Samoa last team to reach 2027 Rugby World Cup after winning qualifying tournament
They join Hong Kong and 22 other teams in the draw on December 3 following tense draw with Belgium in Dubai
Samoa became the 24th and last team to qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup after a hard-fought 13-13 draw with Belgium in Dubai on Tuesday.
They topped the final qualification tournament table with 12 points, one ahead of Belgium by virtue of having an extra bonus point. The other teams in the tournament were Namibia and Brazil.
Now they have qualified, Samoa will join the likes of Hong Kong, who are first-time qualifiers after beating South Korea in July.
Manu Samoa have played in every World Cup since their debut in 1991, but they embarrassingly struggled to reach what will effectively be a home tournament in Australia.
“It wasn’t all pretty but we managed to get the ticket to the World Cup,” Samoa captain Theo McFarland said.
Rank outsiders Belgium were bidding to qualify for the first time and had never been this far before. The Black Devils had to beat Samoa in their first match-up in 36 years. They overcame a yellow card to lead 6-3 at half-time and rallied to level the score with seven minutes to go but could not produce one more point to make history.
