Ireland to face Scotland again in Rugby World Cup

Ireland will meet Scotland in the group stage of a Rugby World Cup once again as they were drawn together in Pool D for the 2027 competition in Australia alongside Uruguay and Portugal.

Ireland were 36-14 winners when the sides met in the 2023 tournament in France, while they claimed a 27-3 win against the same opponents in Japan in 2019.

Scotland's last win against Ireland came in the 2017 Six Nations, while the Scots' last World Cup win over the Irish came at the 1991 tournament.

While Scotland are familiar foes, there is fresh World Cup opposition with Ireland to face Uruguay and Portugal for the first time at the sport's showpiece event.

Ireland's last meeting with Portugal occurred in July as they ran up a record score in a 106-7 win during their summer tour.

The top two teams in each of the six pools will qualify for the knockout phase, as-well-as the four best third-placed teams.

The winner of Pool D will face one of the teams who finished third in the round of 16, while the second-place team in Pool D are set to take on the winner of Pool E which contains France, Japan, USA and Samoa.

Analysis

If Ireland are to finally reach the Rugby World Cup semi-finals at the ninth time of asking, they will first need to tackle some familiar foes.

For the third tournament running, they will face Six Nations rivals Scotland at the pool stage. The last two went well for Ireland, with 27-3 and 36-14 wins at Japan 2019 and France 2023.

Ireland have had Scotland's number for a while now, winning the past 11 encounters stretching back to the 2018 Grand Slam campaign.

But with Portugal and Uruguay rounding out Pool D, the Scots will undoubtedly pose the biggest threat to Ireland's hopes of finishing top. If Ireland top the pool, they will face a third-placed team from one of Pool B, E or F.

Finishing second, however, would almost certainly leave Ireland with a last-16 match against France, who will be clear favourites to top Pool E ahead of Japan, Samoa and the USA.

Ultimately, it's two years away. Much can happen between then and now. But with the World Cup picture now clear, Ireland head coach Andy Farrell can focus on readying his side for the trek to Australia in 2027.

And considering a mixed autumn campaign that yielded humbling losses to World Cup contenders New Zealand and South Africa, there is much work on the road ahead.

Rugby World Cup 2027 draw

Pool A

New Zealand

Australia

Chile

Hong Kong

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