How Queenslanders can experience ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity’
Wallabies halfback Tate McDermott says incoming national coach Les Kiss has enough time to transform Australia into a Rugby World Cup contender, as the schedule for the 2027 showcase on home soil has been revealed.
Queensland has been locked in for 14 fixtures across the six-week tournament – 10 in Brisbane and four in Townsville.
The Wallabies failed to make it out of the group stages for the first time in their history at the last World Cup, leading to Eddie Jones’ departure as head coach.
McDermott, who featured in that squad, admitted there was a lingering thought of retribution fuelling their runway until their tournament launches in Perth on October 1, 2027, against Hong Kong.
“It’s obviously a part of our history. But a lot can change in four years, and we’ve taken tremendous steps forward in what we’ve done over the last couple of years,” McDermott said.
“There’s definitely that burning in the background that we’ve got quite a bit to make up for what happened in 2023.”
The Wallabies can book a round-16 contest in Brisbane by finishing top two in their group, but there are unanswered questions to address once Kiss takes the reins from Joe Schmidt after his Reds commitments end.
Four five-eighths were used last year following Noah Lolesio’s injury and eventual move to Japanese outfit Toyota Shuttles, while Australia has lost seven of its past eight Tests to make 2025 the first time they had suffered 10 defeats in a calendar year.
McDermott did not feature in six of those defeats, having suffered a severe hamstring tear against the All Blacks, which will keep him sidelined until “before the halfway point” of the Reds’ Super Rugby Pacific campaign.
“I had to get my hamstring reattached to my pelvis. I just got caught in the splits, so I wouldn’t recommend that,” McDermott said.
Queensland’s 2027 Rugby World Cup fixtures
Group games
- Sat, 2 Oct 8.15pm: Pool F - England v Tonga, Brisbane Stadium
- Sun, 3 Oct 8.15pm: Pool B - Georgia v Romania, North Queensland Stadium, Townsville
- Mon, 4 Oct 6.45pm: Pool C - Argentina v Canada, Brisbane Stadium
- Sat, 9 Oct 6.45pm: Pool E - France v Japan, Brisbane Stadium
- Sat, 9 Oct 8.15pm: Pool A - Chile v Hong Kong China, North Queensland Stadium, Townsville
- Sun, 10 Oct 4.45pm: Pool B - South Africa v Georgia, Brisbane Stadium
- Fri, 15 Oct 8.15pm: Pool F - Tonga v Zimbabwe, North Queensland Stadium, Townsville
- Sat, 16 Oct 3.10pm: Pool A Australia v Chile, Brisbane Stadium
- Sat, 16 Oct 8.15pm: Pool C - Spain v Canada, North Queensland Stadium, Townsville
- Sun, 17 Oct 4.15pm: Pool D - Scotland v Portugal, Brisbane Stadium
Round of 16
- Sat, 23 Oct 3.45pm: Round of 16 (2): 1st Pool A v 3rd Pool C|E|F, Brisbane Stadium
- Sun, 24 Oct 6.15pm: Round of 16 (7): 2nd Pool A v 2nd Pool E, Brisbane Stadium
Quarter-finals
- Sat, 30 Oct 6.45pm: Quarter-final 2: Winner R16 (1) v Winner R16 (3), Brisbane Stadium
- Sun, 31 Oct 4pm: Quarter-final 3: Winner R16 (5) v Winner R16 (6), Brisbane Stadium
Australia’s form led former Wallabies coach John Connolly to tell this masthead Kiss needed to take over at the start of 2026 to prepare sufficiently. However, McDermott was confident Kiss had time to turn the tide.
“We didn’t finish the year how we planned to, but the boys are really disappointed with that … collectively we’re in our Super Rugby clubs, and we’ve got important games coming up, but when we link up again it’s three more games with Joe and then the transition with Les coming in, I think is really exciting,” McDermott said.
“For sure [there’s time], but there’s also a lot of hard work to make sure that we’re there where we want to be. We learnt last World Cup you can’t count your chickens before they hatch.”
While the Wallabies’ only confirmed fixture in the Sunshine State will be their third group stage game against Chile on October 16 in Brisbane, Queensland Rugby Union chief executive Dave Hanham said Queensland was also hoping to host pre-tournament warm-up games.
It is anticipated the Reds’ Ballymore facility will be used as a training base, and Hanham was hopeful the club’s developing talent would get the chance to be exposed to international competition – as they were against Wales and the British and Irish Lions in the past two years.
Queensland’s squad boasts 307 Wallabies caps, thrusting most of the group in line for World Cup selections.
“There’s always players ready to go. We’ve got to close the gap between our academy guys getting ready. What I’ve found is when the Wallabies boys go up, it gives the young guys an opportunity to step up,” Hanham said.
“We will put both hands up, we’ll be ready to go and will be happy to play anyone who wants to take us on. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us in Queensland.”
Registration is available for ticket pre-sales on February 18.
