2027 Rugby World Cup: England drawn with Wales in pool stages as Ireland face Scotland and hosts Australia play New Zealand

England will face Wales, Tonga and Zimbabwe in the pool stages of the Rugby World Cup in 2027.

England were the top-seeded side into Pool F as the third-highest ranked team in the tournament, while Andy Farrell's Ireland were drawn with Scotland for the third successive World Cup, with Uruguay and Portugal completing Pool D.

The other headline group is Pool A which sees Australia up against New Zealand, Chile and Hong Kong.

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As hosts, Australia were always guaranteed to be in Pool A but being in Band 2 set up a blockbuster clash with the All Blacks.

Defending champions South Africa, who are bidding to win a third successive World Cup, are in Pool B with Italy, Georgia and Romania.

• 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

The Rugby World Cup will take place in Australia and teams were seeded from one to 24 based on their world ranking at the time of the draw before being placed into six pools of four teams.

England were in Band 1 alongside South Africa, New Zealand, Ireland, France and Argentina. Australia were in Band 2 with Fiji, Scotland, Italy, Wales and Japan. Band 3 was Georgia, Uruguay, Spain, United States, Chile and Tonga, with Band 4 made up of Samoa, Portugal, Romania, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe and Canada.

What is the World Cup format?

The simple part of the format is that the top two teams from each pool will progress into the final 16. They will be joined by the four best third-place nations.

• Then, the top team in Pools A, B, C and D will play a team that finished third.
• The winners of Pools E and F take on the runners-up from Pools D and B.
• The runners-up from Pools A and C will face the runners-up from Pools E and F.

The tournament takes place in Australia from October 1 to November 13 2027.

'Favourable draw for England'

Sky Sports' Michael Cantillon:

"All in all, England's draw is a very positive one.

"Drawing Wales in their pool may be a headline but they avoided the likes of hosts Australia and Scotland from the same band.

"England also landed in one of the most desired pools in E or F - reason being, the pool winners of those two pools avoid other pool winners until the semi-finals. Every other pool winner could face another in the quarters. France were the other fortunate side in this respect.

"More good news would fall England's way were they to top their pool as South Africa, New Zealand and France would be on the opposite side of the draw until the final should those three win their pools.

"One note of warning: while England's quarter-final is scheduled to be against a pool runner-up, this would be from Pool A, so is likely to be hosts Australia. Borthwick's side are a stronger outfit than the Wallabies, but home advantage could be huge."

Townsend: Scotland must beat Ireland before World Cup meeting

Gregor Townsend has challenged Scotland to banish their Ireland hoodoo before their showdown at the 2027 World Cup.

Scotland have lost their last 11 meetings with the Irish, with their last win coming in the 2017 Six Nations, a few months before Townsend took charge.

The winners of Pool D - which also includes the minnows of Uruguay and Portugal - are likely to avoid a formidable round-of-16 clash with France, so the Scotland head coach is aware of the importance of ensuring his team get to a level whereby they feel equipped to get the better of Ireland when they meet Down Under.

"It's an easier road to the quarter-finals and semi-finals if you can win your pool," said Townsend, reflecting on the draw at a press conference in Edinburgh.

"We'll respect all the three teams that we'll have to face, but obviously Ireland are a team that has beaten us pretty regularly the last few years, so we'll have to be better to beat them.

"We have two occasions, one in Dublin, one at Murrayfield before the World Cup. The goal every year is to try and beat Ireland - and the other teams in the Six Nations - but it's even more important now.

"It would help massively if we got on the right side of the results for a change. We know how tough it'll be.

"Dublin in the last game of the (Six Nations) Championship will be a very difficult game, but we played really well last time we were out there (in 2024) and we'll be doing all we can to win that game.

"It'll be more difficult in the World Cup if we haven't managed to beat Ireland in the next two seasons."

Ireland coach Andy Farrell claimed the draw made him excited for the tournament.

He told a press conference: "You could have put the bet on it being Scotland couldn't you? It's a great fixture, they know each other well.

"I was super-excited actually, got the old hairs on the skin standing up - that's the way it should be."

"I back myself and the rest of the coaches and the players to go as far as we'd all hope. We have the ambition to win a World Cup, otherwise what's the point?"

(c) Sky Sports 2025: 2027 Rugby World Cup: England drawn with Wales in pool stages as Ireland face Scotland and hosts Australia play New Zealand