Ireland to play 2027 Rugby World Cup pool stage games in Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne

Australia will face Hong Kong in the opening game of the 2027 Rugby World Cup

Ireland will open their 2027 Rugby World Cup campaign against Portugal on October 4 in Sydney. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Irish fans hoping to catch the national team’s pool games from afar at the next Rugby World Cup will have to set their alarm clocks after confirmation of the fixtures and venues.

Placed in Pool D for the 2027 tournament, Ireland will get their campaign underway on Monday October 4th against Portugal at the 42,500-capacity Sydney Football Stadium. Kick-off there is at 7.15am Irish time.

Next up is a trip westwards with Scotland awaiting at Perth Stadium and a more acceptable starting time of 10.45am. The final pool game will be at the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne where the meeting with Uruguay will start at the ungodly hour of 4.45am Irish time.

Prices for the games vary with tickets for that Scotland game starting as low as €38.60 and coming in as high as €377. In all, one million tickets are to be priced at €100 or less through the tournament.

If the stadium names sound unfamiliar then that is because of commercial reasons. The Sydney Football Stadium is better known as Allianz Stadium, Perth is Optus and the Docklands in Melbourne is Marvel Stadium.

All three are multi-purpose venues with Perth able to take over 60,000 people and Melbourne catering for 53,000. That is good news for the large number of Irish in Australia and those planning to join them for the tournament.

Should Ireland win their pool they will face one of the best third-placed finishers in the round of 16 in Melbourne on October 24th. Come second and it is a likely meeting with France at the same venue a day earlier.

The announcement of the fixtures has not been without some controversy with World Rugby defended the decision to launch the tournament with a major mismatch between Australia and Hong Kong in Perth on October 2nd.

The Asian side is making its debut in the World Cup and is ranked number 23 in the world. There had been hopes that Australia and New Zealand’s pool encounter would serve as the opener. That will now happen eight days later in Sydney.

The hosts traditionally launch the quadrennial showpiece, with France taking on the All Blacks in the 2023 edition. Fans in Australia and New Zealand slammed the scheduling on social media, while Perth-based media said local Wallabies fans had been short-changed.

World Rugby chairman Brett Robinson acknowledged the Australia-Hong Kong matchup was polarising but said the governing body's role was to grow the game.

"Clearly people will have different opinions and the sides will have different opinions, but we've landed where we've landed. For me, the pools are this great opportunity where clearly we are going to have teams that are dominating, but we also have teams that are aspiring.

"That's our role as World Rugby, to build and grow our great global game."

This is the first ever 24-team tournament. It will feature 52 games in seven different cities and a new round of 16 while both semi-finals and the decider will be held in Sydney.

Ireland's 2027 Rugby World Cup pool stage fixtures (Irish times)

October 4, 2027

Ireland v Portugal, 7:15am, Sydney Football Stadium

October 10, 2027

Ireland v Scotland, 10:45am, Perth Stadium

October 17, 2027

Ireland v Uruguay, 4:45am, Docklands Stadium, Melbourne