2027 Rugby World Cup draw: when is it, how do I watch, who could Hong Kong play?

Hong Kong’s men will discover their 2027 Rugby World Cup opponents on Wednesday, giving them little less than two years to prepare for the biggest games in the city’s history. With the 24 teams for an expanded tournament now set, all that remains to be seen is who will await Logan Asplin’s side in Australia. So, here is everything you need to know about the draw and what happens next. When is the draw and how can I watch it? The draw for the 2027 Rugby World Cup will take place in Sydney at 8pm local time, which is 5pm Hong Kong time. Hong Kong’s players and coaches are expected to gather to watch it together, but with the ceremony being shown on RugbyPass and World Rugby’s YouTube channel, a quick 15 minutes at the end of the day shouldn’t be out of the question for everyone else. How will the draw work? The move to six pools of four teams makes things very easy to follow. Teams will be drawn from one of four bands, with the top six sides in the world in Band 1, the next six in Band 2 and so on. As hosts, Australia already know they are in Pool A and will play the opening game on October 1 in Perth. Ranked seventh in the world, the Wallabies will be joined by one team from each of the other three bands. Which band are Hong Kong in? Hong Kong, who are 23rd in the world, are in band 4, which is the six bottom-ranked teams who qualified for the tournament. The other sides in their grouping are: Samoa (19), Portugal (20), Romania (22), Zimbabwe (24) and Canada (25). The top band includes the world’s best: South Africa, New Zealand, England, Ireland, France and Argentina. Hosts Australia are in Band 2, alongside Fiji, Scotland, Italy, Wales and Japan, while Georgia, Uruguay, Spain, the USA, Chile and Tonga make up Band 3. What’s the format? The top two teams from each pool will progress to the round of 16, while crucially for Hong Kong, 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. There will then be a round of 16, where the teams that finish top of pools A, B, C and D will face a third-place team, while the teams that finish top of pools E and F will face teams that finished second in their pool. Where will games be played? There are seven host cities: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, Sydney and Townsville. Matches have been divided between them. Adelaide gets five pool matches; Brisbane has six pool matches, two round of 16 matches and two quarter-finals; Melbourne will stage seven pool matches and two round of 16 matches; Newcastle just four pool matches; Perth gets the opening ceremony, five pool matches and two round of 16 matches; Sydney hosts five pool matches, two round of 16 matches, two quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final; and Townsville four pool matches. The third-place play-off is also in Sydney, but as the most pointless game of the entire competition, does anyone really care? Who are the favourites? Well, South Africa, obviously, given they have won the past two editions, are ranked No 1 in the world and possess a scrum that looks like it could happily destroy anything put in front of it – be that a Denny’s breakfast buffet or a pack of snarling Sebastien Chabals. Still, Australia have a habit of coming good when it matters, the All Blacks can never be discounted, and England, who won when the tournament was last Down Under, have started to find a way to win matches they would have lost a year ago. What happens in 2026? If the provisional schedule for next year is to be believed, then Hong Kong have six Test matches against sides they could face in Australia depending on the draw. The Nations Cup begins in July, and if the details of a leaked World Rugby meeting prove correct, Hong Kong will play three matches over consecutive weekends in South America against Samoa, Chile and Uruguay, starting on July 4. Whether that is at one centralised location or spread across the continent remains to be seen. But given it’s World Rugby, it will be designed to cost as much as possible with as little benefit to the game as possible. November brings the second batch of matches, which for Hong Kong means two in Europe on the 7th and 14th, against Canada and the United States, obviously, and then a quick flight home for the only game of the year in the city, against Tonga the following weekend.

2027 Rugby World Cup draw: when is it, how do I watch, who could Hong Kong play?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The city’s men have qualified for the tournament for the first time and are in Band 4 for the ceremony in Sydney

When is the draw and how can I watch it?

How will the draw work?

The city’s men have qualified for the tournament for the first time and are in Band 4 for the ceremony in Sydney