Rugby World Cup 2027: Format, Draw, Host Cities & Preview
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World Rugby is set to debut an expanded 24-team World Cup in 2027, which will make it the most expansive international tournament in the history of rugby union.
The Rugby World Cup will generate plenty of activity in the betting industry, particularly in vibrant jurisdictions such as the Republic of Ireland. The sportsbooks featured on comparison platform bettingtop10.ie will offer a vast array of markets on the prestigious tournament.
Ireland will be one of the favourites to win the World Cup, despite their record of never progressing beyond the quarter-finals. The Boys in Green are eager to set the record straight.
Rugby World Cup 2027 – Format
The new format will feature six pools of four teams. The top two teams from each pool will progress to the round of 16, where they will be joined by the four best third-placed sides.
Those third-placed teams will be ranked by competition points first. Points difference will then come into the fray, while try difference will be used as a last resort.
Despite expanding the tournament to include more teams, the 2027 World Cup is expected to run for 43 days, down by seven from the 2023 edition. However, things start to get a bit tricky from the round of 16.
- The top team in Pools A, B, C and D will face teams that finished third in their group.
- The winners of Pools E and F will play the runners-up from Pools D and B.
- The runners-up from Pools A and C will then take on the runners-up from Pools E and F.
There have been complaints that the format is imbalanced, but World Rugby insists that those concerns will be addressed in the quarter finals when it evens itself out.
For example, the winner of Pool A will play a third-place team in the round of 16, but could face the winner of Pool B if that team advances. The format is as follows:
- Three pool matches
- Round of 16
- Quarter-final
- Semi-final
- Final
Rugby World Cup 2027 – Group Stage Draw
Teams were seeded from one to 24 based on their world ranking at the time of the draw before they were split into four bands of six nations.
Each pool featured one team from each of the four bands, and the new seeding system forced several nations to up their game.
The format added extra incentive for teams in the Autumn Internationals as they made a late push to move up the world rankings to secure a better seeding spot.
Australia were placed in Pool A as the hosts. But they will face top-seeded New Zealand as they are not in the top six of the world rankings. Here is the draw for the 2027 Rugby World Cup:
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
Rugby World Cup 2027 – Host Cities
There will be 52 games at the Rugby World Cup 2027, four more than the 2023 edition in France. The tournament will be hosted in seven cities across Australia.
- Townsville, Queensland
- Adelaide, South Australia
- Brisbane, Queensland
- Melbourne, Victoria
- Newcastle, New South Wales
- Perth, Western Australia
- Sydney, New South Wales
The full match schedule will be announced on February 3, 2026, with pre-sale tickets for registered fans available 15 days later.
Rugby World Cup 2027 preview
South Africa will enter the 2027 Rugby World Cup as the favourites to win the title, given their trophy-laden history in the tournament.
The Springboks are the most successful nation in Rugby World Cup history, winning the title four times, including back-to-back success across the last two editions.
The defending champions will fancy their chances of becoming the first nation to win the World Cup three times in a row. However, that may be easier said than done.
New Zealand will feel they have a score to settle after narrowly missing out in the 2023 final. The All Blacks have won the title three times and will be a popular pick with sports bettors.
No team has stopped either nation from lifting the title in the past five editions, so there is a decent chance that they could dominate the tournament again in 2027.
Only Australia and England have stopped either of them from winning the title since 1987, but Ireland will be hoping to join that exclusive group in 2027.
Ireland should progress from Pool D, but it remains to be seen if they can end their quarter-final hoodoo and reach the final for the first time.
