All 24 teams who will compete at Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 will be in action on Saturday, 11 July. 

Six back-to-back test matches, featuring the Rugby Championship and Six Nations teams as well as Japan and Fiji, will take place in the Nations Championship, with New Zealand kicking a packed day off against Italy in Wellington, and Argentina bringing it to a close against Wales 8,500 miles away in San Juan.

The rest of the teams heading for Australia 2027 will meet in the World Rugby Nations Cup across North and South America, with double headers in Edmonton and Vina Del Mar.

Here are a selection of some of the terrific games in store.

New Zealand (world ranking 2) v Italy (10)

Will Jordan, whose two tries against France took him to 47 in tests for New Zealand, needs just two more against Italy to equal Doug Howlett’s All Blacks record in Wellington.

Scrum-half Cam Roigard, who also struck twice last weekend, is also a major threat to an Italy side who went down to Japan in round one of the Nations Championship.

Italy have never beaten New Zealand but after a first victory over England in the Six Nations, the Azzurri – with their showstopping midfield of Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello – are a nation on the up.

The two countries met in the first Rugby World Cup game and have been regular pool stage opponents with six meetings across the tournament’s history. That would have been seven but for the intervention of Typhoon Hagibis at RWC 2019 which led to the game’s cancellation.

Key stat: New Zealand made the most metres in contact of any side in the first round of the Nations Championship (233) while Italy conceded 209, the second-most of the teams in the competition.

Australia (8) v France (4)

After their agonising late defeat to Ireland last weekend, the Wallabies will be determined to land their first Nations Championship win against Fabien Galthie’s France in Brisbane.

Next year, Galthie – France’s scrum-half in the 1999 World Cup final defeat to the Wallabies in Cardiff – will take his side back to Brisbane Stadium to face Japan at Rugby World Cup 2027, one of 10 tournament matches at the iconic ground.

The Wallabies and France have met twice at previous Rugby World Cups with France prevailing in the 1987 semi-final.

Les Bleus have had the better of recent meetings with victory in the last three meetings including last November’s clash in Paris, when the prolific Thomas Ramos scored 18 points for the Six Nations champions.

After a 34-32 opening round defeat to New Zealand, in which Australian-born second row Tom Staniforth made his Test debut, France should field a strong matchday 23, with Galthie expected to call up several Top 14 finalists from Toulouse and Montpellier who missed last weekend’s match in Christchurch. Two more Australian-born forwards could make an appearance for France – Toulouse’s Emmanuel Meafou and Stade Francais’ prop Moses Alo-Emile.

The Wallabies, meanwhile, will be looking to exciting centre Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i for magic in midfield, while lively scrum-half Tate McDermott will be another one to watch. 

Key stat: Australia’s Harry Wilson (21/21) and France’s Yoram Moefana (19/19) completed more tackles than any other player with a 100 per cent success rate across the opening set of Nations Championship fixtures. Moefana also ranked first for dominant tackles (5).

South Africa (1) v Scotland (5)

South Africa and Scotland have met three times at Rugby World Cups, with the Springboks winning on each occasion.

The most recent meeting was a Pool B clash at RWC 2023 in Marseille when tries from Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kurt-Lee Arendse saw South Africa home.

Du Toit, twice World Rugby’s World Player of the Year, will lead a rotated Springboks side in Pretoria in the absence of Siya Kolisi as he wins his 97th cap in the Nations Championship showdown.

He captained the world champions to an impressive round one victory over England at Ellis Park last week.

Scotland will again be looking to their inspirational captain Sione Tuipulotu for a strong lead in midfield after an impressive display against the Pumas last weekend. 

Key stat: Scotland and South Africa both scored seven tries in last week’s Nations Championship fixtures, more than any other side. They were two most efficient attacking teams, the only sides to average more than one point per possession (Scotland 1.34 and South Africa 1.05). 

Argentina (7) v Wales (11)

Wales head to San Juan with a spring in their step after emerging from a tough run with wins in their last two games, including their Nations Championship opener against Fiji last weekend.

Argentina have won the last two meetings between the sides, however, including the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final in Marseille. It was the third time the two sides have met at Rugby World Cups with Wales coming out on top in 1991 and 1999. 

Saracens-bound scrum-half Tomos Williams, who scored a try for Wales in that 2023 meeting, will be a key man again for a Wales side which is also set to include speedster Louis Rees-Zammit on the wing.

Argentina will be intent on tightening up their defence after a 48-37 reverse to Scotland last weekend but have game breakers of their own in the likes of Santiago Carreras, Rodrigo Isgró and Lucio Cinti.

Key stat: Argentina conceded the most points per defensive 22 entry of any side in the opening round of this year’s Nations Championship (5.2). Only Japan (2.0) conceded fewer on average than Wales (2.4).

Tonga (19) v Spain (20)

Round two’s closest contest on paper with only a hair’s breadth between the sides in terms of World Rugby Men’s Rankings.

The Nations Cup game at Clarke Stadium in Edmonton represents part one of a compelling double header which will also see Canada play Portugal later on.

Tonga won their opening game in the competition against Zimbabwe with former Leicester Tiger Telusa Veainu scoring one of ʻIkale Tahi’s five tries while Spain fought out a breathless 42-42 draw against Canada, as scrum-half Tani Bay scored twice.

Both Tonga, who will be making their tenth appearance at the Rugby World Cup, and Spain, who will be making their second, will play pool games in Melbourne and Townsville at RWC 2027.

Chile (17) v Hong Kong China (24)

Hong Kong China will have the honour of taking part in the opening game of Rugby World Cup 2027 against hosts Australia in Perth.

It will be a high-profile way to mark their tournament debut after qualifying for the first time by winning the 2025 Asia Rugby Championship. 

Chile are also in the same pool, along with New Zealand, so this Nations Cup round two meeting in Viña Del Mar represents a dress rehearsal.

Chile will start as favourites having got their Nations Cup campaign off to a fine start with a 48-31 win over Romania with Racing 92 hooker Diego Escobar and flanker Raimundo Martinez both scoring twice.

Hong Kong China, who lost 66-19 to Samoa with Nottingham’s Marcus Ramage and SVNS star Harry Sayers touching down, will be looking to make their mark ahead of the Pool A head to head in Townsville in 15 months’ time.

For the full schedule of Nations Championship fixtures and kick-off times in your region, click here.

For a full list of Nations Cup fixtures, click here.