The Springboks will head into the 2027 Rugby World Cup chasing what would be a remarkable third global title in succession, and this week the draw will take place to determine which teams are in their pool.
The tournament itself will be held between 1 October and 13 November 2027 and will be the first tournament to feature an expanded format contested by the world’s top 24 teams.
After another successful season, the Springboks finished the year at the top of the rankings, which will have a direct impact on the seedings for the draw, which takes place in Sydney on Wednesday, 3 December at 11:00 (SA time).
WHERE TO WATCH THE RUGBY WORLD CUP DRAW
The draw will take place at a television studio in Sydney, and World Rugby have directed viewers to watch it unfold either via RugbyPass TV and World Rugby YouTube.
The SuperSport TV guide shows no indication that they will be broadcasting the draw live, but SA Rugby have planned a post event press conference with Siya Kolisi and Rassie Erasmus.
How does the draw work?
With the 24 teams confirmed, they are seeded from 1 to 24 based on their World Rugby rankings at the time of the draw on 3 December.
South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, France, England and Argentina finished the November Test window as the top six teams in the rankings. The next six are Australia, Fiji, Scotland, Italy, Wales and Japan. The top six teams will be grouped in Band 1, while the next six form Band 2, and so on. Each pool will have one team from each of the four bands.
There is only one exception to all this: Australia already know they are in Pool A as they are host nation and will therefore contest the opening game on 1 October 2027.
The Wallabies are in Band 2, which means a team from Band 1 will be drawn and placed in Pool A, and they would automatically be joined by Australia.
