The English side together with their Welsh counterparts find themselves placed in an identical group for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, setting up a highly-anticipated early encounter in the tournament Down Under. Completing the group in Group F by Tonga and the Zimbabwean Sables.
This pairing echoes their famous clash in the pool stages of the 2015 World Cup, where a Welsh win at Twickenham played a part in the hosts' shock group stage elimination.
Other Notable Group Draws
The Irish alongside Scotland also share a pool together, just as the scenario from the 2023 edition. In that tournament, they secured a convincing win, with Scotland unable to advance to the knockout stages.
Los Teros and Portugal, both made a strong impression as underdogs in France, round out that same group.
Notably, the victors of both Pool D and Pool F cannot meet defending champions and world number one the Springboks until the showpiece match, assuming the South Africans win their own group.
Tournament Implications
Should the groups conclude in line with the current world rankings, further top favourites like New Zealand and France would also be kept apart from the likes of England and the Irish until the final.
In that scenario, Los Pumas would be the other highly-seeded nation on that half of the knockout draw as England and Ireland.
Tournament Hosts Draw Major Fixture
Hosts the Wallabies find themselves alongside their great rivals and three-time winners New Zealand in Group A.
The Wallabies will kick off the World Cup in Perth on 1 October 2027 in a marquee fixture aimed at jump-start the competition.
Elsewhere, holders the Springboks have drawn Italy, Georgia and Romania. The French team are in a pool with Japan, future hosts the United States and Samoa.
Larger Tournament for 2027
Los Pumas will face the Flying Fijians, Spain and the Canadian team as the tournament grows to twenty-four nations from the 20 who took part in France.
The 2027 tournament will feature a round of 16 round for the first time in the competition's history.
While the victor of Pool F may be kept apart from some of the game's heavyweights early on, they will have to face the runner-up from Pool B – probably the Italians – in the first knockout round.
A total of four of the remaining six pool winners will play a team that finished third from the pool stages.
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
