Belgium will meet Samoa in a winner-takes-all encounter on Pitch 2 at The Sevens in Dubai on Tuesday evening to decide the last side to play at the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Both teams have won twice in the four-team Final Qualification Tournament so far. It means a straight shoot out for the one available spot at the expanded 25-team World Cup in Australia in two years’ time.
The fact Samoa are in position to push for the berth is little surprise. They have played at every World Cup since 1991, and are ranked 16th in the world.
Belgium, at 22nd place in the rankings, kept their quest for qualification alive with a late score to beat Brazil, who are only in Dubai because Paraguay withdrew after fielding an ineligible player in their match against them in South American qualifying.
The “Black Devils”, who have enjoyed impressive support in Dubai, were down to 14 men for the last half hour of their match on Thursday evening.
They required a try by replacement prop Maxime Jadot with two minutes remaining to seal a 30-27 win over the Brazilians.
“We told ourselves that we would go the whole 80 minutes and nothing less, not one minute less, and we get lucky because against Brazil, it could have gone either way,” Laurent Dossat, the Belgian coach, said.
“But we showed spirit, we showed character and we didn't give up, which was what we intended to do since the beginning.
“We are very, very proud, very humble, and very, very happy to be playing the final against Samoa on Tuesday.”
Samoa added a 26-8 win over Namibia to their opening day thrashing of Brazil to move to within touching distance of qualification.
Their excellence in Dubai so far has to be expected given both the country’s pedigree in the sport, as well as their bolstered resources for this tour.
The Samoans were unhappy to miss out on direct qualification for the World Cup because of an under-par showing at the Pacific Nations Cup.
They were missing a number of leading players for that tournament. By contrast, this time around they have strengthened up, even being able to call up players like one-time England full back Jacob Umaga, and the former Australia prop Scott Sio.
“We've had a few players come in and they brought their experience and just a calibre of where they play,” Tusi Pisi, the Samoa coach, said.
“It’s been good for the other players that were involved in the last campaign to see the level of these players and where they need to get to.”
