The Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 draw will take place on Wednesday 3 December and the format for the expanded edition with 24 teams includes for the first time a new Round of 16.
WATCH THE DRAW LIVE HERE AT 9AM
Australia will get things underway in the opening game at Perth Stadium on 1 October 2027, kick-starting a new era for the tournament in its 11th edition.
In previous tournaments going back to 2003, there have traditionally been 20 teams that were divided into four pools of five teams. The top two teams from each pool would then progress to the quarter-finals, which was the first round of the knockouts.
At Australia 2027 there will be 24 teams. That means the tournament requires a new format, which means the introduction of the Round of 16 as the first knock-out stage.
There will now be six pools with four teams in each. The top two teams from each pool will progress to the Round of 16, while the four best third-place teams will also progress. Those four teams will be determined by competition points firstly, and if that doesn’t separate the sides then points difference and try difference will be the next factors used work out which teams make it out of the pool stage.
The change in format means there will now be 52 games instead of 48 as in 2023. There will be a minimum of five rest days between matches.
While there will be more knock out games, the change from five teams in each pool to four has meant one fewer match for each team in the pool stage. In France in 2023, the tournament took 50 days to complete, whereas in Australia in will take place over 43 days.
Wales qualified for 2027 by reaching the quarter finals in France, along with the 11 other teams that finished in the top three in their pools:
France, New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, South Africa, Scotland, Wales, Fiji, Australia, England, Argentina and Japan.
The 12 remaining places were reserved for teams that qualified through various regional tournaments, including this year’s Rugby Europe Championship and Rugby Africa Cup. These teams are:
Georgia, Spain, Romania, Portugal, Tonga, Canada, United States, Uruguay, Chile, Samoa, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong China
The World Rugby Men’s Rankings at the end of the November internationals has been used to create four bands of six teams, with each band drawn randomly into Pool A, B, C, D, E or F. Wales are in Band 2 thanks to their world ranking of 11th.
There is one exception to all this. Australia already know they are in Pool A as they are host nation and will therefore contest the opening game on 1 October 2027. The Wallabies are currently in Band 2, which means a team from Band 1 will be drawn and placed in Pool A, and they would automatically be joined by Australia.
BAND 1: South Africa, New Zealand, England, Ireland, France, Argentina
BAND 2: Australia, Fiji, Scotland, Italy, Wales, Japan
BAND 3: Georgia, Uruguay, Spain, USA, Chile, Tonga
BAND 4: Samoa, Portugal, Romania, Hong Kong China, Zimbabwe, Canada
The games will be shared between seven iconic Australian cities: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, Sydney and Townsville.
DID YOU KNOW . . .
- Wales first game at the 2027 World Cup in Australia will be their 50th in the tournament
- Wales has played at every edition of the competition since 1987 and was the host nation in 1999
- Wales has played seven World Cup matches in Australia in 1987 and 2003, winning four and losing three. Wins came in Melbourne (1), Canberra (2) and Brisbane (1), Defeats came in Sydney (1) and Brisbane (2)
- Wales has won their last nine pool matches at the 2019 and 2023 tournaments
- Wales has faced 17 different opponents. The only teams in the 2027 draw they haven’t faced are Spain, Romania, United States, Chile and Hong Kong China
RUGBY WORLD CUP RECORD 1987– 2023
| Year | P | W | D | L | T | C | P | DG | |
| 1987 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 3 | |
| 1991 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 2 | |
| 1999 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 16 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 22 | 13 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 1 | |
| 2019 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 21 | 11 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 16 | 10 | 1 | |
| Total | 49 | 30 | 0 | 19 | 168 | 130 | 97 | 10 |
COUNTRY BY COUNTRY
| NATION | P | W | D | L |
| Argentina | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Australia | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| Canada | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| England | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Fiji | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| France | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Georgia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Ireland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Italy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Japan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Namibia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| New Zealand | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Portugal | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Samoa | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| South Africa | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Tonga | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Uruguay | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |