2027 Men's Rugby World Cup

The 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the eleventh edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It is scheduled to take place in Australia from 1 October to 13 November 2027.

The defending champions are South Africa, who defeated New Zealand 12–11 in the 2023 final.

Expansion
Talks of expanding the tournament to 24 teams had gone on for years, but the expansion talks had intensified after the performances of emerging nations like Chile and Portugal at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and on 4 October 2023, it was reported that World Rugby decided to expand World Cup to 24 teams in order to help grow the sport. Alan Gilpin, its chief executive, has thrown his weight behind the expansion plans and mentioned “very positive signs” due to encouraging performances of some lower-ranked nations during the 2023 Rugby World Cup. A ‘Swiss model’ pool stage similar to those adopted by the European Rugby Champions Cup and football's UEFA Champions League or six pools of four with an additional round of 16 were under consideration. The expansion to 24 teams was confirmed on 24 October 2023.

Finals format
To accommodate the expansion from a 20-team finals tournament to 24 teams, the format was changed from the one used in 2023 with the addition of two extra groups in the group stage, and an extra round in the knockout phase.

Development and preparations
Australia won their bid to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup on 12 May 2022.

Venues
Nine venues in seven cities are potential match venues for the tournament. a Stadium/site used in 2003 Rugby World Cup.

ab Stadium now built on the land of the old Sydney Football Stadium.

Qualification
A total of 12 teams gained automatic qualification for the tournament by finishing in the top three of their pool at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, these positions being determined at the close of the pool stage.

Bidding
World Rugby was hoping to award the bids for both the 2027 and 2031 men's World Cups (along with the bids for the 2025 and 2029 women's World Cups) by May 2022. The process of talking to prospective nations began in February 2021 with the formal candidate process commencing three months later. Finalists were evaluated in February 2022.

As of June 2019, Argentina, Australia and Russia had declared their interest in hosting the 2027 Rugby World Cup, but Argentina withdrew their bid in April 2020, leaving two bidders. There was speculation that the United States and South Africa would be interested in hosting the event, but the South African Rugby Union has stated that it would not be bidding for the 2027 World Cup.

World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont suggested in late 2018 that the host of the Rugby World Cup following the 2023 event in France could be an emerging nation. World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper also suggested in 2019 that World Rugby may bid the 2027 and 2031 World Cups together (as they did with England 2015 and Japan 2019), so that they could make “a bolder decision and a traditional decision.” The hosts for the 2027 and 2031 tournaments will be revealed in May 2022.

The fact that three consecutive World Cups (England 2015, Japan 2019, and France 2023) will have occurred in the northern hemisphere made the southern hemisphere countries considered the favourites.

On 12 May 2022, it was announced that Australia would host the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Australia
Rugby Australia announced on 13 December 2017 that Australia would bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Australia has previously hosted the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup together with New Zealand, as well as the 2003 Rugby World Cup on its own.

Argentina
Argentina had announced on 5 October 2016 that it would bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, but withdrew its bid in April 2020. Argentina has never hosted the tournament before, and World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont had pledged that he would back the right of countries such as Argentina to bid for the event. Argentina is the only country to reach the World Cup semi-finals that has not hosted any World Cup matches. In April 2020, Argentina withdrew its bid to strengthen the Australian bid, making Australia favourites for the 2027 Rugby World Cup host.

Russia
Stanislav Druzhinin of the Russian Rugby Union said at a meeting on 31 May 2019 that Russia would apply to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Russia would use the 2018 FIFA World Cup stadiums and legacy for the 2027 Rugby World Cup. President Vladimir Putin backed Russia's bid to host the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Rugby Union of Russia could not proceed with its bid to host after Court of Arbitration for Sport imposed a two-year ban on 17 December 2020 on Russia hosting any major sports tournament.