Re-live the Draw for Rugby World Cup 2021
Reigning champions New Zealand are set to face Australia, Wales and the Final Qualification Tournament Winner in Pool A.
Pool B sees Canada set to face USA for the first time in the pool stages of a Rugby World Cup alongside Europe 1 and Asia 1.
Rugby World Cup 2017 runners-up England are drawn in Pool C alongside bronze medallists France, South Africa and Fiji, who are set to make their Rugby World Cup debut.
Rugby World Cup 2021 will take place from 18 September-16 October in Auckland and Whangarei and will again feature 12 teams allocated into three pools of four teams.
Pools
| Pool A |
| New Zealand |
| Australia |
| Wales |
| Final Qualification winner |
| Pool B |
| Canada |
| USA |
| Europe 1 |
| Asia 1 |
| Pool C |
| England |
| France |
| South Africa |
| Fiji |
How the draw worked
The teams were randomly drawn from each band, starting with Band 4 (Asia 1, Fiji, Final Qualification winner), then Band 3 (Wales, Europe 1, South Africa), then Band 2 (France, Australia, USA) and finally Band 1 (New Zealand, England, Canada). The first drawn in each band was placed in Pool A, the second in Pool B and the third in Pool C.
Draw Seedings
Seven of the 12 teams qualified directly from Rugby World Cup 2017 in Ireland: reigning champions New Zealand, runners-up England, bronze medallists France, losing semi-finalists USA, plus Canada, Australia and Wales who finished fifth, sixth and seventh respectively. The remaining five places are filled through a global qualification process which kicked off in South Africa in August 2019. All teams are seeded based on their World Rugby Women’s Ranking on 1 January, 2020 * and organised into draw bands, shown below. (* the last time all teams were able to play before the emergence of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic).
