Everything you need to know about the Rugby World Cup draw

The draw for the pool stage of the 2027 Rugby World Cup took place on Wednesday, 3 December at 09:00 GMT in Sydney.

The tournament, which will be staged in Australia from 1 October to 13 November, has expanded from 20 to 24 teams.

The 12 teams that finished in the top three of their pools at the 2023 Rugby World Cup have automatically qualified. That means France, New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, South Africa, Scotland, Wales, Fiji, Australia, England, Argentina and Japan are all in.

Georgia, Spain, Romania, Portugal, Tonga, Canada, United States, Uruguay, Chile, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong and Samoa all booked their places through qualifying tournaments.

The opening match of the World Cup will take place in Perth, with the final being staged in Sydney.

How did the draw work?

Teams were seeded from one to 24 based on their world ranking at the time of the draw and then placed in four bands of six teams.

Each pool contained one team from each of the four bands.

The World Cup format added extra incentive for teams in the autumn internationals as teams looked to gain a late rise up the rankings and improve their seeding.

Australia were guaranteed to be in Pool A as hosts, but will now face top-seeded team New Zealand as they are not in the top six of the world rankings.

World Cup draw in full

Pool A: Australia (hosts), Hong Kong China, Chile, New Zealand

Pool B: Romania, Georgia, Italy, South Africa

Pool C: Canada, Spain, Fiji, Argentina

Pool D: Portugal, Uruguay, Scotland, Ireland

Pool E: Samoa, USA, Japan, France

Pool F: Zimbabwe, Tonga, Wales, England

What is the format?

The top two teams from each pool will progress to the round of 16 along with the four best third-place nations. This is where it gets a bit more complicated...

• The top team in Pools A, B, C and D will face teams that finished third in their group

• The winners of Pools E and F will play the runners-up from Pools D and B

• The runners-up from Pools A and C will then take on the runners-up from Pools E and F

Some have said the format is imbalanced, but organisers say this is "addressed in the next round" and will even itself out.

So for example, the winner of Pool A will play a third-place team in the round of 16, but could face the winner of Pool B if that team advances. The winner of Pool E will play a second-place team in both knockout rounds.

Why was the Rugby World Cup draw done so early?

It is not uncommon for World Rugby to host the draw years before the tournament. The pools for the 2023 World Cup were decided in December 2020, for example.

That draw caused controversy as the world's five best ranked teams in 2023 - Ireland, France, New Zealand, South Africa and Scotland - ended up on the same side of the draw because of their rankings at the time of the draw three years earlier.

The 2027 draw is being conducted closer to the tournament this time. This is to:

• Reflect current form and rankings halfway through the international cycle

• Help fans and teams make travel and accommodation arrangements

• Give organisers time to stage a successful tournament

• Allow host cities and states time to engage with local communities

Where are the Rugby World Cup host cities?

The tournament will be hosted in seven cities across Australia.

• Townsville, Queensland

• Adelaide, South Australia

• Brisbane, Queensland

• Melbourne, Victoria

• Newcastle, New South Wales

• Perth, Western Australia

• Sydney, New South Wales

The full match schedule will be announced on 3 February 2026, with pre-sale tickets for registered fans available from 18 February.

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