SAMOA'S DAY OF DESTINY

The Final Qualification Tournament for RWC 2027 wasn't for the faint-hearted. RW reports on a nerve-shredding denouement in Dubai

- Words FRANCISCO ISAAC

LAST-MINUTE DRAWS. A cascade of yellow cards. More twists and turns than a Christopher Nolan movie. Tries that came from nowhere. Props making line breaks as if it were your average rugby afternoon. And, in the end, one team qualified for the 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup. The 2025 Final Qualification Tournament was drenched in the best kind of drama, and while Samoa picked up the last remaining World Cup ticket, they had to dig deep to overcome an ambitious Belgium. Brazil, Namibia, Belgium and Samoa headed to Dubai to face each other in a round robin over the course of 15 days. With the World Cup train already gearing up its engines, there was no time left for self-doubts or second-guessing. 'Winner takes all' was the prize on offer. Players from every corner of the world were selected to represent their national team in the hope of either making history (Belgium and Brazil) or avoiding a massive fall that could shake their rugby foundations (Namibia and Samoa).

For the last two years, these four sides had every chance to qualify for the World Cup, but for various reasons they failed, leaving the Final Qualification Tournament as the last chance to qualify. For Belgian prop Charles-Henri Berguet, who started in the first two games, the tournament in Dubai was a make-or-break moment.

“We saw it as our final. We had to pull it off or it’s the end,” he says. “Of course, we know that there’s going to be a next morning after for Belgium rugby, but we had to face Samoa with that mindset. Regardless of the final outcome, it would always be the end of a chapter for us.”