Late Try Sees Belgium Eliminating Brazil from Rugby World Cup Qualifying

And then there were two. The final team to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2027 will be either Belgium or Samoa. A late try saw Belgium eliminating Brazil from the Australia 2027 qualifying; Brazil officially cannot qualify for Rugby World Cup 2027. Belgium scored a 79th minute lineout to maul try to win 30-27 in Dubai.

Belgium won despite playing with a man down. Prop Charles-Henri Berguet was red carded on 51 minutes. It came with Brazil enjoying a solid third quarter and second half in general.  Indeed, the red card came only for minutes after Belgium lost Toon Deceuninck to ten minutes to a yellow card.

Belgium scored two first half tries compared to one from Brazil. Charles-Henri Berguet crossed on just two minutes and Jean Maurice De cubber scored on eleven to give Belgium a very bright start. Brazil fought back with Matteo Dell’Acqua scoring a try five minutes from half-time. Thiago OPoveido converted for a 14-7 deficit.

Oviedo added a penalty on 42 minutes to make it a four-point deficit. Brazil then took the lead when replacement Yan Rosetti scored on 48 minutes. The pressure was mounting on Belgium. They recovered to score two penalties from Matias Remue before Remue himself went over for an impressive try. His celebration meant the shock-clock was low and he could not get the kick away on time.

Brazil recovered the lead through replacement prop Leonel Moreno on 73 minutes. Lucas Tranquez converted. Remue then missed a penalty as Brazil held on but a second penalty in the opposition half saw Belgium kicking for the corner. A lineout to maul move followed with Maxime Jadot scoring. 

There was time for Brazil to win the kick-off and attack in Belgium territory. However, Belgium won a turn-over penalty to confirm themselves as winners. Attention now turns to Tuesday. Brazil face Namibia while Belgium take-on Samoa. The winner of Samoa vs Belgium will qualify for Rugby World Cup 2027.

• Belgum defeated Brazil for the first time. Prior matches between the countries were won 23-19 and 47-25 by Brazil.
• Belgium now face Samoa on Tuesday in a winner goes to the World Cup match.
• Brazil take-on Namibia, also on Tuesday, to determine who finishes third and who finishes last.
• N8 Andre Arruda earned his 50th cap for Brazil.
• None of Brazil’s tries were scored by Cobras players. They were all scored by players based abroad.

BRAZIL (27)
TRY – M Dell’Acqua (35′), Y Rosetti (48′), L Moreno (73′)
CON – T Oviedo (36′), L Tranquez 2 (49′, 74′)
PEN – T Oviedo (42′), L Tranquez (65′)

BELGIUM (30)
TRY –CH Berguet (2′), JM Decubber (11′), M Remue (68′), M Jadot (79′)
CON – M Remue 2 (3′, 12′)
PEN – M Remue 2 (58′, 62′)
YC – T Deceuninck (47′)
RC – CH Berguet (51′)

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: 16 Yan Rosetti, 17 Brendon Alves Pinheiro, 18 Leonel Moreno, 19 Ben Donald, 22 Hélder Lúcio, 21 Devon Muller, 22 Gustavo Gobeti 23 Lucas Tranquez

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

Video: To Follow

Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Jordan Way (Australia); Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)