Springboks Await Their Fate For World Cup Draw

Four-time Rugby World Cup Champions South Africa will learn their fate when the draw for the 2027 Rugby World Cup takes place on Wednesday, 3 December in Sydney at 11h00 South African time. 

Unlike the 2023 Rugby World Cup – which had 20 teams divided into four pools of five teams – the 2027 edition will be expanded to 24 teams – comprising six pools with four teams in each pool. 

In 2023, the Springboks were grouped alongside Ireland, Scotland, Tonga, and Romania.

An opening game 18-3 victory over Scotland was followed by a 76-0 mauling of Romania.

In their third game, the Springboks faced Ireland in one of the most highly anticipated games of the tournament, with the Irish coming into the tournament as one of the favourites. In a tightly-contested affair, the Springboks succumbed to defeat at the Stade de France, 13-8.  

Rassie Erasmus’ men bounced back against Tonga in the final game, beating the Pacific islanders 49-18.

The new tournament, with more teams, will give rise to a different format. 

One of the key differences between the last Rugby World Cup and the 2027 tournament is that the first knockout round will now be a round of 16 –  as opposed to teams going directly into a quarterfinal in previous editions. 

This means that the top two teams from each pool will progress to the round of 16, while the four best third-place teams will also progress. 

Those four teams will be determined by competition points first, and if that doesn’t separate the sides, then points difference and try difference will be the next factors used, respectively, to determine which teams make it out of the pool stage. 

The defeat to Ireland meant that the Springboks would meet hosts France in the quarter-finals, while Ireland had the ‘reward’ of facing New Zealand.

Instead of 48 matches as we had at the last Men’s Rugby World Cup, we now have 52 games. But crucially, it does not equate to more games for the players. 

While we have more knockout matches, the change from five teams in each pool to four has meant one fewer match for each team in the pool stage. 

For example, when South Africa won the Rugby World Cup 2023, they played seven games – four games in the pool stage and a quarter-final, a semi-final, and a final. 

If they were to reach the final of the Rugby World Cup 2027, they would still only play seven games: three games in the pool stage, then the Round of 16, a quarter-final, a semi-final, and a final.

The extra knockout round creates a sense of added jeopardy. 

The Rugby World Cup champions have forged a reputation of being experts at knockout rugby, and this was evident in 2023 when they knocked out France in the quarterfinals, England in the semifinals, and New Zealand in the final – each game by a margin of one point with scores of 29-28, 16-15, and 12-11 respectively. 

Five minimum rest days will be observed between matches in Australia. This might prove crucial to the Springboks, who will be determined to be the first team to win three consecutive Rugby World Cups and extend their tournament triumphs to an unprecedented five.