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Emerging nations boosted by new Rugby World Cup qualification process
By Jon Newcombe
World Rugby has confirmed the new qualification process for Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 that will increase preparation time and open up more opportunities for teams aspiring to be involved in the game’s marquee event.
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By the time the draw is held on the eve of the Six Nations in January 2026, all 24 participants in the expanded tournament will be known, with 12 qualifiers joining the 12 teams who confirmed their place in Australia at last year’s event.
To date, France, New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, champions South Africa, Scotland, Wales, Fiji, Australia, England, Argentina and Japan have all made it through after finishing in the top three of their respective pools at France 2023.
RWC 2023 was the first to feature three South American teams in Argentina, Uruguay and Rugby World Cup debutants Chile, and the region will now have its own direct qualifier spot rather than competing with USA and Canada for what used to be called Americas 1 and 2.
The same applies to Asia, where up until now, Japan stand in isolation as the region’s only representative. However, that will change at Australia 2027 as the winners of the Asia Rugby Championship in 2025 will now qualify directly to the tournament, paving the way for the likes of Korea or Hong Kong China to rub shoulders with the game’s elite.
As usual, the Rugby Africa Cup winners will qualify. Since 1999, Namibia have flown the flag for the region alongside South Africa, but Zimbabwe will be hankering after a return having been present in 1987 and 1991. Ivory Coast played in the 1995 tournament, while Kenya, who could be a contender, have yet to feature.
For the first time in Rugby World Cup history there wasn’t any North American representation at France 2023, but that cannot happen next time around as the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup will double up as the qualification tournament.
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With Fiji and Japan already qualified that leaves Samoa, Tonga, USA and Canada competing for the three designated Pacific places. The Pacific Nations Cup 2025’s bottom-ranked team will compete with the Sudamerica Rugby Championship 2025 runners-up for the Play-Off place.
Europe has four automatic places this time around, and with only results from the Rugby Europe Championship 2025 counting towards qualification rather than the customary two-year cycle, reaching the semi-finals will be enough to make it to Australia.
Perennial champions Georgia, RWC 2023 surprise package Portugal and Romania flew the flag for the Rugby Europe Championship in 2023 and Spain will be favourites to join them, having been absent from the Rugby World Cup since 1999.
However, the opportunity to make it to the Rugby World Cup won’t have been lost on the likes of Belgium, who nearly qualified for the semi-finals of this year’s Rugby Europe Championship after upsetting Portugal in their first game.
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Germany came close to making their Rugby World Cup bow in 2019, only to miss out to Canada in a fiercely competitive repechage, while newly-promoted Rugby Europe Trophy winners Switzerland now also have a chance of giving the game in their country a massive shot in the arm.
Having undergone its first expansion since the tournament went from 16 teams to 20 in 1999, Rugby World Cup 2027 will have a new format.
RWC 2027 will feature six pools of four teams, with a round of 16 added before the quarter-finals. This will reduce the tournament window from seven to six weeks.
Consideration is also being given to using the qualification process to determine which teams will participate in the inaugural Nations Championship Division 2 in 2026.
World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “This qualification process is on the side of growth and sustainability for the game as a whole. We are fully committed to respecting the fundamental principle of expanded opportunity, and the blend of existing regional competitions, new cross-region competitions and a final qualification process reflects that ambition.
“Providing certainty to the unions in pursuit of the Australian dream will help teams fine tune their preparations and provide fans with an exciting road to Rugby World Cup 2027 next year where all places will be up for grabs.”
“It is our desire for the process to qualify teams into the first iteration of the Nations Championship Division 2, which begins in 2026. This has the major advantage of ensuring that all teams will have strong, high-level competition and preparation ahead of Rugby World Cup 2027, raising standards globally.”
This is a great and timely initiative. A huge audience for the Olympic 7s in the US. Rugby is a brilliant product. Hate to use that word but thats the world we live in.
The 1/8th finals will add to the spectacle. The last match before the knock out stage should also put a global focus on the emerging teams. Imagine if Portugal Fiji had got the global coverage it deserved last time?
on one hand I would be delighted, if rugby union would grow in popularity outside the traditional nations .....
on the other hand, I am not sure, adding 4 more teams to the RWC is the solution .... potential games like All Blacks vs. Hong Kong or Springboks vs Switzerland will offer very little attraction and quite some risk of injuries for the players fielded by the top teams (not a question of bad will, but the (non-professional) players of 4th-tier nations might act rather erratic ...)
(btw.: I am living in Switzerland, so I am certainly not biased against them participating9
The REC at least is stronger. Spain are the same level or better (if they can their hands on their Top14 players) than Portugal. The Dutch ran Spain close twice in a row. The five best countries in the REC are full pro (Georgia) to semi pro (The Netherlands). I would expect Georgia, Spain, Portugal and Romania to qualify but the Dutch could throw a spanner in the works. They're getting better every year and have a professional pathway in place with 6 regional academies where kids start training 10 hours per week from 12 onwards. They're at the WXV and were at the U20 Trophy. Very professional over here in NL for a tier 2 nation. When I came here (I'm Kiwi) early 2000s, they hardly had any youth rugby at all.
besides if you field amateur teams, I suppose there will be uncontested scrums (anything else would be just crazy ....) - who want's something like that? .... ok, maybe the "modern rugby"-fraction, who want's to ban scrums altogether
Oh there will be another excuse coming up when they fail again
So long as they make it easier for Ireland to win it! The Draw. Blah blah blah.
Again you make an unprovoked attack on Ireland. (It kills you that we are better than SA. Not the best in the world, just better than SA)
Look the whole rugby world agrees that the draw for the last RWC (and all preceding RWCs) was a farce. You rail against this because you think it diminsihed the SA win, so fiction is more important than fact for a fanatic like you. But its a fact. World Rugby has at last changed it based on the 2023 fiasco.
It made the 2023 RWC a lottery. Two top 4 teams were guaranteed to be eliminated before the final. Two teams ranked 6-10 were guaranteed to make the SF. The public want to see the top 4 have a chance to duke it out in the semis.
And for the second RWC in a row you had a team who couldn't even win their pool winning the RWC. Something very very wrong. A team who wins a RWC should be good enough to win their pool. It adds to the perception that the draw turned it into a lottery. SA gor the luck (England were better, red v NZ, ref V France).