On an incredible night at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, Samoa dug deep to tie 13-13 with Belgium and book their 10th straight Rugby World Cup appearance at Rugby World Cup 2027.
It was a bitter disappointment for Belgium who miss out on a place in Australia 2027 on try bonus points after remaining undefeated in the tournament thanks to victories against Namibia and Brazil.
In the earlier match Namibia fought back from 17-0 down to defeat Brazil 40-31 in a high scoring and very entertaining affair to finish third overall.
Started well
Samoa started well with great early ball movement seeing Jacob Umaga put Latrell Ah-Kiong away on a dangerous run down the right wing.
Good defence from Belgium defused the danger, but Samoa continued to attack and won a penalty soon after which Umaga landed to put Samoa up 3-0 after eight minutes.
Belgium were clearly missing their suspended loosehead prop Charles-Henri Berguet and were being given a torrid time at the scrum by the Samoan pack.
But the Black Devils managed to capitalise on a Samoan error shortly afterwards and launch repeat attacks against the Pacific Islanders defensive line.
Samoa held firm but when flanker Niko Jones went high into a tackle on 12 minutes he received a yellow card, with Matias Remue landing the resulting penalty to make it 3-3.
Samoa had a chance to re-take the lead soon after but the usually reliable Umaga missed the penalty attempt from a very kickable position.
Key moment
The 23rd minute provided a key moment in the game when Belgium right wing Isaac Montoisy was yellow carded for a no-arms tackle.
Belgium made a pre-arranged replacement shortly afterwards with prop Bruno Vliegen, brought in for the suspended Berguet, coming off for Basile van Parys.
Samoa looked certain to score minutes later and make their numerical advantage count but Umaga was dispossessed on the tryline after desperate defence from Belgium wing Ervin Muric. Samoa continued to attack from the re-start but a breakdown penalty saw Belgium work their way downfield where another penalty gave flyhalf Remue the chance to make it 6-3, which he duly accomplished.
Montoisy returned to the field minutes later with the period he was off the field and Belgium were reduced to 14 men – seeing the Black Devils not give up any points and actually take the lead.
With five minutes to go in the half Samoa finally looked to turn their positional advantage into points but another superb turnover from veteran scrumhalf Julien Berger saw Samoa repelled again.
Belgium worked their way downfield and it was the Black Devils who finished the half on top with Remue having a chance to further increase his team’s lead, but the kick faded to the right to leave the half-time score 6-3 in Belgium’s favour.
Tactical defence
An outstanding feature of Belgium’s tactical defence during the match was their superb low tackles continually cutting the bigger Samoan attackers down.
This was in evidence again early in the second half as Samoa were forced into more errors as the Belgium line held firm.
On 48 minutes the building frustration for Samoa saw Belgium awarded a penalty close to the Samoan line.
The Black Devils threw everything into repeated phases, but somehow Samoa held them out winning a crucial turnover when it seemed their line would definitely be breached.
Another Samoan mistake shortly afterwards gave Belgium more good field position but a powerful Samoan scrum saw them win the ball back.
Clock clicking down
With the clock counting down to the final 20 minutes and the ball getting increasingly dewy in the cooling Dubai air, the pressure was starting to tell on both teams with repeated mistakes quelling any attacking efforts.
It was always going to be just one moment that would turn the game and it came for Samoa in the 63rd minute when after pounding away at the Belgium line for repeated phases, with Niko Jones prominent, Samoa finally worked their way over through replacement number eight Abraham Papali’i.
The conversion from Umaga finally giving Samoa some breathing room at 10-6.
With the pressure lifted Samoa started to play a lot more freely allowing their physical strength to dominate.
Umaga missed another long range penalty on 67 minutes but he made no mistake with a closer opportunity on 69 minutes to make it 13-6 with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Belgium somehow hit back with a superb run from Matias Remue that split the Samoan defence, beating multiple defenders, with captain Jean-Maurice Decubber picking up to drive over with just over five minutes remaining.
Had to score again
With scores tied at 13-13 Belgium had to score again as a draw would be enough to send Samoa to Australia 2027.
The Black Devils had one final opportunity with a minute remaining to affect a turnover and give themselves a chance to claim a famous victory, but the ball spilled forward and Samoa were able to close out the final lineout to claim the draw and the 24th and final place at Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia.
Afterwards Belgium captain Jean-Maurice Decubber described the feeling as “half-half. There is one thing I am disappointed about not a defeat, but equal. I really think we can win this game. We must win this game, so really disappointed for all the players who finish his career. Julian Bérger, Maxime Jadot, lot of players. So disappointed for that, but the other half is, I am proud of this group. We have a lot of young player and really proud of them and we must use this results to work and to catapult into the next (Rugby World Cup) in 2031. So, yeah, that’s really mixed.”
A relieved Samoan captain Theo McFarland said his team “were just grateful. It wasn’t at all pretty, but we got the job done, so we’ll take it. I’m just proud of the boys, proud of the coaching staff. It’s been a challenging year. It’s been tough. The challenges that these boys face every year to get to this point, to get to wear this jersey, and it’s a small nation but we’ve got the ticket now (to RWC 2017), so I’m just proud, proud, of this team, this group, and it’s only upward from here. We want to keep this momentum. We want to grow as a team. We will go forward and we want to play more games because honestly we don’t want to just make up the numbers in the World Cup, we want to compete. So we’re looking forward to the next step for our team and for this group.”
New format
Rugby World Cup 2027 will be hosted in Australia from 1 October-13 November, 2027, ushering in a new era for the sport with 24 teams, six pools of four and a round of 16 for the first time.
By qualifying for Rugby World Cup 2027, Samoa have also confirmed their participation in the new World Rugby Nations Cup that is kicking off in 2026.
They will join Canada, Chile, Georgia, Hong Kong China, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Tonga, Uruguay, USA and Zimbabwe in the 12-competition that will provide unprecedented certainty of fixtures and important preparations ahead of RWC 2027.
The Rugby World Cup 2027 draw is set for Wednesday, 3 December 2025 at 11:00 (SA time).
Who has qualified for Rugby World Cup 2027?
Australia qualified automatically as the host nation of Rugby World Cup 2027. Additional automatic qualifying teams are those who finished in the top three spots of the pools at Rugby World Cup 2023 in France. Those teams were Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Japan, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales and South Africa (champions).
The 12 other places were determined via Rugby World Cup Qualifiers.
The process began in 2024 with the 12 spots being claimed in 3025.
Georgia, Portugal, Romania and Spain qualified from Europe, Zimbabwe qualified from Africa, Hong Kong qualified from Asia, Canada, Tonga and the USA qualified from Pacific, Uruguay qualified from South America, Chile qualified from a regional playoff and Samoa qualified via repechage.
