Well, let’s just look at the Webb Ellis Cup as if it’s half full of Steinlager for a second. Remember two years ago? The All Blacks faced Ireland in the quarter-finals. A side that had their number in the years leading up to the tournament. And that worked out pretty good. Just like it did four years earlier in Japan.
And in 2015 it was France in Cardiff – bringing back memories of the 2007 upset at the same stage and the All Blacks blew them out.
Or how about the last time Australia held the event? The All Blacks faced their Tri Nations rivals in Melbourne, when yet again South Africa failed to score a try, and New Zealand romped home 29-9.
Nothing would be sweeter than ending the Springboks’ reign at the quarter-final stage again. Yes, everything is fine.
Winners: England
The Swing Low singers may be switching to It’s Coming Home this morning. If England top their group, which would require wins over Tonga, Zimbabwe and Wales (and probably in that order of difficulty), then they’ll jump on the side of the draw which most likely won’t include South Africa, France and the All Blacks. A huge win for England who lifted the World Cup last time it was played in Australia – when they also avoided South Africa and the All Blacks to make the final.
Winners: Argentina, Ireland and Scotland
You can add the Pumas and the World Cup suffering Irish in there as well. The Pumas face a potential banana skin group game against Fiji but will be comfortable playing in Australia and should top their group. Ireland have probably the toughest group with Scotland – but like England, topping the group means not having to meet the All Blacks, South Africa or France until the final.
Rugby World Cup 2027 pools.
Losers: Hong Kong China and Chile
Welcome to the World Cup Hong Kong China. You can start by playing the All Blacks and the Wallabies. The good news is you get to play in the biggest stadiums. Best of luck.
Chile head coach Pablo Lemoine summed up his feelings pretty well.
“If you ask me if I’m happy with the draw, the answer is no. I would have preferred not to be in Group A. It has several drawbacks, such as the limited number of tickets available since it includes the host team, the neighbouring team, and another team from nearby. These are limitations for the Chilean community at the World Cup. These are negative aspects.”
Winners/Losers: Fans/All Blacks and Wallabies, potentially
We have to wait a few months until the match schedule is released on February 3. But the schedule makers have a tough call to make.
Lead the tournament with the headline act, much like they did in Paris with hosts France playing the All Blacks, or give the Wallabies a softer start against Chile or Hong Kong China, which would likely be a one-sided drubbing and not the best advertisement to start a global tournament.
If the Wallabies and All Blacks do open the tournament, then it means Robertson’s side would then have three fairly soft match-ups leading into the quarter-finals – Chile, Hong Kong China in pool play followed by a Round of 16 clash against a third placed runner up – possibly Spain, Samoa or Tonga. They would have wanted a more challenging test leading into a possible quarter-final with the Boks who have group games against Italy and Georgia – teams that could at least offer a challenge at scrumtime.
Losers – France
France have probably the weakest group by getting Japan, the lowest-ranked side in Band 2. And then they’ll have the toughest Round of 16 game against the runner-up in Group D – Scotland or Ireland. Get past that and they’d be rewarded with possibly an easier quarter-final before a looming semi-final with the All Blacks or South Africa.
Winners: People who have to blog World Cup draws
Very little fanfare in Sydney for the draw last night. It was all done in a studio, we didn’t even get a live shot of the Sydney Opera House. There was some padding for 30 minutes and probably over-reliance on Dan Carter to provide the star power – where were John Eales and George Gregan? But it was all done in about 45 minutes – just what you need for a draw.
The complete opposite of what we’ll get on Saturday morning with a dragged-out Fifa World Cup draw, including needless speeches and celebs.
Cameron McMillan has been a sports journalist since 2003 and is NZME’s Deputy Head of Sport.