The English side together with Wales find themselves placed in an identical pool for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, promising a highly-anticipated pool stage encounter in Australia. Completing the group in Group F by Tonga and the Zimbabwean Sables.
This pairing mirrors their famous meeting in the pool stages of the 2015 tournament, where Wales' victory at Twickenham contributed to the English team's surprise group stage elimination.
Other Notable Pool Draws
The Irish and Scotland also share a pool together, just as the situation from the 2023 edition. In that tournament, Ireland claimed a 36-14 victory, with their opponents unable to advance to the knockout stages.
Los Teros and Portugal, both impressed as underdogs in France, complete that same group.
Significantly, the winners of these two groups are kept apart from holders and top-ranked South Africa before the final, presuming the Springboks top their own group.
Knockout Ramifications
If the groups play out according to the current global standings, further leading contenders like New Zealand and France would also be kept apart from both the English and the Irish all the way to the championship decider.
In that scenario, Los Pumas would be the other highly-seeded nation on the same half of the elimination bracket as those northern hemisphere teams.
Tournament Hosts Face Major Fixture
Hosts Australia have been drawn together with their trans-Tasman rivals and three-time winners New Zealand in Group A.
The Wallabies will open the tournament in Perth on 1 October 2027 in a marquee fixture designed to launch the event.
Elsewhere, reigning champions the Springboks have drawn Italy, the Lelos and Romania. The French team are grouped with Japan, future hosts the USA and Manu Samoa.
Larger Format for 2027
Argentina will take on Fiji, Spain and Canada as the World Cup expands to 24 teams from the twenty who took part 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 England and Wales's group may avoid some of the rugby's biggest beasts early on, they will have to face the runner-up from Pool B – probably the Italians – in the last 16.
A total of four of the other six group winners will face a team that finished third from the initial group phase.
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
