England have been handed a potentially soft route through the 2027 Rugby World Cup draw all the way to the final in Sydney, facing no other team from the top five of the current world rankings.

Two of the four previous men’s World Cup winners – New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and England – are likely to be knocked out before the semi-finals, while perennial underachievers Ireland and France are eyeing benevolent runs to the last four, at least.

With the knockout stages already mapped out, Steve Borthwick’s England can see a possible path to the final past Italy (ranked No 10 in the world) in the last 16, Australia (No 7) in the quarter-finals and Argentina (No 6) in the semi-finals.

Rugby World Cup 2027 draw in full

Pool A: New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Hong Kong China

Pool B:

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