Chile booked their spot at Rugby World Cup 2027. Los Cóndores became the 23rd team confirmed for the Australia-hosted Rugby World Cup. Chile did so by completing a historic 31-12 win over Samoa in Viña del Mar on Saturday.
Chile and Samoa battled-it-out in two matches. Game one was Samoa’s home game which was played on neutral territory. The battle of Salt Lake City, Utah was a 32-32 draw on full-time. The result meant the winner of game two in Viña del Mar would qualify for the World Cup as the winner of the Sudamérica 2 vs Pacific 4 play-off.
Rugby World Cup 2027 will be Los Cóndorese’ second appearance in a Men’s Rugby World Cup. The Chileans previously competed at Rugby World Cups 2023; in fact, Chile was the first debutants since Russia at Rugby World Cup 2011. Chile’s debut campaign saw matches against Japan, Samoa, England and Argentina. Chile will be chasing their first win in a RWC match in Australia 2027.
 AUSTRALIA 2027 – HOW CHILE QUALIFIED |
Los Cóndores began their Rugby World Cup 2017 qualifying campaign in 2024. Game one saw Chile defeating Paraguay 64-0. From there, Chile went on to beat Brazil 36-10. The results set-up 2025 fixtures with Chile moving on to face Brazil home-and-away. Chile won the matches 35-21 and 35-20.
Chile thus advanced to the South American Final which was against Uruguay. Los Teros had beaten Paraguay 38-0 in Asunción and 78-10 in Montevideo to join Chile in the final.
The South American Final was competitive. Uruguay completed a road win first up to be well-placed in game two. However, Chile rebounded to defeat Uruguay in Montevideo in game two. It was a case of winning the battle but losing the war as Uruguay ultimately qualified as Sudamérica 1 on aggregate.
Despite not getting the job done there and then, Chile’s win over Uruguay was monumental. Chile ended a 22 match losing streak against Los Cóndores in Montevideo; the longevity is such that it was Chile’s first win over Uruguay in Montevideo since 1971.
 WHO HAS QUALIFIED FOR RUGBY WORLD CUP 2027? |
Chile is the fifth country from the Americas to secure a spot at Australia 2027. The first was Argentina who qualified directly due to results from Rugby World Cup 2023. Uruguay was the second to qualify followed by Canada, then the USA and now Chile.
Argentina’s automatic qualification came at the end of the pool stage in France 2007. Los Pumas defeated Samoa, Chile and Japan to finish second, behind England, in their group. Japan joined Argentina and England in qualifying directly for Australia 2027. The nine other automatic qualifiers from France 2023 are South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, France, New Zealand, Italy, Wales, Fiji, and Australia.
2025 began with 12 slots available. That number is now down to one. The first on-field qualifying teams came from Europe. Georgia qualified as Europe 1. The Lelos overcame the Netherlands before having Switzerland a 110-0 defeat.
Spain qualified as Europe 2. Los Leones were 53-24 winners over the Netherlands and 43-13 winners against Switzerland. Spain then defeated Portugal to book a spot in the European Final. Os Lobos has beaten Germany and Belgium in their group but settled for Europe 4 after losing to Romania who, despite losing earlier to Portugal, qualified as Europe 3.
Results in Europe also saw Belgium becoming the first team confirmed for the global repechage tournament. The winner of that tournament will secure the final place at Australia 2027. The second team confirmed is Namibia who defeated the United Arab Emirates.
The United Arab Emirates reached the Asia vs Africa play-off after. The UAE were Asia 2 behind Hong Kong. Results in the race for Asia 1 saw Hong Kong dominating lowly ranked opposition including the UAE, Malaysia, South Korea and Sri Lanka. Hong Kong officially qualified as Asia 1 with a 70-22 win over South Korea.
The UAE were outmatched by Namibia in the Asia 1 vs Africa 1 play-off. The Welwitschias were sent into the elimination match after falling to Zimbabwe. That result saw the Sables ending a 34-year-wait as Australia 2027 will be Zimbabwe’s third appearance at a Men’s Rugby World Cup and the first since 1991.
Hours before Uruguay sealed their spot in Australia 2027, Tonga qualified via the Pacific Nations Cup. The Ikale Tahi claimed one of three places allocated to PNC teams. Other Pacific Nations Cup results saw Canada qualifying thanks to beating the USA and the USA qualifying by beating Samoa.
As the loser of Sudamérica 2 vs Pacific 4, Samoa is now in repechage. Samoa officially join Belgium, Namibia and Sudamérica 3 (Brazil or Paraguay) in the final place repechage tournament. The repechage tournament will be played in Dubai, UAE in November.
