Belgium and Samoa Set up Final Day Showdown

Samoa and Belgium will meet in a head-to-head showdown next Tuesday 18 November for the final place at Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia, after both sides made it back-to-back wins on match day two of the Final Qualification Tournament in Dubai.

Belgium, who defeated Namibia in their first game, survived a scare as they played for over half an hour with just 14-men against Brazil, edging the game 30-27 with a try in the final two minutes to replacement prop Maxime Jadot.

In the later game Samoa, who accounted for Brazil on match day one, looked far more comfortable against Namibia, clinching the match 26-8, but were made to work hard by a Welwitschias side who never gave up. The teams now have five days to recover and prepare for one of the biggest matches in both nations’ histories.

BELGIUM VS BRAZIL

14-man Belgium fought their way back in the final two minutes to pull off a thrilling 30-27 victory over Brazil on match day two of the Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 Final Qualification Tournament and keep their dreams alive of becoming the 24^th and final team at Australia 2027.

Belgium took the lead early with two tries taking them 14-0 up after just 11 minutes. The first came from a close range drive from prop Charlesty Berguet, while the second featured a superb interchange from the Belgium forwards before captain Jean-Maurice Decubber dotted down. Both tries were converted by the accurate boot of fly-half Matias Remue.

But then against the run of play Brazil worked their way back into the match thanks to brilliant work at the scrum anchored by the powerful Os Tupis front row of props Caique Silva Segura and Wilton Rebolo, and hooker Henrique Ferreira.

With the set-piece providing a way back into the match Brazil kept the ball in hand and worked their way upfield where a quick pick and go saw Os Tupis lock Matteo Dell’Acqua go over. Fullback Thiago Oviedo landed the conversion to cut the Black Devils lead back to just seven with half time approaching.

The half ended with Brazil threatening the Belgium line and only last ditch desperate defence keeping them out. The second half started the same way for Brazil, with Oviedo this time opting for the poles to bring it back to 14-10 just a minute after half time.

The Black Devils then saw a yellow card to lock Toon Deceuninck and Brazil made their numerical advantage count as Yan Rosetti, who had just come on for Rebolo, diving over from close range on 47 minutes to put Brazil in the lead for the first time. The conversion from replacement Lucas Tranquez made it 17-14 to Brazil.

Things got decidedly worse for Belgium just two minutes later when Berguet was shown a permanent red card for lashing out with a boot. The Black Devils were down to 13 men and Brazil looked to increase the lead. But showing the incredible team spirit that has become such a trademark of this Belgian team the Black Devils rallied to score next with Matias Remue landing a penalty to bring the scores level, 17-17.

With Deceuninck returning from his yellow card Belgium looked to get the upper hand with a another penalty to Remue but it was Brazil who struck back next with Tranquez making it 20-20 from the tee with 16 minutes remaining.

Still a man down the Black Devils refused to buckle, with a passage of sustained pressure seeing Remue go over out-wide to make it 25-20. The missed conversion gave Brazil hope and it looked like Belgium’s RWC dreams were fading when replacement prop Leonel Moreno went over with just eight minutes remaining, Tranquez’s conversion putting Os Tupis ahead 27-25.

But Belgium refused to give in and they worked themselves downfield where a penalty gave Remue the chance to put them back in front with just four minutes remaining, but his usually accurate boot let him down to see the Black Devils staring down defeat.

The Black Devils got the ball back and attacked again, being stopped just a few metres from the try line by desperate Os Tupis defence, but replacement prop Maxime Jadot picked up from the base of the ruck to dive over for the winning try.

Brazil regained the ball from the kick-off and launched one final attack but clinical work at the breakdown saw Belgium win a penalty and clinch a nerve-wracking victory.

A delighted Belgium coach Laurent Dossat was understandably “incredibly, incredibly proud for starters. We told ourselves that we would go the whole 80 minutes and nothing less, not one minute less, and today we get lucky because Brazil, it could have gone either way.”

“But we show spirit, we show character and we didn’t give up, which was what we intended to do since the beginning. So very, very proud, very humble, and very, very happy to be playing the final (round) against Samoa on Tuesday.” With both teams undefeated the winner of that match will clinch the final place at RWC 2027.

Brazil coach and Director of Rugby Josh Reeves was disappointed but proud of the effort by his team: “I think we’ve had a good history against Belgium, so we rated ourselves from the start to have an opportunity to win today. And I think at moments, we were probably even better at them in certain aspects as well. But fair play to them, they’re incredibly passionate and you can tell they really play for each other. And I think in the end, that was probably the difference between the two sides.”

SAMOA VS NAMIBIA

In the second game a fast-improving Samoa were outstanding in a 26-8 victory over Namibia, which ends the Welwitschias dreams of Rugby World Cup 2027 and keeps Samoa firmly on track to claim the final place at Australia 2027.

Samoa were dominant right from the kick-off excelling in all facets of the game to totally control the first half, going in to the sheds 19-0 thanks to tries to scrum-half Jonathan Taumateine and wings Va’afauese Apelu Maliko and Latrell Ah-Kiong, full-back Jacob Umaga adding two conversions.

Namibia started better in the second half with sustained pressure rewarded by a penalty goal from fly-half Cliven Loubser, to bring the score back to 17-3. Namibia sought to play the game in Samoa’s territory using the excellent long kicking games of full-back Divan Rossouw, scrum-half Helarius Kisting and Loubser. But every kick was met with just as intelligent returns from the Samoa back three of Umaga, Apelu Maliko and Ah-Kiong.

Samoa also chose their moments well when to throw the ball wide and when to keep it tight, executing a driving maul close to the line perfectly on 54 minutes to see flanker Alamanda Motuga go over, Umaga landing the conversion from near the touchline to make it 26-3.

Namibia were able to turn the ball over at the breakdown 11 times, with Samoa’s total of 21 turnovers lost and just two won sure to concern Samoa head coach Lemalu Tusiata Pusi. But overall this was a very professional and disciplined Samoa outfit that look like they are running into form at exactly the right time.

Even when Namibia broke the Samoan line with just 15 minutes to go with a speedy break down the left-hand side, smart defence from Umaga and Ah Kiong closed down any opportunity for a Namibian five pointer. But the brave Welwitschias, led valiantly by the non-stop captain and hooker Louis van der Westhuizen, never gave up and were rewarded for their endeavor with a clever cross kick from Johan Deysel, putting Jay-Cee Nell over out wide with 11 minutes remaining to bring the score back to 26-8.

Namibia kept fighting valiantly with excellent defense. right to the end, winning the second half 8-7, which was a great result for Peter Rossouw’s team, who, if they had shown this form earlier in the tournament, may have had a better result against Belgium.

Rossouw was pleased with the 80-minute performance of his team: “We are very happy with the commitment and the effort the guys showed today. We were a lot more physical in the contact, which wasn’t that great the other day against Belgium, and I think we played the right game plan. We just couldn’t keep the ball for long enough in our phases to put pressure on attack. But very happy tactically, very happy. And we finish really strong in the second half, we were very happy with that.”

While for Samoa Pisi lauded the presence of the new players coming into the squad, which includes former Australia prop Scott Sio: “Obviously, we’ve had a few players come in and they brought their experience and just a calibre of where they play, and probably the main stays of our team – that’s coming. So it’s been good for the other players that were involved in the last campaign to see the level of these players and where they need to get to.”