After first-round losses to Samoa and Belgium respectively, Brazil and Namibia must be at their very best in the reverse fixtures at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai on Thursday in their quest to become the final nation to qualify for Australia 2027.

The early game on match day two sees Belgium take on Brazil at 17.00 local time (GMT+4) while Samoa face Namibia in the later match at 19:30.

A loss for either Os Tupis of Brazil or the Welwitschias of Namibia will see the end of their RWC 2027 qualification journey while a victory for the Black Devils of Belgium or Manu Samoa will propel them one step closer to the pinnacle of the men’s game.

BELGIUM v BRAZIL

Venue: The Sevens Stadium, Dubai
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Jordan Way (Australia), Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)

After their outstanding 22-15 victory over Nambia, Belgium are taking no chances against Brazil who finished strongly in their opening loss to Samoa. The Black Devils have made only two changes, both on the bench, and will go with the same starting XV that outplayed the Welwitschias for much of their contest last weekend.

This includes dynamic young fly-half Matias Remue, who caused Namibia problems all game with his dangerous sniping close to the ruck, as well as openside flanker and captain Jean-Maurice Decubber, who dominated the breakdown against the bigger Welwitschias pack.

The only tweaks by head coach Laurent Dossat are tight-head prop Basile van Parys, who comes on to the bench with Bruno Vliegen dropping out, and centre Hugo de Francq who similarly makes way for Timothe Rifon.

For Brazil they have made just three changes to their starting XV, one positional, with full-back Lucas Tranquez dropping to the bench to be replaced by Thiago Oviedo, hooker Wilton Rebolo moving to tight-head prop in place of Leonel Moreno, who drops to the bench, and try-scorer from the first round Henrique Ribeiro Ferreira who comes in as the new starting rake.

Yan Rosetti comes in as the new replacement hooker, having last played for Brazil in July 2021, with Helder Lucio replacing Renato Santos as second-row cover and Gustavo Gobeti coming in for the elevated Oviedo. Vicente Galvao and Robson Marais both drop out of the 23.

Belgium may be the form side with five wins in their last six matches but Brazil have had the better of the two encounters between the teams to date, with Os Tupis having won both, including the most recent by 47-25 in Sao Paulo last July.

The Black Devils overall do not have a good record against South American opponents having won just one of their previous five tests, a 45-20 victory against Paraguay in July 2024. Perhaps good reason why Dossat has stayed with his strongest line-up.

Giving further hope to Brazil Director of Rugby Josh Reeves is their recent record against European opponents having won two of their last four tests against nations from Europe, including against Belgium last year.

Although losing 48-10 to Samoa, Os Tupis can still be proud of their defence making the most dominant tackles of any team in the opening round with 13, while Belgium made the second most (11). Belgium also recorded the best tackle success rate, a very impressive 93 per cent.

Both sides will look to their maul where they each gained 25 metres in their opening match, according to Opta stats, with Brazil’s average of five metres per maul being the best of any side (Belgium were second with 3.6).

In terms of individual players to look out for, Brazil must find a way to match Belgium’s captain Decubber's incredible work-rate. He topped the charts for both carries (16) and tackles (22) in the opening round, also gaining the most metres in contact of any player (24), as well as crossing for a try.

Os Tupis will rely on the trusty boot of fly-half João Pedro Amaral who recorded the most kicks in play of any player in the opening round, gaining 361 kicking metres. Amaral was also Brazil’s top-ranking player for carries (10), carry metres (109) and defenders beaten (6).

Brazil will also have their hands full trying to keep in check the Belgian duo of wing Ervin Muric (8) and full-back Simeon Soenen (7) who beat the most defenders in the opening round, with Soenen also making over twice as many offloads as any other player (5).

MATCHDAY SQUADS

BELGIUM
1 Charles-Henri Berguet, 2 Alexandre Raynier, 3 Jean-Baptiste De Clercq, 4 Toon Deceuninck, 5 Maximilien Hendrickx, 6 Jean-Maurice Decubber (captain), 7 William van Bost, 8 Felipe Geraghty, 9 Julien Berger, 10 Matias Remue, 11 Thomas Wallraf, 12 Maxime Vacquier, 13 Florian Remue, 14 Ervin Muric, 15 Simeon Soenen

Replacements: 16 Basile van Parys, 17 Vincent Tauzia, 18 Maxime Jadot, 19 Maurice Fromont, 20 Jeremie Brasseur, 21 Isaac Montoisy, 22 Dazzy Cornez, 23 Timothe Rifon.

BRAZIL
1 Caique Segura, 2 Henrique Ribeiro Ferreira, 3 Wilton Rebolo, 4 Matteo Dell’Acqua, 5 Gabriel de Souza Oliveira, 6 Adrio de Melo, 7 Matheus de Souza Cláudio, 8 André Arruda, 9 Lucas Spago, 10 João Pedro Amaral, 11 Robert Tenório, 12 Raphael Hollister, 13 Lorenzo Massari (captain), 14 Théo Bastardie, 15 Thiago Oviedo.  

Replacements: 16 Yan Rosetti, 17 Brendon Alves, 18 Leonel Moreno, 19 Ben Donald, 20 Helder Lucio, 21 Devon Muller, 22 Gustavo Gobeti, 23 Lucas Tranquez.

