Spain will open the Rugby World Cup against Fiji

Spain will play its first match in the group stage of the 2027 Rugby World Cup against Fiji, which will be held in Australia.then they will face Argentina, the toughest rival, in Melbourne, and will close the group stage against Canada.

World Rugby announced the World Cup schedule on its website this Tuesday which will take place from October 1 to November 13, 2027 with the participation of 24 teams in seven venues and in which Spain is located in group C.

Pablo Bouza’s men will open their participation against Fiji, the number eight team in the world ranking, in Newcastle, on the east coast of Australia, north of Sydney, on Monday, October 4 (04:15 Spanish peninsular time).

The Newcastle Stadium, with capacity for 30,000 spectators, will be the venue for Spain’s opening match, which will be followed by Argentina, sixth in the world, on October 10 (05:15h) at the Dockalnds stadium in Melbourne, 835 kilometers away from the first venue.

The Melbourne venue, with 53,000 spectators, is the only one completely covered in the tournament and will remain closed during all six matches in the first phase and two in the round of 16.

The Lions will complete the group stage against Canada on Saturday, October 16 (10:15 a.m.) at the North Queensland stadium, with 25,000 spectators and located in the city of Townsville, 2,480 kilometers from Melbourne, in the north of the country.

The Canadian team, number 25 in the ranking, is, a priori, the weakest in the group, since Spain is in 15th place in the classification.

2027 will be the Spanish team’s second World Cup participation after its debut in 1999, a tournament in which they played three games without victories and without scoring a single try.

The opening match of the World Cup will be played between the host team and Hong Kong in Perth on October 1 and the final will be on November 13 in Sydney at Stadium Australia, also the venue for the two semi-finals and two quarter-final matches.

South Africa, the number one in the ranking, is the current world champion, after beating New Zealand in the championship held in France in 2023.