The 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the 11th edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It is scheduled to take place in Australia from 1 October to 13 November 2027. It will be the first tournament to be branded as the Men's Rugby World Cup, a change that was announced in October 2023 to promote gender parity. It will also be the first to host 24 teams.[1]
World Rugby was hoping to award the bids for both the 2027 and 2031 men's World Cups (along with the bids for the 2025 and 2029 Women's World Cups) by May 2022. The process of talking to prospective nations began in February 2021 with the formal candidate process commencing three months later. Finalists were evaluated in February 2022.[3]
By June 2019, Argentina, Australia and Russia had declared their interest in hosting the 2027 Rugby World Cup,[4][5] but Argentina withdrew their bid in April 2020, leaving two bidders.[6] There was speculation that the United States and South Africa would be interested in hosting the event, but the South African Rugby Union has stated that it would not be bidding for the 2027 World Cup.[7]
World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont suggested in late 2018 that the host of the Rugby World Cup following the 2023 event in France could be an emerging nation.[8] World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper also suggested in 2019 that World Rugby may bid the 2027 and 2031 World Cups together (as they did with England 2015 and Japan 2019), so that they could make "a bolder decision and a traditional decision."[9] The hosts for the 2027 and 2031 tournaments were to be revealed in May 2022.[10]
The fact that three consecutive World Cups (England 2015, Japan 2019, and France 2023) occurred in the Northern Hemisphere made the Southern Hemisphere countries considered the favourites.[11]
On 12 May 2022, it was announced that Australia would host the 2027 Rugby World Cup.[12]
Announced bidders
Australia
Rugby Australia announced on 13 December 2017 that Australia would bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.[13] Australia has previously hosted the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup together with New Zealand, as well as the 2003 Rugby World Cup on its own.
Withdrawn bids
Argentina
Argentina had announced on 5 October 2016 that it would bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, but withdrew its bid in April 2020. Argentina has never hosted the tournament before, and World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont had pledged that he would back the right of countries such as Argentina to bid for the event.[14] Argentina is the only country to reach the World Cup semi-finals that has not hosted any World Cup matches.[15] In April 2020, Argentina withdrew its bid to strengthen the Australian bid, making Australia favourites for the 2027 Rugby World Cup host.[6][16]
Russia
Stanislav Druzhinin of the Russian Rugby Union said at a meeting on 31 May 2019 that Russia would apply to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Russia would use the 2018 FIFA World Cup stadiums and legacy for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.[17][18] President Vladimir Putin backed Russia's bid to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup.[19] Rugby Union of Russia could not proceed with its bid to host after Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) imposed a two-year ban on 17 December 2020 on Russia hosting any major sports tournament.[20]
Expansion
Talks of expanding the tournament to 24 teams intensified after the performances of emerging nations like Chile and Portugal at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and on 4 October 2023, it was reported that World Rugby had decided to expand the World Cup to 24 teams in order to help grow the sport.[21] A "Swiss model" pool stage similar to those adopted by the European Rugby Champions Cup and football's UEFA Champions League, or six pools of four with an additional round of 16 were under consideration.[22]
The expansion to 24 teams was confirmed on 24 October 2023,[23][24][25] with the format later confirmed in October 2025.
