England together with their Welsh counterparts have been drawn in the same pool for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, promising a highly-anticipated pool stage clash in Australia. They are joined in Group F by the Tongan Ikale Tahi and Zimbabwe.
This pairing recalls their famous clash in the pool stages of the 2015 World Cup, where a Welsh win at England's home ground contributed to the English team's shock early exit.
Other Notable Group Draws
The Irish alongside Scotland also share a pool together, just as the situation from the 2023 edition. In that tournament, they claimed a convincing win, with Scotland unable to advance to the quarter-finals.
Los Teros and Os Lobos, who each made a strong impression as surprise packages in the last World Cup, complete that Pool D.
Significantly, the winners of both Pool D and Pool F cannot meet defending champions and world number one the Springboks before the final, assuming the Springboks top their own group.
Tournament Implications
Should the pools play out according to the current world rankings, further top favourites like the All Blacks and France would remain separated from both the English and Ireland all the way to the championship decider.
Under those circumstances, Los Pumas would be the remaining highly-seeded nation on the same half of the elimination bracket as those northern hemisphere teams.
Hosts Face Major Fixture
Tournament hosts the Wallabies find themselves together with their trans-Tasman rivals and triple champions New Zealand in Pool A.
Australia will kick off the World Cup in Perth on October 1st, 2027 in a blockbuster fixture designed to launch the competition.
Elsewhere, reigning champions the Springboks have been paired with Italy, the Lelos and the Oaks. The French team are in a pool with Japan, future hosts the United States and Manu Samoa.
Larger Tournament for 2027
Los Pumas will face 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 very first time in the competition's existence.
While the victor of England and Wales's group may avoid some of the game's heavyweights initially, they will have to face the second-placed team from Pool B – probably Italy – in the last 16.
Four of the remaining six pool winners will face 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
