England together with Wales find themselves placed in an identical pool for the World Cup in 2027, promising a highly-anticipated pool stage clash in the tournament Down Under. Completing the group in Group F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and Zimbabwe.
This pairing mirrors their famous meeting in the group phase of the 2015 tournament, where a Welsh win at Twickenham played a part in the hosts' surprise early exit.
Other Notable Group Draws
The Irish and the Scots also share a group once again, just as the situation from the France 2023 tournament. In that tournament, Ireland secured a 36-14 victory, with their opponents failing to advance to the knockout stages.
Los Teros and Portugal, who each impressed as underdogs in France, round out that Pool D.
Notably, the winners of both Pool D and Pool F are kept apart from defending champions and world number one South Africa before the showpiece match, presuming the Springboks win their assigned pool.
Tournament Ramifications
Should the pools play out according to the current world rankings, further top favourites like New Zealand and France would remain separated from both the English and Ireland until the final.
Under those circumstances, Los Pumas would be the remaining highly-seeded nation on the same half of the knockout draw as England and Ireland.
Hosts Draw Major Fixture
Hosts the Wallabies find themselves together with their trans-Tasman rivals and triple champions the All Blacks in Group A.
The Wallabies will kick off the tournament in the city of Perth on October 1st, 2027 in a marquee match designed to launch the event.
Elsewhere, reigning champions the Springboks have drawn Italy, the Lelos and the Oaks. France are grouped with the Brave Blossoms, future hosts the USA and Manu Samoa.
Expanded Tournament for 2027
Argentina will take on the Flying Fijians, Los Leones and the Canadian team as the World Cup grows to twenty-four nations from the 20 who took part in France.
The 2027 tournament will introduce a round of 16 stage for the first time in the competition's history.
While the victor of England and Wales's group may be kept apart from some of the game's biggest beasts initially, they will meet the runner-up from Pool B – most likely the Italians – in the first knockout round.
Four of the remaining six group winners will face 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
