The English side together with Wales find themselves placed in an identical group for the World Cup in 2027, promising a highly-anticipated early 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 tournament, where Wales' victory at England's home ground played a part in the hosts' shock group stage elimination.
Key Group Pairings
The Irish and Scotland have likewise been drawn in a group once again, replicating the scenario from the France 2023 tournament. In that tournament, they claimed a convincing win, with Scotland unable to advance to the knockout stages.
Los Teros and Portugal, both impressed as underdogs in the last World Cup, round out that Pool D.
Notably, the victors of these two groups are kept apart from holders and top-ranked the Springboks before the final, presuming the Springboks win their assigned pool.
Knockout Ramifications
Should the pools play out in line with the current world rankings, other top favourites like the All Blacks and Les Bleus would remain separated from both the English and the Irish all the way to the final.
Under those circumstances, Los Pumas would be the remaining highly-seeded nation on the same side of the knockout draw as those northern hemisphere teams.
Hosts Face Major Fixture
Tournament hosts Australia find themselves together with their trans-Tasman rivals and three-time winners New Zealand in Pool A.
Australia will open the tournament in the city of Perth on October 1st, 2027 in a blockbuster match aimed at jump-start the event.
In other groups, holders the Springboks have been paired with the Azzurri, the Lelos and the Oaks. The French team are in a pool with Japan, 2031 hosts the United States and Manu Samoa.
Larger Tournament for 2027
Argentina will face Fiji, Los Leones and Canada as the tournament grows to twenty-four nations from the 20 who competed in France.
The 2027 tournament will introduce a round of 16 stage for the first time in Rugby World Cup history.
While the winner of Pool F may avoid some of the rugby's heavyweights early on, they will have to face the second-placed team from Group B – most likely Italy – in the first knockout round.
A total of four of the other six group winners will face a team that finished third from the initial group phase.
Rugby World Cup 2027 Groups
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