SAMOA v NAMIBIA

Venue: The Sevens Stadium, Dubai
Referee: Damián Schneider (Argentina)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)

Despite both sides being Rugby World Cup regulars with Samoa having played in nine tournaments and Namibia seven, these two sides have only ever met twice before, with Samoa having won both. Their most recent meeting came in the pool stage of RWC 2011 with Samoa winning 49-12 in Rotorua, New Zealand. The only other meeting was in Windhoek in Namibia in July 2003 with Samoa again successful, 40-13.

Samoa actually snapped a six-match winless streak against Brazil on the opening day and their 38-point victory was their largest since June 2018 against Germany in another RWC qualifier, 66-15. They also have a very good record in Asia having won 14 of their previous 21 tests, including each of their last two – four of their last five wins coming in games which they were either trailing (three times) or level (once) at half-time.

Namibia’s recent record, despite their loss to Belgium in the opening round, is more impressive having won five of their last nine tests, so head coach Pieter Rossouw will be hopeful his team can turn it around against the fancied Samoa.

However, the Welwitschias do not have a good record against sides from Oceania, having lost each of their previous 10 tests against sides from the region, with eight of those 10 fixtures coming at a Rugby World Cup. If Namibia are to win they must restrict Samoa’s flow of possession, which saw them enjoy the most possession of any team in round one (56 per cent), while Namibia had the most territory (57 per cent).

Their defence will also need to be world-class as Samoa made 16-line breaks against Brazil, with no other team making more than three in the opening round, with winger Va'afauese Apelu Maliko (4) making the most of any player, recording a round-high 235 carry metres in the process.

Namibia, however, did make the most 22 entries of any team in the opening round and also conceded the fewest entries (7); however, it was Samoa who scored the most points per entry (5.3). So the Welwitschias must do better at making it count once they enter the red zone.

One area for Namibia to exploit may be the lineout with Torsten van Jaarsveld (9/9) one of just two hookers to make more than three lineout throws, and record a 100 per cent success rate. The other, however, was Samoa’s debutant Millennium Sanerivi (6/6).

Namibia must also watch Samoa outside centre Tumua Manu, who was the only player to cross the try-line more than once in the opening round (he also received a yellow card), while full-back Jacob Umaga was the top point scorer with 18.

After mixed fortunes on day one both sides have rotated their teams heavily for this match with Samoa making seven changes to their starting XV, two positional, and Namibia making a similar number.

Head coach Tusi Pisi has brought in former Australian prop Scott Sio for his Samoa debut, along with inside centre Lalomilo Lalomilo, flanker Miracle Faiilagi, second-row Taleni Seu and hooker Sama Malolo. There are also positional changes with captain Theo McFarland moving from blindside flanker to second-row and dangerous centre Tumua Manu moving out one place to outside centre.

Former Springbok wing Rossouw has also shuffled the deck for Namibia bringing in prop Johan Coetzee, second-row Johan Retief, flanker Prince Gaoseb, fly-half Cliven Loubser and wing Danie van der Merwe. There are also positional changes in the backline with Johan Deysel moving to inside centre to replace Danco Burger, Jay-Cee Nel moving from full-back to outside centre and Divan Rossouw swapping from wing to full-back. The players to drop out are Haitembu Shikufa, Tiaan de Klerk, Wian Conradie, Andre van der Berg, and Burger.

It is the last throw of the dice for Namibia and you can be sure this proud rugby nation will give everything they have and more to keep their RWC 2027 dream alive for one more game.

MATCHDAY SQUADS

SAMOA
1 Scott Sio, 2 Sama Malolo, 3 Tietie Tuimauga, 4 Taleni Seu, 5 Theo McFarland (captain), 6 Miracle Faiilagi,  7 Alamanda Motuga, 8 Iakopo Petelo-Mapu, 9 Jonathan Taumateine, 10 Rodney Iona, 11 Vaafauese Apelu Maliko, 12 Lalomilo Lalomilo, 13 Tumua Manu, 14 Latrell Ah Kiong, 15 Jacob Umaga.

Replacements: 16 Millennium Sanerivi, 17 Titi Lamositele, 18 Michael Alaalatoa, 19 Ben Nee-Nee, 20 Abraham Papali'i, 21 Connor Tupa’i, 22 Faletoi Peni, 23 Tuna Tuitama.

NAMIBIA
1 Otja Auala, 2 Louis van der Westhuizen (captain), 3  Johan Coetzee, 4 Adriaan Ludick, 5 Johan Retief, 6 Prince Gaoseb, 7 Max Katjijeko, 8 Adriaan Booysen, 9 Helarius Kisting, 10 Cliven Loubser, 11 JC Greyling, 12 Johan Deysel, 13 Jay-Cee Nel, 14 Danie van der Merwe, 15 Divan Rossouw

Replacements: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Gianluca Savoldelli, 18 Haitembu Shikufa, 19 Johan Luttig, 20 Wian Conradie, 21 Armand Combrinck, 22 Andrew Kearns, 23 Andre van der Berg.

For those in Dubai, all Final Qualification Tournament matches at The Sevens Stadium will be free to attend for spectators and rugby fans, while for those that can't be there in person, the tournament will be available to watch everywhere in the world, either through local broadcast partners or free via RugbyPass TV.