Wallabies want to face All Blacks to open World Cup
Darren Walton |
Wallabies captain Harry Wilson is urging organisers to pit Australia against the All Blacks in a blockbuster tournament opener after the trans-Tasman rivals were drawn in the same group for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Unseeded at Wednesday night’s much-anticipated draw in Sydney, Australia were automatically placed in Pool A as the tournament hosts.
The three-time world champion All Blacks then lobbed alongside Australia, Chile and Hong Kong China in Pool A.
The Wallabies are certain to feature in the showpiece opener in Perth on October 1, but officials won’t reveal their opponents until next year.
Despite the Wallabies losing their past 11 straight Tests against New Zealand stretching back to November 2020, Wilson wants the All Blacks first-up.
“We’re obviously stoked to get the All Blacks, a team we love ‘versing’ and who we ‘verse’ quite a lot,” Wilson said.
“So to get them in the showpiece event, our first game, it’s really exciting.
“In the World Cup, if you want to win it, you’ve got to beat the best teams, and they’re obviously one of the best teams in the world.”
Should the Wallabies spring a boilover against the mighty ABs and go on to top the group, they would likely strike two-time defending world champions South Africa in the quarter-finals.
That would be another opportunity Wilson would embrace.
“I guess if you beat the All Blacks, it will give our team a lot of confidence to know you probably can beat anyone on your day,” the flanker said.
“So obviously there’s a lot of potential paths you can go down, but if we get the Springboks in the quarter-finals, it will be exciting and it’s a challenge we’re going to have to be ready for.”
Should the world No.7 Wallabies lose to the second-ranked All Blacks, they would still be prohibitive favourites to beat Chile and Hong Kong China – only the second Asian team ever to qualify for a World Cup – and finish group runners-up.
Such a scenario would likely earn Australia a round-of-16 sudden-death showdown with Eddie Jones’ Japan.
On current rankings, Australia are projected to meet England in the quarter-finals.
Should they land on that side of the draw after the pool stages, then take down Japan and England, a semi-final against either Ireland or Argentina would be the most likely outcome.
If they can reverse their alarming run of results and repeat Australia’s 2003 run to the final in the last World Cup on home soil, the Wallabies would almost certainly play either the Springboks, All Blacks or France for the Webb Ellis Cup.
But after losing 10 of 15 Tests in 2025, Wilson knows what the Wallabies must start doing to be genuine threats at the 11th edition of the global showpiece.
“Ultimately, we’ve got to be winning more games,” he said.
“That’s where we want to be as a group.
“We’re obviously very disappointed at the back end of the year. It wasn’t the performances that we want to be putting out there.
“But in saying that, we take a lot of confidence from some of our performances beating (some of) the best teams in the world (including the Springboks).”
In other mouth-watering prospects from Wednesday’s draw, South Africa – chasing an unprecedented third straight World Cup triumph – would likely run into the All Blacks in a heavyweight quarter-final if both sides top their pools.
2027 RUGBY WORLD CUP POOL STAGES DRAW:
Pool A: New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Hong Kong China
Pool B: South Africa, Italy, Georgia, Romania
Pool C: Argentina, Fiji, Spain, Canada
Pool D: Ireland, Scotland, Uruguay, Portugal
Pool E: France, Japan, USA, Samoa
Pool F: England, Wales, Tonga, Zimbabwe
