The 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup draw will take place on Wednesday, 3 December, and with the Springboks heading into that tournament as the defending champions, there is plenty of important information to note.
The next World Cup will also have a number of tournament changes that are sure to become talking points, with a rather bloated number of 24 teams taking part, and therefore it requires a new format and one big change: a Round of 16 as the first knockout game.
The Springboks are currently well placed in the world rankings ahead of the Rugby World Cup draw
How does the draw work?
Once the 24 teams are confirmed, they are seeded from 1 to 24 based on their World Rugby rankings at the time of the draw on 3 December.
As things stand, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, France, England and Argentina are the top six teams in the rankings. The next six are Australia, Scotland, Fiji, Italy, Georgia and Wales. The top six teams will be grouped in Band 1, while the next six form Band 2, and so on. Each pool will have one team from each of the four bands.
There is only 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. However, should Australia climb into the top six by December, they would be automatically be the top-ranked team in Pool A, and a team from Band 2 would be drawn alongside them.
What is the format?
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 respectively to determine which teams make it out of the pool stage.
Who will my team face in the pool stage?
That will all be decided on Wednesday, 3 December! The draw will take place in Sydney, and is expected to be broadcast on SuperSport.
Which teams have qualified?
The 12 teams that finished in the top three of their pools at Rugby World Cup 2023 have automatically qualified for Rugby World Cup 2027. Those teams are:
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 tournaments, including this year’s Rugby Europe Championship and Rugby Africa Cup. Eleven of those teams are:
Georgia, Spain, Romania, Portugal, Tonga, Canada, United States, Uruguay, Chile, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong China.
There is one final qualification tournament taking place in Dubai in November, with four teams facing off for the final spot at Rugby World Cup 2027: Namibia, Belgium, Samoa and whoever wins a playoff between Brazil and Paraguay which takes place in October.
