One of the standout matches at the Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2027 will be hosts Australia against New Zealand, who will meet for the first time in a Rugby World Cup pool stage. The trans-Tasman rivals, who boast five Men’s Rugby World Cup titles between them, are joined in Pool A by Chile and debutants Hong Kong China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2027 Draw took place in Sydney on Wednesday with the 24 qualified teams placed into one of six pools for the tournament, which takes place from 1 October-13 November, 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defending champions South Africa have three European opponents in Italy, Georgia and Romania in Pool B, while Argentina are joined in Pool C by Fiji, Spain and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ireland will tackle Scotland, Uruguay and Portugal in Pool D with France drawn alongside Japan, USA and Samoa in Pool E and England, Wales, Tonga and Zimbabwe making up Pool F.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australia and New Zealand are drawn together in a pool for the first time. This will be their first RWC meeting since the 2015 final won 34-17 by New Zealand at Twickenham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Wallabies will face a South American team for the fifth time in a pool after Argentina (1991 and 2003) and Uruguay (2015 and 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two of New Zealand\u2019s titles came after facing a South American team in a pool (Argentina in 1987 and 2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chile will face three new teams on the Rugby World Cup stage. They have a won one, lost one record against Hong Kong China, the only team in their pool that they have faced before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hong Kong China will be the 27th national team to play in a Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup. The country’s\u00a0women were also drawn in a pool with New Zealand for their Rugby World Cup debut in 2017, losing 121-0 in Dublin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What an incredible draw, to see it all out here now and everyone starting to make their predictions for how it’s going to go, very exciting. The beauty of having six pools is that you can really build into the World Cup, especially for those top teams. So to be honest, it doesn’t really matter (when Australia play New Zealand). You’re going to be playing each other at some stage so what you’ve got to do is build consistently for seven matches, throughout six weeks, to get the job done,” said All Blacks legend Dan Carter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I think under Scott Robertson the priority during this Rugby World Cup cycle as been to grow depth. We (New Zealand) lost a lot of world class, experienced players after 2023 so he knew that for 2027 he needed depth and he’s been trying to build that. They’ve shown on many occasions what they’re capable of and the incredible rugby they can play but they realise they’re not at a level to go on and win a World Cup quite yet, and they know there’s a lot of work to be done over the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Talking to a lot of my Samoan friends, they were really on edge about the potential of not being at a Rugby World Cup because rugby means to much to them (they were the last team to qualify). They’ve produced some of the world’s best players and they are such a proud rugby nation. The fact that they’ve qualified, they want to not just make up the numbers. They want to be the team that makes the big upsets of this Rugby World Cup.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa are drawn in Pool B for the third successive tournament and have always been in a pool with at least one European nation. This is the second tournament in a row they will face three European nations after meeting Ireland, Scotland and Romania at RWC 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italy are drawn in a pool with Georgia for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Georgia will face South Africa for the first time since their debut tournament in 2003 in Australia, a match they lost 46-19 in Sydney. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italy will meet the Springboks for the second time, having lost 49-3 in their RWC 2019 encounter in Japan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will be a third tournament in a row that Italy face an African opponent, having also met Namibia in 2019 and 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Romania have lost to all three of their pool opponents at a Rugby World Cup (Georgia in 2011, Italy in 2007 and 2015 and South Africa in 1995 and 2023).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If we prepare to play South Africa as if it\u2019s a dream to play the world champions, it will be a nightmare! We need to prepare every game to be competitive. We have to stop seeing the fact that we are playing them as an achievement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, an achievement is if you compete with them, because it\u2019s still rugby. I\u2019m not here as a tourist; I’m not going to Australia with people who just want to be there and enjoy being on TV. I want Romanian players who have the knowledge to sacrifice themselves for three games. If people think Romania will just focus on Georgia and Italy, I think that\u2019s disrespectful to the sport. If we respect rugby, we have to be competitive,” said Romania head coach David G\u00e9rard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Argentina and Fiji met in their first-ever Rugby World Cup match in 1987, the Pacific Islanders winning 28-9 in Hamilton. They have not been drawn in a pool together since then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Los Pumas have never met Canada or Spain on the Rugby World Cup stage and it is 22 years since their last test against Canada, a 62-22 win in Buenos Aires. Argentina beat Spain 62-3 in August 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canada have faced their other two pool opponents this year, losing 24-23 to Spain in July and 63-10 to Fiji in September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fiji and Canada last met at a Rugby World Cup in 2007, the Fijians winning 29-16. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canada will face a Pacific islands nation for the first time since they beat Tonga 25-20 at at RWC 2011. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain and Fiji met last month, the Pacific Islanders running out 41-33 winners in Malaga. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain faced a South American team in their first RWC match in 1999, losing 27-15. They will face these three teams for the first time on the Rugby World Cup stage<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I didn’t want to play against Argentina because they’re at a very high level, and besides I played there and worked with the team for almost eight years. I know some of the staff and I have friends there. This year, Argentina had a great season and is among the top four teams in the world, not in terms of ranking, but in terms of their play, even though they didn’t get some results,” said Spain head coach Pablo Bouza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ireland and Scotland are paired together for the third tournament in a row and fourth time in total.\u00a0Scotland ran out winners in 1991 but Ireland triumphed in both 2019 and 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ireland have never faced Uruguay or Portugal on the Rugby World Cup stage, but posted their record win in test rugby against the latter earlier this year (106-7). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They will face a South American team in a pool for the first time since Argentina in 2007. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Portugal and Uruguay will meet for the first time at a Rugby World Cup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scotland\u2019s only previous meetings with Uruguay and Portugal both came in the debut tournaments for those teams, in 1999 and 2007 respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Portugal\u2019s first-ever Rugby World Cup match was against Scotland, a 56-10 defeat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Os Lobos have now been paired with at least two European teams in each of their three tournaments<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France will meet Samoa for the first time in a Rugby World Cup pool match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Les Bleus have met Japan on two occasions, including when the tournament was last held in Australia in 2003. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
France were among USA\u2019s opponents at their last Rugby World Cup in 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japan and Samoa are drawn together for the fourth tournament in a row, the Brave Blossoms having won the three most recent encounters after a loss in 1999. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
USA and Japan met in their first-ever Rugby World Cup match, the Men\u2019s Eagles winning 21-18 at Ballymore in 1987.\u00a0Two of the three RWC meetings between Japan and USA have come on Australian soil with USA also winning 39-26 in Gosford in 2003. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Samoa, who lost to USA in the RWC 2027 qualification process, will meet the Eagles in a tournament hosted outside of Europe for the first time, having met in 2007 (France) and 2015 (England).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
England will face Wales for the second time in a RWC pool, having lost 28-25 on home soil in 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tonga are one of two sides that England have scored a century of points against on the Rugby World Cup stage (101-10 in 1999).\u00a0England also beat the ‘Ikale Tahi on two other occasions, in 2007 and 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wales and Tonga last met at a Rugby World Cup in 2003, the Welsh winning 27-20 in Canberra.\u00a0They also faced off in the inaugural tournament in 1987, Wales winning 29-16. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zimbabwe have three new Rugby World Cup opponents, taking the number of different teams they will have faced to eight (only Scotland twice).\u00a0It will be the first time they face a Pacific Islands nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tonga and Zimbabwe\u2019s meeting at RWC 2027 will come 30 years after the \u2018Ikale Tahi ran out 42-13 winners in their only previous test in Harare<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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