The English side together with their Welsh counterparts will face off in an identical pool for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, promising a highly-anticipated early encounter in Australia. Completing the group in Group F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and Zimbabwe.
This draw mirrors their famous meeting in the pool stages of the 2015 tournament, where a Welsh win at England's home ground played a part in the English team's surprise group stage elimination.
Other Notable Group Draws
The Irish and the Scots also share a pool once again, replicating the situation from the 2023 edition. In that tournament, Ireland claimed a convincing win, with their opponents failing to advance to the quarter-finals.
Uruguay and Os Lobos, who each made a strong impression as underdogs in France, round out that Pool D.
Notably, the victors of these two groups are kept apart from defending champions and world number one South Africa until the final, assuming the Springboks win their assigned pool.
Tournament Ramifications
Should the groups play out in line with the current global standings, further top favourites like the All Blacks and France would also be kept apart from both England and the Irish until the championship decider.
Under those circumstances, Argentina would be the remaining highly-seeded nation on that side of the elimination bracket as England and Ireland.
Hosts Draw Blockbuster Fixture
Tournament hosts the Wallabies find themselves together with their trans-Tasman rivals and three-time winners New Zealand in Group A.
The Wallabies will kick off the World Cup in the city of Perth on October 1st, 2027 in a marquee match designed to jump-start the event.
Elsewhere, holders South Africa have been paired with the Azzurri, Georgia and Romania. The French team are grouped with Japan, future hosts the USA and Manu Samoa.
Larger Tournament for 2027
Argentina will take on Fiji, Los Leones and the Canadian team as the tournament grows to twenty-four nations from the 20 who competed in France.
This edition will introduce a round of 16 stage for the very first time in the competition's history.
Although the winner of Pool F may avoid some of the game's biggest beasts initially, they will have to face the second-placed team from Group B – probably the Italians – in the last 16.
A total of four of the other six pool winners will play a team that finished third from the initial group phase.
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
