Dave Rennie calls Rugby World Cup 2027 draw 'crazy' as Springbok clash looms

All Blacks coach Dave Rennie has called the 2027 Rugby World Cup draw "crazy", because it could see the two highest-ranked teams in the world knock each other out in a quarter-final.

The Springboks and the All Blacks sit first and second in the current World Rugby rankings. If the pools go as expected, they would meet in the last eight, which means one of them will be gone before the semi-finals. "It just highlights a crazy draw," Rennie said.

How the path lines up

South Africa are in Pool B with Italy, Georgia and Romania. New Zealand are in Pool A with Australia, Chile and Hong Kong China. Both are expected to win their pools, and each would then play a third-placed side in the Round of 16 before running into each other.

The task would not get easier after that. Whoever wins that quarter-final would be likely to face France in the semi-finals. South Africa have been there before: they edged France by a narrow margin in the quarter-finals of the last World Cup.

A Springbok-All Black quarter-final would also be a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final.

Rennie was realistic about it all. "But just to win a title, you've got to beat them all anyway, so that's the path in front of us," he said.

All Blacks open in Perth

Before any of that, New Zealand open their campaign against Chile in Perth on Saturday 2 October 2027. A week later, on Saturday 9 October 2027, they play Australia in Sydney. It will be the first time the two former champions have met in pool play.