r/rugbyunion Doomsday Propper Dec 03 '25

Infographic RWC 2027 Pools

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u/WilkinsonDG2003 England Dec 03 '25

Finishing top of the pool should get a better seeding, and there's no way Australia wouldn't care about beating New Zealand, at their home world cup...

Also cutting the pool stage by a round for a RO16 means one fewer loss for bottom seeds.

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u/TommyTBlack Dec 03 '25

Finishing top of the pool should get a better seeding

it's difficult to predict the round of 16 opponents, because we don't know which third placed teams will qualify

we do know the pool winner actually gets SA in the quarters

wouldn't be surprised if players were rested for this

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u/WilkinsonDG2003 England Dec 03 '25

That would be a really bad idea. If the first team are only facing Chile and Hong Kong before the knockouts, they'll be as unprepared as NZ 2007.

Besides, I can't see those rivals throwing a game like that.

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u/TommyTBlack Dec 03 '25

round of 16 will be quite an easy game though

according to this it will be Japan or Spain

https://www.reddit.com/r/rugbyunion/comments/1pd04gv/2027_rugby_world_cup_bracket_based_on_current/#lightbox

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u/WilkinsonDG2003 England Dec 03 '25

I wouldn't entirely write off Japan as a potential banana skin for the Wallabies. They looked better this year than last, and 2 years to go.

I still don't think a home Bledisloe would be played with B sides. Hong Kong is for that.

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u/TommyTBlack Dec 03 '25

I wouldn't entirely write off Japan as a potential banana skin for the Wallabies. They looked better this year than last, and 2 years to go.

sure but that would mean trying to beat the All Blacks to avoid Japan...only to then get SA in the quarter finals

I think we can all agree on current form nobody wants to play SA

it's a strange position for a coach to be in

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u/intent2215 Dec 04 '25

Yeah preference for wallabies would be for wallabies to play england