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Only eight places remain at Rugby World Cup 2027. Four were claimed this past weekend in Europe. This saw four of the twelve qualifying slots in Australia 2027 taken. It remains to be seen how the four finish to finalize who is Europe 1, Europe2 , Europe 3, and Europe 4.
Georgia qualified with ease. The Lelos overcame Switzerland and the Netherlands in their two matches thus far. Portugal had some problems against Belgium but defeated Germany cleanly to qualify. Romania overcame Germany and Belgium in their matches while Spain ended their nightmare of Rugby World Cup controversies to book their spot by beating the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The four join the twelve automatic qualifiers from Rugby World Cup 2023 at Rugby World Cup 2027. This means sixteen teams are presently confirmed for Australia 2027. They are: Australia, Argentina, England, Fiji, France, Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, and Wales.
World Rugby increased the World Cup from 20 to 24 places. Australia 2027 marks the second expansion in history; the first was for the 1999 tournament. Spain, Uruguay and Namibia were debutants in 1999. Georgia debuted in 2003, Portugal debuted in 2007, Russia debuted in 2011 and Chile debuted in 2023.
Hong Kong are all but guaranteed of debuting in 2027. This is because World Rugby allocated Asia 1 a spot. It comes at the expense of others with South America notably only allocated one spot despite Uruguay and Chile both undeniably being superior to Hong Kong.
The European fixtures are the first regional qualifiers for 2025. When the year is all said and done the remaining eight spots for Rugby World Cup 2027 will be taken. They will be in South America, Africa, Asia and North America / Oceania (Pacific Nations Cup – PNC excluding Fiji and Japan). The last of these reasons is where Canada and the USA will compete. They are up against Samoa and Tonga in fighting for places.
Repechage will see the final spot determined. It will be a last change for teams from different regions. In total there will be four competitors in the hunt for the spot. South America 3, PNC 6, Europe 5 and Africa 2 or Asia 2.
Four teams will compete for the South America 1 spot. The qualifiers area the South American finals as the process began in 2024. The finals see Uruguay vs Paraguay and Brazil vs Chile. The winning teams, on aggregate, will contest the South American Final.
After the twenty-four competitors have been confirmed the draw will be made. It will take place in December 2025 or January 2026 and will utilize a a seeding system based on World Rankings at the close of November.
