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England and their Welsh counterparts have been drawn in an identical pool for the 2027 RWC, setting up a major pool stage clash in Australia. They are joined in Pool F by Tonga and Zimbabwe.

This pairing mirrors their famous meeting in the pool stages of the 2015 World Cup, where Wales' victory at Twickenham contributed to the English team's surprise early exit.

Key Pool Draws

Ireland and the Scots also share a group once again, just as the situation from the 2023 edition. In that tournament, they claimed a convincing victory, with their opponents unable to progress to the knockout stages.

Los Teros and Portugal, who each made a strong impression as surprise packages in the last World Cup, round out that same group.

Notably, the winners of both Pool D and Pool F cannot meet defending champions and top-ranked South Africa until the showpiece match, presuming the South Africans win their own group.

Knockout Implications

Should the groups conclude in line with the current world rankings, other leading contenders like New Zealand and Les Bleus would remain separated from both England and Ireland until the championship decider.

Under those circumstances, Los Pumas would be the other highly-seeded nation on that side of the elimination bracket as those northern hemisphere teams.

Tournament Hosts Draw Major Fixture

Tournament hosts Australia have been drawn together with their trans-Tasman rivals and triple champions New Zealand in Group A.

The Wallabies will kick off the World Cup in the city of Perth on 1 October 2027 in a marquee fixture aimed at jump-start the competition.

Elsewhere, reigning champions South Africa have been paired with the Azzurri, the Lelos and Romania. The French team are grouped with Japan, future hosts the USA and Samoa.

Expanded Tournament for 2027

Argentina will take on Fiji, Spain and Canada as the World Cup expands to twenty-four nations from the 20 who competed in 2023.

The 2027 tournament will introduce a round of 16 stage for the very first time in Rugby World Cup history.

While the winner of England and Wales's group may be kept apart from some of the rugby's heavyweights early on, they will meet the runner-up from Pool B – most likely Italy – in the first knockout round.

A total of four of the other six pool winners will face a team that finished third from the pool stages.

RWC 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