Eleventh hour changes have seen Paraguay out of the Rugby World Cup 2027 repechage. Los Yakarés had qualified for the Final Qualification Tournament by beating Brazil 39-19 in Asunción, Paraguay and 31-24 in JacareÃ, Brazil. Notwithstanding, Brazil have been given a Rugby World Cup 2027 lifeline with Paraguay withdrawing.
Brazil have taken the place of Paraguay in the upcoming repechage tournament. In doing so, Brazil will compete against Belgium, Namibia and Samoa in Dubai from November 08 to 18. The winner will claim the last remaining spot at Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia.
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| REPECHAGE RWC 2027 FINAL QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENT: MATCHES |
NOV 08 VS
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NOV 13VS
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NOV 18 VS
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Paraguay’s withdrawal comes with URP officials Paraguay declaring that they realized that they fielded an ineligible player vs Brazil. They misinterpreted Regulation 8 and notified World Rugby of their error. ARN understands that the player in question is center Ramiro Amarilla who is from Argentina.
World Rugby confirmed the alteration and substituted Paraguay for Brazil for the Final Qualification Tournament. World Rugby also thanked the URP for coming forward with their administration oversight which saw an ineligible player competing.
Neither the URP nor World Rugby named the player. Of note is that the player, Ramiro Amarilla, actually competed in more matches than only the two most recent against Brazil including against Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, Hong Kong and Belgium. Moreover, he captained Paraguay in Rugby World Cup Qualifying against Chile. Amarilla was not eligible via the 60 months (five years) of being attached to the union but was believed to be eligible based on the former residency requirements of three years.
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| REPECHAGE RWC 2027 FINAL QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENT: FORMAT |
Belgium, Brazil, Namibia and Samoa will compete against each other over a series of three rounds in November. The matches will be played on November 08, November 13 and November 18. All matches will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The team that finishes top of the table will officially qualify for Rugby World Cup 2027. That team will claim the last remaining spot at Australia 2027. Belgium and Brazil are both competing for the right to play in a first-ever Rugby World Cup tournament.
Namibia has competed at seven Rugby World Cups. The Welwitschias qualified direct from Africa for Rugby World Cups 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2023. The team has the worst record of all teams to have competed at Rugby World Cups. The Welwitschias has lost all of their 26 matches in Rugby World Cups.
Namibia faced Samoa at Rotorua, New Zealand during Rugby World Cup 2011. Samoa were 49-12 winners. Samoa also defeated Fiji at RWC 2011. Samoa finished third in the pool at that tournament. Samoa has competed in every Rugby World Cup except for the inaugural tournament in 1987. They were simply not invited to RWC 1987.
Samoa is a two-time Rugby World Cup Quarter Finalist. Samoa shocked Wales in Rugby World Cup 1991and backed-up by reaching the Quarter Finals again in 1995. Samoa has been competitive ever since but peaked under the 16-team RWC model which was used until RWC 1995.
RWC 2023 saw Samoa defeating Chile and losing to England by a single point. The result against England mirror’s Namibia’s best result in a RWC match, a one-point loss against Georgia in 2015. Both Samoa and Namibia were well-placed to qualify for RWC 2027 but fell-short. Zimbabwe defeated Namibia while the USA and Chile both qualified by beating Samoa.
RWC 2027 may therefore be the first Men’s Rugby World Cup since 1987 to not include Samoa and the first since 1995 to not feature Namibia.
The following poster will now need to be edited to replace Paraguay with Brazil.