To accommodate the expansion from a 20-team finals tournament to 24 teams, the format was changed from the one used since the 2003 Rugby World Cup.[23][25] Instead of the historical four pools of five teams, there will now be six pools with four teams in each. The top two teams from each pool, along with the four best third-place teams, will progress to the knockout stage, commencing with a newly included Round of 16 round. At the conclusion of the tournament, 52 matches would have taken place, an increase on the 48 matches taken place since 2003.[26]
Venues
Eight venues in seven cities have been chosen for the tournament.[27][28] The opening match, as well as the opening ceremony, will be at Perth Stadium, while the final (including both semi-finals and the bronze final) will be played at Stadium Australia in Sydney.[29]
In early January 2025, it was reported that no matches would take place in the state of Victoria after the Victoria State Government pulled its bid in protest of Rugby Australia's (RA) revocation of Melbourne Rebels' participation in Super Rugby Pacific.[30] The full list of host cities was revealed later in the month and confirmed that the state of Victoria would host games in Melbourne,[31][32] with the venue yet to be decided. In January 2026, Docklands Stadium was confirmed to be the Melbourne venue.[33]World Rugby reportedly struck a deal to host the tournament matches at the venue instead of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) after the latter's availability could not be guaranteed in October 2027 due to an exclusive clause in a deal between the Victorian government and the National Football League (NFL).[34]
A total of 12 teams gained automatic qualification for the tournament by finishing in the top three of their pool at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, these positions being determined at the close of the pool stage.[35] The qualification process for the tournament was confirmed by World Rugby on 13 August 2024.[36] Four teams qualified from Europe, along with one each from Africa and Asia. Four teams qualified from the Pacific, one from South America, and one from a South America/Pacific play-off. The final team, Samoa the fourth Pacific team, was decided[37] in a four-team repechage tournament consisting of Belgium, winners of their continental ranking finals, Namibia as runners-up in their continental tournament, Samoa, the loser of the South America/Pacific/play off, and Brazil, who replaced Paraguay after the latter had fielded an ineligible player in their third-place playoff in the South American qualifier.[38]
In May 2025, World Rugby confirmed that the draw would take place on 3 December 2025,[40] and the format for the draw was later confirmed in September 2025.[26] For the first time, the draw took place after all teams had qualified. All of the 24 qualified teams were ranked within the top 25 of the world rankings. The only top 25 team to miss out on qualifying was 21st-ranked Belgium. Belgium drew to Samoa on the final matchday of the Final Qualification Tournament, which meant they finished behind Samoa by 1 point in the table.
The 24 teams were divided into six pools, with four teams in each. In the draw, one team from each band (described below) was randomly allocated to each pool. As hosts, Australia was automatically allocated to Pool A.[26]
The method for determining the pools was that the 24 qualified teams were divided into four bands, using the World Rugby Rankings at the end of the 2025 November international window to determine how the teams will be divided into the bands.
Band 1: Seeds 1 to 6
Band 2: Seeds 7 to 12
Band 3: Seeds 13 to 18
Band 4: Seeds 19 to 24
This meant the 24 qualified teams were seeded as follows (world ranking as of 1 December 2025, the final rankings before the draw.):
Competing countries were divided into six pools of four teams (pools A to F) as described above. Teams in each pool will play one another in a round-robin, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage, to be joined by the 4 highest ranked third placed teams.
The winner of the Match in which the two tied Teams have played each other shall be the higher ranked.
The Team which has the best difference between points scored for and points scored against in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked.
The Team which has the best difference between tries scored for and tries scored against in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked.
The Team which has scored most points in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked.
The Team which has scored most tries in all its pool Matches shall be the higher ranked.
Should the tie be unresolved at the conclusion of steps 1 through 5, the rankings as per the updated Official World Rugby World Rankings on 2 October 2023 will determine the higher ranked Team. See the official World Rugby Rankings.
For clarification, in the case of a tie between three or more Teams at the end of the pool phase, once the highest ranked Team has been determined following the above criteria, to determine the next higher ranked Team the process would repeat, starting at the first criterion.
The knockout stage will consist of four single-elimination rounds culminating in a final and a third-place playoff. In the case of a tie in regulation time, two 10-minute periods of extra time will be played to determine a winner. If the scores are tied at the end of extra time, an additional 10-minute "sudden death" period will be played, with the first team to score any points being the winner. If the score still remains tied, a kicking competition will ensue.
While the positions of the winner and runner-up in each pool is fixed in the bracket, the four best third placed teams can find themselves in a number of different positions in the knock-out, depending which four pools they emerge from, but although fifteen different combinations of pool teams can emerge, each possible combination of four teams can only be accommodated in one manner. Furthermore, the construction of the draw is such that if the 3rd place team comes from any of pools A, B, C, or D they can only appear in one Round of 16 knockout match; meanwhile if the 3rd place team is from Pools E and/or F they can potentially appear in any of the slots, to ensure that only novel games take place during the first two knockout rounds.[41]
In the event of a tie in pool points for the 3rd placed team they will be separated by points difference, points scored, and tries scored, in that order. In the event teams are still tied after applying those three criteria, the team with the highest World Rugby Men's Ranking, as of 18 October 2027 will progress.[42]
The tournament will be the first branded as the Men's Rugby World Cup, a change that was announced in October 2023.[43] All previous editions were branded as simply the Rugby World Cup, with the Women's tournament branded as the Women's Rugby World Cup between 1991 and 2017 and without a gender designation in the 2021 tournament.
123The top two teams of the 2025 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, Fiji and Japan, respectively, already qualified based on their performance in the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The next best placed teams would fill the Pacific 1 and 2 berths.
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