Back in 2020, the Rugby World Cup Pools were drawn for the 2023 event in Paris. Since that day, we’ve had the final qualifiers and scandals, swaps and rejigs. But we know what the pools are.

It hasn’t always been plain sailing. For example, Romania replaced Spain in Pool B after the latter’s appeal against their disqualification was dismissed in June 2022. Spain fielded an ineligible player during qualification. And with the world order flipped on it’s head since the draw was made a few years ago, some have asked: How would the Rugby World Cup pools look based on today’s rankings?

Related: Rugby World Cup fixtures

However, here are the Rugby World Cup Pools today:

Pool A

New Zealand
France
Italy
Uruguay
Namibia

Pool B

South Africa
Ireland
Scotland
Tonga
Romania

Pool C

Wales
Australia
Fiji
Georgia
Portugal

Pool A

England
Japan
Argentina
Samoa
Chile

The initial draw for the pools for RWC 2023 (Getty Images)

England captain Owen Farrell said: “It’s a great pool to be part of. If you look across them all, they’re all tough, tough pools. With the way Japan and Argentina are going at the minute and some of the rugby that has been played over the last few years by them both obviously it’s going to be a tough pool.”

The knockout stages will follow the same format as previous years, with teams from Pools A and B then Pools C and D meeting in the quarter-finals. So Wales and England could meet in the last eight, for example.

QF1 – Winner Pool C v Runner-up Pool D
QF2 – Winner Pool B v Runner-up Pool A
QF3 – Winner Pool D v Runner-up Pool C
QF4 – Winner Pool A v Runner-up Pool B

Then the semi-finals will be the Winner of QF1 v Winner QF2 and the Winner QF3 v Winner QF4.

France 2023 will kick off on Friday 8 September 2023 and the final will take place on 21 October 2023. The official ticket resale platform is available via tickets.rugbyworldcup.com

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