Wallabies draw All Blacks in the group stage for home World Cup

Australia have learnt who they’ll play in the 2027 Rugby World Cup, with the hosts having been drawn in the same group as their Trans-Tasman rivals, New Zealand.

Currently ranked seventh in the world, this meant that Australia sat outside of Band 1, meaning they would have to play a nation with a higher ranking than them in Pool A.

And in the draw, which took place on Wednesday, the Wallabies would have to wait until the last ball was drawn to learn that they would be up against the World No. 2 All Blacks.

This will be the first time that the two nations have met in the group stages in the 10 preceding editions of Rugby Union’s most prestigious tournament, with Australia having lost their previous 11 Tests against New Zealand.

Hong Kong, who will be making its debut appearance in 2027, and Chile round out the teams in the group.

Having increased the number of teams competing in the Rugby World Cup for the first time since 1999, this would see the pool sizes change from four groups of five teams to six groups of four.

With the increase in nations, this means that the knockout stages have been expanded from the quarter finals to a Round of 16.

Under this format, the Wallabies would only need to be amongst the top four third-place finishers to advance to the knockout stages, which would be further than what they did under Eddie Jones at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Should the Wallabies finish on top of Pool A, they will play the third-place finisher of either Pool C (Argentina, Fiji, Spain and Canada), E (France, Japan, the USA and Samoa) or F (England, Wales, Tonga and Zimbabwe) in the Round of 16.

If they finish runners-up, they will take on the runner-up of Pool E. And in the unlikely event they finish third, Australia would be up against the winner of Pool C.

The tournament won’t begin until October 1, with the opening match being played in Perth at Optus Stadium.

Groups for the 2027 Rugby World Cup

Pool A: Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Hong Kong

Pool B: South Africa, Italy, Georgia, Romania

Pool C: Argentina, Fiji, Spain, Canada

Pool D: Ireland, Scotland, Uruguay, Portugal

Pool E: France, Japan, United States of America, Samoa

Pool F: England, Wales, Tonga, Zimbabwe