Where to Watch the Rugby World Cup in United States

On Friday, October 1, 2027, and the final is on Saturday, November 13, at Stadium Australia in Sydney. Australia hosts for the third time, after sharing the first tournament with New Zealand in 1987 and staging the 2003 edition alone, when England beat the Wallabies in the final at the same Sydney stadium.

Twenty-four, up from the 20 that played at every tournament from 1999 to 2023. They are drawn into six pools of four. The top two from each pool and the four best third-placed sides reach the new round of 16, and from there it is knockout rugby through the quarter-finals and semi-finals to the final. That adds up to 52 matches.

Yes. ITV holds the UK rights and shows all 52 matches free-to-air, with every game also streaming on ITVX. Because of the time difference with Australia, many kick-offs land in the British morning, which makes the ITVX app handy for following a match on a phone at work or on the move.

Stream it on Paramount+, which has all 52 matches live. CBS shows a selection of games on free broadcast TV, and CBS Sports Network shows more on cable. With Australia so far ahead in time, most games fall overnight or early in the morning for American viewers, so streaming is the easiest way to keep up.

Yes, for a big share of it. Nine shows half of the matches on free TV, every Wallabies game and the final among them, and 9Now streams the same games at no cost. To see all 52, you need Stan Sport, which streams the entire World Cup live.

Australia sits 8 to 11 hours ahead of GMT during the tournament, depending on the host city. That puts most games between early morning and early afternoon in Europe and Africa, and in the daytime in India and Southeast Asia. North and South America watch overnight or at breakfast.

SuperSport, on DStv, with GOtv and DStv Stream as the other ways to watch. South Africa comes to Australia as back-to-back champions after winning in 2019 and 2023, and the same SuperSport coverage reaches 51 African countries, Nigeria and Kenya among them.

In New Zealand the tournament belongs to Sky Sport: watch on its TV channels or stream through Sky Go and Sky Sport Now. Kick-off times are friendly for All Blacks fans, as Auckland runs just two hours in front of Sydney for nearly the whole event, so an afternoon game in Sydney becomes an evening game at home. In Canada, TSN holds the rights.

In several of them, yes. Tonga Broadcasting Commission shows the tournament in Tonga, EMTV in Papua New Guinea, TTV in the Solomon Islands and VBTC in Vanuatu, all free-to-air. Georgia, one of the strongest rugby nations in Europe outside the Six Nations, also gets free coverage on 1TV.

India has it on Sony Sports Network, with SonyLIV streaming the matches, and Sony also has the TV rights in Pakistan. Across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, beIN Sports shows the tournament on TV and beIN SPORTS CONNECT streams it.

Four. South Africa leads with four titles (1995, 2007, 2019 and 2023), New Zealand has three (1987, 2011 and 2015), Australia two (1991 and 1999) and England one (2003). The Springboks head to Australia chasing a third title in a row, which no team has ever managed.

Your streaming app follows your location, not your passport. If you are away from home in October, set a VPN to your own country and Paramount+, Stan Sport or ITVX opens as normal. NordVPN keeps live matches smooth, and our VPN guide compares it with five others.