However the 2027 Rugby World Cup ultimately pans out, Ireland cannot unduly complain about the draw they’ve been handed. Granted, Scotland will look upon the hand they’ve been dealt in a similar vein after the two countries were drawn together for the third World Cup in a row.
If that pairing sounds very familiar, there is at least some novelty value in Uruguay and Portugal completing the group, as Ireland have never been drawn in a pool with either. With Paul O’Connell as head coach, Ireland enjoyed a record 106-7 victory over Portugal in their first-ever meeting in July.
The likely rewards for winning this group look significant, as the winners of Pool D will face one of the third best placed finishers in the Round of 16, which could conceivably be Georgia or indeed Italy if the former win what has become something of a grudge match in recent years.
Possible quarter-final opponents then would be Felipe Contepomi’s ever improving Argentina, with England and the runners-up in Pool A, likely New Zealand or Australia, also in that half of the draw.
By contrast the runners-up in Pool D would go into the other half of the draw and will play the winners of Pool E, and France will be strongly fancied to finish first in a group containing Japan, USA and Samoa. Ireland have lost three times to France in the World Cup, although the did defeat Les Bleus when the countries last met in the tournament, by 25–9 in a bruising final pool game in Cardiff.
In any event, this half appears as if it could be the tougher route to the final in Sydney on November 13th 2027. Fiji or Wales could then lurk in the quarter-finals, with South Africa and the winners of Pool A, ie New Zealand or Australia, likely to provide the semi-finalists from that heavyweight quarter of the draw.
Much can happen in the 666 days between now and the tournament opener – which is expected to be between the Wallabies and the All Blacks on October 1st, 2027 in Perth – not least two more Six Nations meetings between Ireland and Scotland.
Ireland’s winning run in the fixture cannot endure forever but they have beaten Scotland on the last 11 occasions the sides have met. Scotland did beat Ireland 24-15 in their World Cup meeting in 1991 at Murrayfield but Ireland’s current winning run has included the World Cup pool meetings in Yokohama in 2019, by 27-3, and in the Stade de France in 2023, by 36-14.
