The Wallabies will open Rugby World Cup 2027 against Hong Kong China in Perth, before heading to Sydney for their huge pool clash with the All Blacks.
Tournament officials have opted to maximise the crowd for the first ever pool clash between the two southern hemisphere heavyweights, with the 82,000 Accor Stadium to stage the contest on Oct. 9.
It will be the third meeting between the two nations in the space of a few months, with the Wallabies and All Blacks set for home-and-away clashes in the Rugby Championship.
But that will mean little when the World Cup rolls around, with the winner of that clash on a likely path for a quarterfinal with two-time defending champions South Africa.
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Hong Kong China will meanwhile help open the tournament on what is their first appearance on rugby's biggest stage. That game will be played in Perth on Oct. 1.
"Probably don't really know too much about them [Hong Kong China] yet, but I know over the next 18 months we'll be making sure to watch the games and get across them because they're in the World Cup," Wallabies skipper Harry Wilson said of his team's schedule in Sydney on Tuesday.
"They're obviously quite a threatening team and I think it's a great way to start the World Cup. First game in Perth, it's super exciting. And then a week later, you're [facing] New Zealand and Sydney. So I think it's a great result and it's a great way to start the World Cup."
Wilson said he "jumped the gun a bit" when declaring the Wallabies-All Blacks clash would open the tournament when the pools were drawn in December, but agreed now that getting the three-time champions second-up was probably a good result.
"Yeah, I think so. There'll be a lot of nerves at a World Cup and first game, especially you'll probably have a lot more nerves than what we've ever had," Wilson added.
"So I guess not [playing] New Zealand first game might be an advantage, but obviously we need to play well in that game, build the momentum into the Kiwi game, which will be a massive one."
Also on hand in Sydney was World Rugby chairman Brett Robinson, who rejected claims that a a blowout win from the Wallabies over Hong Kong China would hinder the tournament's image both in Australia and abroad.
"I don't think so. I mean, the whole tournament is going to be full of amazing questions and stories, and it's the third biggest [sporting] event in the world," Robinson told reporters.
"The Kiwis are playing a big match in Perth, I think, the next day. Yeah, I think it's, you know, I don't think it's as big an issue as people might want to make."
The Wallabies' final pool clash, against second-timers Chile, will be played in Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium on Oct. 16.
Meanwhile, Perth and Brisbane have won the right to host arguably the two biggest other pool games.
Perth's 62,000 Optus Stadium will likely be full to the brim when Scotland and Ireland face off on Sunday Oct. 10, in what will be the third straight World Cup where the two Six Nations foes have faced one another.
The Pool F clash between England and Wales will then be staged a week later in Brisbane at the city's Suncorp Stadium on Oct. 16.
South Africa open their hunt for a third Webb Ellis Trophy in Adelaide with what will be their toughest pool clash against Italy, while the pick of the Pool C games, between Argentina and Fiji, will also be staged in the South Australian capital.
The expanded 24-team tournament will have its 36 pool games played across 17 days, with action confined to a Friday-Monday window across three weekends.
The pool phase will conclude with a "Super Sunday" featuring five games on Oct. 17, beginning at 12.15pm [AEDT] in Adelaide with Italy vs. Georgia finishing later that day South Africa vs. Romania in Perth.
