On Wednesday, the eyes of the rugby world will be on Sydney as the 2027 Rugby World Cup draw gets underway.
All 24 teams will find out who they will play in the newly-expanded tournament scheduled for October 2027, which will feature six pools and an additional knockout round in comparison to previous editions.
Here’s everthing you need to know.
What time is the Rugby World Cup draw?
The draw will take place in Sydney, Australia at 8 p.m. AEDT. That’s 9 a.m. GMT in the UK.
How to watch the draw
The draw will be live in Australia on Stan Sport, 9Gem and 9Now. For global viewers, including the UK, it will be streamed live on World Rugby’s YouTube channel.
ESPN will also be running a live blog with instant reaction and analysis.
How the draw works
The 24 teams will be seeded from 1 to 24 based on their World Rugby rankings at the time of the draw on Dec. 3.
They will then be divided into four groups of six labelled Bands. The top six nations will be grouped into Band 1, the next six Band 2, and so on. Each pool will have one team from each of the four bands.
There is one exception: As Australia are hosting the tournament they have already been placed into Pool A. With the Wallabies sitting outside the top six, they are in Band 2, meaning a team from Band 1 will be drawn and placed in Pool A.