Full 2027 Rugby World Cup draw
Pool stages
Fri, 1 Oct 6.45pm: Pool A - Australia v Hong Kong China, Perth Stadium, Perth
Sat, 2 Oct 12.15pm: Pool F - Wales v Zimbabwe, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Sat, 2 Oct 1.15pm: Pool A - New Zealand v Chile, Perth Stadium, Perth
Sat, 2 Oct 5.45pm: Pool E - France v USA, Docklands Stadium, Melbourne
Sat, 2 Oct 8.15pm: Pool F - England v Tonga, Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Sun, 3 Oct 12.15pm: Pool E - Japan v Samoa, Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle
Sun, 3 Oct 2.15pm: Pool B - South Africa v Italy, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Sun, 3 Oct 5.15pm: Pool D - Scotland v Uruguay, Docklands Stadium, Melbourne
Sun, 3 Oct 8.15pm: Pool B - Georgia v Romania, North Queensland Stadium, Townsville
Mon, 4 Oct 2.15pm: Pool C - Fiji v Spain, Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle
Mon, 4 Oct 5.15pm: Pool D - Ireland v Portugal, Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Mon, 4 Oct 6.45pm: Pool C - Argentina v Canada, Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Fri, 8 Oct 6.15pm: Pool F - Wales v Tonga, Docklands Stadium, Melbourne
Fri, 8 Oct 8.15pm: Pool F - England v Zimbabwe, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Sat, 9 Oct 12.15pm: Pool E - USA v Samoa, Perth Stadium, Perth
Sat, 9 Oct 5.10pm: Pool A - New Zealand v Australia, Stadium Australia, Sydney
Sat, 9 Oct 6.45pm: Pool E - France v Japan, Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Sat, 9 Oct 8.15pm: Pool A - Chile v Hong Kong China, North Queensland Stadium, Townsville
Sun, 10 Oct 12.15pm: Pool C - Fiji v Canada, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Sun, 10 Oct 3.15pm: Pool C - Argentina v Spain, Docklands Stadium, Melbourne
Sun, 10 Oct 4.45pm: Pool B - South Africa v Georgia, Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Sun, 10 Oct 5.45pm: Pool D - Ireland v Scotland, Perth Stadium, Perth
Mon, 11 Oct 5.15pm: Pool D - Uruguay v Portugal, Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle
Mon, 11 Oct 7.45pm: Pool B - Italy v Romania, Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Fri, 15 Oct 5.15pm: Pool A - New Zealand v Hong Kong China, Docklands Stadium, Melbourne
Fri, 15 Oct 8pm: Pool E - Japan v USA, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Fri, 15 Oct 8.15pm: Pool F - Tonga v Zimbabwe, North Queensland Stadium, Townsville
Sat, 16 Oct 1.15pm: Pool C - Argentina v Fiji, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Sat, 16 Oct 3.10pm: Pool A Australia v Chile, Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Sat, 16 Oct 7.45pm: Pool F - England v Wales, Stadium Australia, Sydney
Sat, 16 Oct 8.15pm: Pool C - Spain v Canada, North Queensland Stadium, Townsville
Sun, 17 Oct 12.15pm: Pool B - Italy v Georgia, Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle
Sun, 17 Oct 2.45pm: Pool D - Ireland v Uruguay, Docklands Stadium, Melbourne
Sun, 17 Oct 4.15pm: Pool D - Scotland v Portugal, Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Sun, 17 Oct 7.45pm: Pool E France v Samoa, Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Sun, 17 Oct 7.15pm: Pool B South Africa v Romania ,Perth Stadium, Perth
Knock out stages
Sat, 23 Oct 2.15pm: Round of 16 (1): 2nd Pool C v 2nd Pool F, Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Sat, 23 Oct 3.45pm: Round of 16 (2): 1st Pool A v 3rd Pool C|E|F, Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Sat, 23 Oct 7.15pm: Round of 16 (3): 1st Pool E v 2nd Pool D, Docklands Stadium, Melbourne
Sat, 23 Oct 6.45pm: Round of 16 (4): 1st Pool B v 3rd Pool D|E|F, Perth Stadium, Perth
Sun, 24 Oct 2.15pm: Round of 16 (5): 1st Pool C v 3rd Pool A|E|F, Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Sun, 24 Oct 4.45pm: Round of 16 (6): 1st Pool D v 3rd Pool B|E|F, Docklands Stadium, Melbourne
Sun, 24 Oct 6.15pm: Round of 16 (7): 2nd Pool A v 2nd Pool E, Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Sun, 24 Oct 6.45pm: Round of 16 (8): 1st Pool F v 2nd Pool B, Perth Stadium, Perth
Quarter-finals
Sat, 30 Oct 4.45pm: Quarter-final 1: Winner R16 (2) v Winner R16 (4), Stadium Australia, Sydney
Sat, 30 Oct 6.45pm: Quarter-final 2: Winner R16 (1) v Winner R16 (3), Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Sun, 31 Oct 4pm: Quarter-final 3: Winner R16 (5) v Winner R16 (6), Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
Sun, 31 Oct 8pm: Quarter-final 4: Winner R16 (7) v Winner R16 (8), Stadium Australia, Sydney
Semi-finals
Fri, 5 Nov 8pm: Semi-final 1: Winner QF1 v Winner QF2, Stadium Australia, Sydney
Sat, 6 Nov 8pm: Semi-final 2: Winner QF3 v Winner QF4, Stadium Australia, Sydney
Finals
Fri, 12 Nov 7.45pm: Bronze final: Runner-up SF1 v Runner-up SF2, Stadium Australia, Sydney
Sat, 13 Nov 8pm: Final: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2, Stadium Australia, Sydney
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Nick Wright covers sport for Brisbane Times.