England and their Welsh counterparts find themselves placed in the same group for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, setting up a highly-anticipated pool stage encounter in Australia. They are joined in Group F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and Zimbabwe.
This pairing mirrors their famous meeting in the group phase of the 2015 World Cup, where Wales' victory at England's home ground played a part in the English team's shock group stage elimination.
Other Notable Pool Pairings
The Irish alongside the Scots have likewise been drawn in a group once again, replicating the situation from the France 2023 tournament. On that occasion, they claimed a convincing win, with their opponents unable to progress to the quarter-finals.
Uruguay and Portugal, both made a strong impression as surprise packages in France, round out that Pool D.
Notably, the winners of both Pool D and Pool F cannot meet holders and top-ranked the Springboks until the final, presuming the South Africans win their own group.
Tournament Implications
Should the pools conclude according to the current global standings, other top favourites like New Zealand and France would also be kept apart from both the English and the Irish until the final.
In that scenario, Argentina would be the other highly-seeded nation on that side of the elimination bracket as those northern hemisphere teams.
Hosts Draw Blockbuster Opener
Tournament hosts Australia find themselves alongside their trans-Tasman rivals and triple champions the All Blacks in Pool A.
Australia will open the World Cup in Perth on 1 October 2027 in a marquee fixture designed to launch the event.
Elsewhere, holders the Springboks have drawn Italy, the Lelos and Romania. France are in a pool with Japan, future hosts the United States and Manu Samoa.
Larger Tournament for 2027
Argentina will take on Fiji, Los Leones and the Canadian team as the tournament expands to twenty-four nations from the 20 who took part in France.
The 2027 tournament will introduce a last-16 round for the first time in Rugby World Cup existence.
While the winner of England and Wales's group may be kept apart from some of the rugby's biggest beasts initially, they will have to face the second-placed team from Group B – probably the Italians – in the last 16.
Four of the remaining six group winners will play a team that finished third from the pool stages.
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
