Eddie Jones (Head Coach) and Yoji Nagatomo (Team Director) react to the draw

Eddie Jones, head coach 

On how he feels about the pool draw for RWC 2027:

“World Cup draws do draw a line in that you can now focus on the teams you’re playing against. The only feeling I have is about the three pool games. That’s the only thing we have to worry about. Once we find out who we’re playing first, we will worry about that game.”

On his impressions of the three teams in Pool E:

“One of the things that happens now, two years out from the World Cup, is that you start seeing teams move towards the World Cup. What happens from now on is important. France are a top-ranked team in the world. Samoa had to struggle through to make the World Cup. We also know that Samoa will only have their best players available at the World Cup, so we will only get to see what they are really like once they are there. USA have been under a new coach for a little while now, employing a high kicking game.

“One of the most important contests in the game is the aerial contest. We’re getting 30 of those in a game, and the ability to kick and regain now is almost worth a double possession as all the data on the game shows how important that is. We will be watching those three teams really closely from now on. We need to develop a game to beat those three teams, and that’s what we will be doing over the next two years.”

On the team’s progress so far:

“What I was really impressed with this year is our ability to adapt our attack. We were able to play a fast-tempo attack, our ‘Cho-soku’ rugby. We were able to do that for 20 minutes in a game, and we weren’t able to sustain that for any longer. Whereas this year, we’ve been able to change our attack a little bit, become more adaptable, play a little bit of a different way. As a result, it’s made us much more competitive and a much harder team to beat, so we want to continue doing that. Kicking is going to be a massive part of the 2027 World Cup. There’s no doubt about that unless the laws change, but at this stage it doesn’t look likely.

“To kick effectively, win the ball back, and then attack quickly from there is going to be a key part of our game. Conversely, we need to be able to defend really well against kicks. Now, when a high ball goes up in the air and you get one-on-ones, the chances of a clean catch are only 30%. If we can develop a defensive system that gives us a better chance of retaining the ball than 30%, that will put us in a position to win more games. We want to keep developing our defence, which has been a remarkable improvement this year. Now the players have the confidence to defend against any team in the world.”

“When you play against a team like France, you’ve got to be able to defend well. Those two areas are going to be really important for us to develop a team that is really hard to beat at the World Cup.”

On dealing with the extreme conditions in Australia:

“You’ve got extreme climates in Australia. You’ve got Townsville, which is very humid and hot, probably 30 degrees and 85% humidity. If you go down to Melbourne, you could be playing in 12 degrees in the drizzling rain. We need to be able to develop a game that is adaptable for both of those extreme conditions. That’s the rarity of this World Cup. Australia is such a big island with extreme variations of climate. You need to be adaptable to those conditions. It’s going to be an important part of learning to play in different conditions.”

On France:

“France have got a massive forward pack. Once they get inside the 22, they play off 9 and try to play through you. You’ve got to be able to defend their big men with two players around the ruck.

"Of course they’ve got Dupont, and no one knows how he has returned from his ACL injury. We have a player playing with him at Toulouse, so we will get some good information on him. They’ve also got a lightning-quick outside back, so they are a really good team. We just need to prepare ourselves as well as we can. We can’t be worrying too much about what other teams do.”

“When they are at their best, they have got seven to eight Toulouse players. They keep their cohesion very high between the team members and they play a physical brand of French rugby that opens up a flair where they can shift the ball very quickly.

"You have to be able to defend really well, and you’ve got to be able to cope with their long kicking game, as they probably have the best long kicking game in the world. We will certainly be practicing over the next two years to defend against a long-kicking team.”

"We were lucky enough in 2015 to have South Africa first, so we could focus on South Africa. However, to go into a game against Samoa and be focusing on France would be foolhardy. Experience tells me that you just have to focus on the game you can handle at that time. Players don’t want to be thinking about the game ahead of them. Let’s see what happens on 3 February regarding the order of the games.”

On his objective for RWC 2027:

“We want to be the team that everyone wants to watch at the World Cup. To do that, a top-four finish would be fantastic. We will do everything we can over the next two years to make sure the team is in the best position to achieve that result. We’re going to have to play above ourselves and we understand that it is going to take an extraordinary effort, but there is no reason why we can’t do that.”

Yoji Nagatomo (Team Director)

“With today’s pool draw for the 2027 tournament, it truly feels like our preparations for the Rugby World Cup are now underway.

"Our pool features France, the United States and Samoa, three teams with distinct identities and clear strengths. There will be no easy matches, so under Eddie’s leadership we will prepare thoroughly, starting this campaign with a strong determination to progress through the pool stage.”