Brazil and Namibia put on a slobberknocker in Rugby World Cup 2027 qualifying in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday. The high-scoring game saw the higher ranked Namibia completing a 40-31 victory. It was hard fought with Brazilian overcoming a 24-21 half-time deficit in their first-ever test match against Brazil.
The match began with neither team in the running to book the last remaining spot at Rugby World Cup 2027. Both Brazil and Namibia were beaten in their respective earlier repechage matches against Samoa and Belgium.
The repechage final between Samoa and Belgium ended in a 13-13 draw. This meant Samoa qualified for Rugby World Cup 2027 due to having more competition points from their three matches when compared to Belgium’s performances.
With no prize for the winner of Brazil vs Namibia the teams went out of their way to attack. The 40-31 final scoreline featured four Brazilian tries and six from the Namibians. However, it was Brazil who looked impressive early on. Fullback Lucas Tranquez and tight head Leonel Moreno both crashed over to open up an early 17-0 lead for Os Tupis.
The Welwitschias responded through their own tight head with Joshua Bester scoring. However, the early momentum remained with the South Americans and captain Lorenzo Massari Temer scored on 25 minutes after a wonderful move from Robert Tenório.
Namibia found their rhythm to have the better of the remainder of the first-half. Winger Jurgen Meyer and second-rower Adriaan Ludick both scored tries for the Welwitschias. This saw the deficit significantly decreased with Namibia down by 3 points at the internal.
Brazil’s second quarter woes were compounded by foul play. Left winger Sérgio Luna was red carded on 38 minutes. It was one of two cards for Brazil during the match. The other saw Robert Tenório off for ten minutes in the second-half.
The second-half was a very different contest. The Welwitschias showed why they have played at the past seven consecutive Men’s Rugby World Cups. Danie Van Der Merwe and Jay-Cee Nel scored tries and Cliven Loubser kept his 100% goal-kicking accuracy.
Namibia were 40-24 ahead with the clock ticking down. Namibia lost hooker Louis van der Westhuizen to a late yellow card. Brazil succeeded in scoring against the 14-men Africans with flanker Matheus De Souza Claudio crossing two minutes from full-time.
- The match officially began international competition between Brazil and Namibia.
- The fixture was a final round match in the Rugby World Cup 2027 Final Qualification tournament.
- Samoa won the repechage tournament to claim the final spot at Rugby World Cup 2027.
- Namibia failed to qualify for the Rugby World Cup for the first time since 1995.
- Moisés Duque played for Brazil for the final time. He is the most capped Brazilian of all-time with 67 caps.
BRAZIL (31)
TRY – L Tranquez (9′), L Moreno (16′), L Massari Temer (25′), M De Souza Claudio (78′)
CON – L Tranquez 4 (10′, 17′, 26′, 78′)
PEN – L Tranquez (6′)
YC – R Tenório (55′)
RC – S Luna (38′)
NAMIBIA (40)
TRY –J Bester (21′), J Meyer 2 (28′, 56′), A Ludick (37′), D Van Der Merwe (44′), JC Nel (67′)
CON -C Loubser 5 (22′, 29′, 37′, 45′, 57′)
YC – L van der Westhuizen (77′)
BRAZIL
15 Lucas Tranquez, 14 Lorenzo Massari Temer (capt.), 13 Raphael Hollister, 12 Robert Tenório, 11 Sérgio Luna, 10 João do Amaral, 9 Lucas Spago, 8 André Arruda, 7 Devon Muller, 6 Adrio de Melo, 5 Ben Donald, 4 Matteo Dell’Acqua, 3 Leonel Moreno, 2 Wilton Rebolo, 1 João Lucas Marino
Replacements: 16 Yan Rosetti, 17 Brendon Alves, 18 Vicente Galvão, 19 Hélder Lúcio, 20 Matheus Cláudio, 21 Renato Santos, 22 Gustavo Gobeti, 23 Moisés Duque
NAMIBIA
15 Jay-Cee Nel, 14 Danie van der Merwe, 13 Andre van der Berg, 12 Johan Deysel, 11 Jurgen Meyer, 10 Cliven Loubser, 9 Helarius TC Kisting, 8 Wian Conradie, 7 Max Katjijeko, 6 Prince !Gaoseb, 5 Johan Retief, 4 Adriaan Ludick, 3 Joshua Bester, 2 Louis van der Westhuizen, 1 Otja Auala
Replacements: 16 Armand Combrinck, 17 Haitembu Shikufa, 18 Johan Aranos Coetzee, 19 Johan Luttig, 20 Riaan Grové, 21 Jacques Theron, 22 Aston Mukwilongo, 23 Adriaan Booysen
Video: To Follow
Referee: Jordan Way (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Eoghan Cross (Ireland); Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)
