Paraguay wrote their name in the history books on Saturday. A series win over Brazil sees Paraguay advancing to Rugby World Cup 2027 repechage. The South Americans will face Belgium, Samoa and Namibia in Dubai in November. Meanwhile, Brazil’s dream is over with Paraguay having eliminated Os Tupis from RWC 2027 contention.
Brazil were in big trouble before the game started. Paraguay had completed an upset 39-19 win over the Brazilians one week earlier in Asunción. The outcome of that match meant Paraguay had a 20+ point advantage heading into game two. Brazil needed to win by 21 or more points.
Brazil had a good start, building a 10-0 lead; notwithstanding, Paraguay rebounded with Loose Head prop Camilo Blasco blasting his way over from a lineout to maul formation to score on 13 minutes.
Crafty play from Lucas Tranquez had Brazil deep inside Paraguayan territory. Quick ball saw João do Amaral eyeing a gap and the fly half went over for Brazil’s second.
It appeared that Brazil had the momentum but Paraguay fought back for a level 17-17 scoreline at half-time. This was after Brazil had established a 17-7 lead. Paraguay hit-back with Sebastián Urbieta slotting a drop-goal and Ariel Núñez scored a try on the stroke of half-time. The try appeared to be the final nail in the coffin for Os Tupis. It was an impressive try with a set-piece lineout seeing Paraguay breaking clear near the touchline to score from 40 meters out.
Paraguay put a strangle-hold on the contest in the second-half. With it, the clock was ticking down as Sebastián Urbieta added penalties. Paraguay were 28-17 up and Brazil was conceding penalties and yellow cards. Urbieta landed a final penalty before Brazil scored late and attempted to repeat it only for time to run out.
- Paraguay join Belgium, Namibia and Samoa in repechage. The winner of the tournament in November will secure the last remaining place at Australia 2027.
- Paraguay won the two match series 2-0, winning 39-19 at home and 31-24 away.
BRAZIL (24)
TRY – A Arruda (9′), J do Amaral (15′), JL Marino (69′)
CON – L Tranquez 3 (10′, 15′, 70′)
PEN – L Tranquez (3′)
YC – B Alves (12′), A Arruda (42′), W Rebolo (49′), M Cláudio (71′)
RC – JL Marino (77′)
PARAGUAY (31)
TRY – C Blasco (13′), A Núñez (40′), F Paiva (47′)
CON – A López 2 (14′, 40′)
PEN – S Urbieta 3 (48′, 65′, 73′)
DG – S Urbieta (33′)
YC – I Martínez (16′), R Amarilla (76′), C Pérez (80′)
BRAZIL
15 Lucas Tranquez, 14 Robson Morais, 13 Lorenzo Massari Temer, 12 Moisés Duque, 11 Robert Tenório, 10 João do Amaral, 9 Lucas Spago, 8 André Arruda, 7 Adrio de Melo, 6 Cleber Dias, 5 Gabriel Oliveira (capt.), 4 Matteo Dell’Acqua, 3 Vicente Galvão, 2 Wilton Rebolo, 1 Brendon Alves
Replacements: 16 Henrique Ferreira, 17 João Lucas Marino, 18 Tiago Santos, 19 Ben Donald, 20 Matheus Cláudio, 21 Rodolfo Martins, 22 Gustavo Gobeti, 23 Thiago Oviedo
PARAGUAY
15 Joaquín Mussi, 14 Arturo López, 13 Rafael Bareiro, 12 Ramiro Amarilla, 11 Juan González, 10 Sebastián Urbieta, 9 Gonzalo Bareiro, 8 Ignacio Martínez, 7 Ariel Núñez, 6 Francisco Bareiro, 5 Juan Heisecke, 4 Mariano Garcete (c), 3 Luís Enrique Quinteros, 2 Matías Benítez, 1 Camilo Blasco
Replacements: 16 Jordi Chávez, 17 César Pérez, 18 Estéfano Aranda, 19 Adrián León Cabaña, 20 Carlos Plate, 21 Diego Miño, 22 Facundo Paiva, 23 Gianfranco Parodi
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Gonzalo de Achával (Argentina); Simón Larrubia (Argentina)
TMO: Francisco Pesce (Chile)
