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 China.
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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 China
- 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 will 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.”
