Brazil take-on Belgium in a Rugby World Cup 2027 Qualifying match on Thursday. The contest is a second round fixture of the global repechage tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Brazil enter round two on the back of a loss against Samoa while Belgium are coming off a win over RWC 1999-2023 competitors, Namibia.
The four teams are in a fight to determine who books the last remaining place at Australia 2027. Both Brazil and Belgium are looking to qualify for a first ever Men’s Rugby World Cup while Samoa and Namibia are out to protect their honor of having been permanent teams in Rugby World Cups since the 1990s.
Current World Ranking: 33 (52.10 points)
Nov 08, 2005 – Samoa 48-10 Brazil (Dubai, UAE)
Oct 18, 2025 – Brazil 24-31 Paraguay (Jacareí, BR)
Oct 11, 2025 – Paraguay 39-19 Brazil (Asunción, PY)
Jul 26, 2025 – Chile 35-20 Brazil (Santiago, CL)
July 19, 2025 – Brazil 21-35 Chile (São Paulo, BR)
July 05, 2025 – Brazil 17-45 Argentina XV (Jacareí, BR)
Current World Ranking: 22 (61.78 points)
Nov 08, 2025 – Belgium 22-15 Namibia (Dubai, UAE)
Jul 12, 2025 – Canada 18-25 Belgium (Edmonton, CA)
Jul 05, 2025 – USA 36-17 Belgium (Charlotte, USA)
Mar 15, 2025 – Netherlands 10-31 Belgium (Amsterdam, NL)
Mar, 01, 2025 – Belgium 38-5 Switzerland (Waterloo, BE)
Feb, 15 2025 – Germany 19-39 Belgium (Kassel, DE)
Feb, 08 2025 – Belgium 14-31 Romania (Mons, BE)
STARTING LINE-UP CHANGES  |
|
IN | OUT |
| 2 | Henrique Ribeiro Ferreira | Wilton Rebolo |
| 3 | Wilton Rebolo | Leonel Moreno |
| 15 | Thiago Oviedo | Lucas Tranquez |
|
Unchanged Line-Up | – |
- The fixture is a second round match in the Rugby World Cup 2027 Final Qualification tournament.
- Belgium enter with 4 competition points while Brazil are on 0. Samoa lead with 5 and Namibia are 3rd with 1.
- Brazil picked up one yellow card vs Samoa while two Belgium players were yellow carded vs Namibia.
- Neither Brazil nor Belgium have ever qualified for a Men’s Rugby World Cup.
- The match will be the third ever between Brazil and Samoa. Brazil is unbeaten against Belgium.
- Belgium has wins over Namibia and Canada in 2025. Both teams have qualified for Rugby World Cup 2027.
- Brazil’s last win was against Hong Kong in 2024. Hong Kong qualified for Rugby World Cup 2027 as Asia 1 and will be debutants at Australia 2027.
- Belgium has named an unchanged line-up. It included a South American as Felipe Geraghty is Argentine. Brazil’s Thiago Oviedo is also Argentine.
- In total, 70% (16/23) of the Belgium players are from Belgium, four are from France and one is Argentine.
- Brazil fielded a similar side against Samoa; it contained 74% (17/23) homegrown players.
- The match will be refereed in English by Eoghan Cross (Ireland). There will be no French nor Portuguese language speakers on the team of officials.
Very hot conditions will again await the players at The Sevens in the UAE. This will require smart use of the replacements. Brazil enter on the back of a relatively satisfying result against Samoa. It was not a win but the South Americans came away with respect. Belgium were far better against Namibia than the final score suggests. Indeed, it the result came with two very late tries from the Africans after Belgium had been in firm control. Belgium are clear favorites to win in Dubai.
BRAZIL
1 Caique Silva Segura, 2 Henrique Ribeiro Ferreira, 3 Wilton Rebolo, 4 Matteo Dell’Acqua, 5 Gabriel De Souza Oliveira, 6 Adrio de Melo, 7 Matheus De Souza Claudio, 8 André Arruda, 9 Lucas Spago, 10 João do Amaral, 11 Robert Tenório, 12 Raphael Hollister, 13 Lorenzo Massari Temer (capt.), 14 Theo Bastardie, 15 Thiago Oviedo
Replacements: Brendon Alves Pinheiro, Leonel Moreno, Ben Donald, Devon Muller, Lucas Tranquez (3 to be added)
BELGIUM
1 Charles-Henri Berguet, 2 Alexandre Raynier, 3 Jean Baptiste De clercq, 4 Toon Deceuninck, 5 Maximilien Hendrickx, 6 Jean Maurice De cubber (capt.), 7 William Van Bost, 8 Felipe Geraghty, 9 Julien Berger, 10 Matias Remue, 11 Thomas Wallraf, 12 Maxime Vacquier, 13 Florian Remue, 14 Ervin Muric, 15 Simeon Soenen
Replacements: 16 Basile van Parys, 17 Vincent Tauzia, 18 Maxime Jadot, 19 Maurice Fromont, 20 Jeremie Brasseur, 21 Isaac Montoisy, 22 Dazzy Cornez, 23 Timothe Rifon
Date: Thursday, November 13
Venue: The Sevens (Dubai, UAE)
Kickoff: 5:00pm (UAE); 10:00am (Brasília)
Weather Forecast: Hot and Sunny; 31°C; wind N (16 km/h)
Broadcasts: Disney +, ESPN 3, Rugby Pass
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Jordan Way (Australia); Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)
| VS HISTORY |
Nov 18, 2017 – Belgium 19-23 Brazil (Brussels, BE)
Jul 27, 2024 – Brazil 47-25 Belgium (São Paulo, BR)
| VS RECORD |
2 WINS
0 WINS
