.
Expanded Tournament for 2027
Los Pumas will face the Flying Fijians, Los Leones and the Canadian team as the tournament grows to 24 teams from the twenty who took part in 2023.
The 2027 tournament will introduce a round of 16 round for the first time in the competition's history.
While the winner of Pool F may avoid some of the game's heavyweights initially, they will meet the second-placed team from Group B – probably the Italians – in the first knockout round.
Four of the other six group winners will face a team that finished third 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
