The English side and their Welsh counterparts find themselves placed in the same pool for the 2027 RWC, promising a highly-anticipated early encounter in Australia. They are joined in Group F by Tonga and the Zimbabwean Sables.
This pairing mirrors their famous clash in the group phase of the 2015 tournament, where a Welsh win at Twickenham played a part in the English team's surprise early exit.
Key Group Draws
The Irish and the Scots have likewise been drawn in a group together, just as the situation from the 2023 edition. In that tournament, Ireland claimed a 36-14 win, with Scotland failing to advance to the knockout stages.
Los Teros and Portugal, who each made a strong impression as surprise packages in France, round out that same group.
Significantly, the victors of these two groups cannot meet defending champions and top-ranked the Springboks until the showpiece match, assuming the South Africans top their assigned pool.
Knockout Implications
If the groups play out in line with the current world rankings, further leading contenders like the All Blacks and France would also be kept apart from both the English and Ireland until the championship decider.
Under those circumstances, Los Pumas would be the other top-ranked nation on the same half of the knockout draw as England and Ireland.
Tournament Hosts Draw Major Opener
Tournament hosts Australia have been drawn alongside their great rivals and three-time winners the All Blacks in Group A.
Australia will kick off the World Cup in the city of Perth on October 1st, 2027 in a marquee fixture aimed at jump-start the event.
Elsewhere, reigning champions South Africa have drawn Italy, the Lelos and Romania. The French team are in a pool with Japan, 2031 hosts the United States and Samoa.
Expanded Format for 2027
Los Pumas will face Fiji, Los Leones and Canada as the tournament grows to 24 teams from the 20 who competed in 2023.
This edition will introduce a round of 16 stage for the very first time in the competition's existence.
While the winner of England and Wales's group may avoid some of the rugby's heavyweights initially, they will meet the second-placed team from Pool B – probably the Italians – in the first knockout round.
Four of the remaining six group winners will face 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
