The English side together with their Welsh counterparts have been drawn in an identical pool for the 2027 RWC, setting up a major pool stage encounter in the tournament Down Under. Completing the group in Group F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and Zimbabwe.
This pairing recalls their famous meeting in the pool stages of the 2015 tournament, where a Welsh win at Twickenham contributed to the English team's shock early exit.
Other Notable Group Draws
The Irish alongside Scotland also share a pool together, replicating the scenario from the France 2023 tournament. In that tournament, they secured a 36-14 win, with their opponents failing to advance to the knockout stages.
Uruguay and Portugal, both made a strong impression as surprise packages in the last World Cup, round out that same group.
Notably, the victors of these two groups cannot meet defending champions and world number one the Springboks until the final, presuming the South Africans top their own group.
Tournament Implications
If the pools conclude in line with the current world rankings, other leading contenders like New Zealand and France would remain separated from both the English and Ireland until the championship decider.
Under those circumstances, Los Pumas would be the remaining highly-seeded nation on the same half of the knockout draw as those northern hemisphere teams.
Tournament Hosts Face Major Fixture
Tournament hosts the Wallabies have been drawn together with their trans-Tasman rivals and triple champions New Zealand in Group A.
Australia will open the World Cup in Perth on October 1st, 2027 in a marquee fixture aimed at jump-start the competition.
Elsewhere, holders South Africa have been paired with the Azzurri, the Lelos and Romania. France are in a pool with the Brave Blossoms, 2031 hosts the USA and Samoa.
Expanded Tournament for 2027
Los Pumas will take on the Flying Fijians, Los Leones and Canada as the tournament expands to 24 teams from the 20 who competed in 2023.
The 2027 tournament will feature a last-16 round for the first time in Rugby World Cup history.
While the winner of Pool F may avoid some of the game's biggest beasts early on, they will have to face the runner-up from Group B – probably the Italians – in the first knockout round.
Four of the remaining six pool winners will face 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
