England together with their Welsh counterparts have been drawn in the same group for the 2027 RWC, setting up a major pool stage encounter in Australia. They are joined in Pool F by Tonga and Zimbabwe.
This pairing mirrors their memorable meeting in the group phase of the 2015 tournament, where a Welsh win at England's home ground contributed to the hosts' shock early exit.
Key Group Draws
The Irish and the Scots also share a group together, just as the situation from the France 2023 tournament. In that tournament, Ireland secured a convincing win, with Scotland unable to progress to the quarter-finals.
Los Teros and Os Lobos, who each made a strong impression as surprise packages in France, round out that same group.
Notably, the winners of both Pool D and Pool F are kept apart from defending champions and world number one South Africa until the showpiece match, assuming the South Africans top their assigned pool.
Tournament Implications
Should the pools conclude in line with the current global standings, other top favourites like New Zealand and France would remain separated from both England and the Irish all the way to the championship decider.
Under those circumstances, Argentina would be the other highly-seeded nation on that side of the elimination bracket as those northern hemisphere teams.
Hosts Face Major Fixture
Hosts the Wallabies find themselves alongside their great rivals and triple champions the All Blacks in Group A.
Australia will kick off the tournament in the city of Perth on 1 October 2027 in a blockbuster fixture designed to launch the competition.
Elsewhere, holders South Africa have been paired with the Azzurri, Georgia and the Oaks. France are grouped with the Brave Blossoms, 2031 hosts the United States and Manu Samoa.
Expanded Tournament for 2027
Argentina will face Fiji, Spain and the Canadian team as the tournament grows to 24 teams from the twenty who competed in 2023.
The 2027 tournament will introduce a round of 16 stage for the first time in Rugby World Cup history.
While the winner of England and Wales's group may avoid some of the game's biggest beasts early on, they will meet the second-placed team from Group B – probably Italy – in the last 16.
A total of four of the remaining six pool winners will play a team that finished third from the initial group phase.
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
