Rugby World Cup 2027 will see Australia take on New Zealand after the tournament’s pool groupings were unveiled in Sydney last night (December 3).
Australia is ranked second in Pool A, behind New Zealand, with Chile and Hong Kong after a recent string of losses relegated them from the top tier of seeded teams.
The tournament will run from October 1 to November 13, 2027.
Australia and New Zealand are likely to open the tournament in Perth; the other confirmed host cities are Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney and Townsville while Canberra misses out.
RWC 2027 POOLS
24 teams will compete across six pools of four teams each in a first for the tournament. There will be a Round of 16 qualifying stage before knockouts begin.
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.
Source: World Rugby
It’s a pool of firsts for the Wallabies who have never played Hong Kong or Chile.
“Were obviously stoked to get the All Blacks,” captain Harry Wilson told Rugby Australia’s www.rugby.com.au website.
“We verse quite a lot so to get them in the showpiece event, our first game, it’d be really exciting.
“In a World Cup, if you want to win it, you’ve got to beat the best teams, and they’re obviously one of the best teams in the world.”
RWC 27 CALCULATIONS
If the Wallabies finish second in the pool, they are likely to face Japan (favoured to be Pool E runners-up) and most possibly England in the quarter-finals.
If Australia wins their pool, they are likely to face Spain/Canada, USA or Tonga then most likely face defending champions South Africa.
“Theres a lot of potential paths you can go down but if we get the Springboks in a quarter-finals, it’ll be exciting. It’s a challenge which were going to have to be ready for,” Wilson says about the possible outcome.
“It’s really exciting. The Wallabies play (New Zealand) four times in the lead-up and it gives you a great opportunity to really plot a path to get up and organise for that game,” outgoing Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt says.
Qld Reds head coach Less Kiss will take over from Schmidt before the tournament.
“Chile and Hong Kong China, they’re two newcomers that will challenge you in a different way; challenge you to keep that level of performance to a certain height so that when you hit the round of 16, you hit the ground running.”
EX-AB CARTER HAS HIS SAY
Former All Black flyhalf Dan Carter told World Rugby that consistent build-up over the tournament will be vital.
“The beauty of having six pools is that you can really build into the World Cup, especially for those top teams,” he says.
“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.”
Carter believes the All Blacks are not at a level to win a World Cup yet as they rebuild player depth.
“I think under Scott Robertson the priority during this Rugby World Cup cycle has been to grow depth,” he says.
“We (New Zealand) lost a lot of world class, experienced players after 2023 so he knew that for 2027 he needed depth and he has 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,” Carter says.
“They know there’s a lot of work to be done over the next two years.”
DID YOU KNOW?
- Australia and New Zealand have been drawn together in a RWC pool for the first time; this will be their first RWC meeting since the 2015 final was won 34-17 by New Zealand at Twickenham, London.
- The Wallabies will face a South American team for the fifth time in a pool after they met Argentina (1991 and 2003) and Uruguay (2015 and 2019).
- The match schedule will be announced on Tuesday, February 3, 2026.
- A two-week ticket presale window starts on February 18.
For more news and information, including how to access tickets in the presale and secure your tickets, visit rugbyworldcup.com/2027.
