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

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 China.

Twitter

This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Twitter cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.


Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Twitter cookies for this session only.

Enable Cookies
Allow Cookies Once

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

Twitter

This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Twitter cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.


Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Twitter cookies for this session only.

Enable Cookies
Allow Cookies Once

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.