Uruguay have secured their place at Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2027 after defeating Chile over two legs of the Sudamericano 2025 final (46-35 on aggregate). Los Teros will now prepare to return to rugby\u2019s biggest stage, continuing their proud tradition at the sport\u2019s pinnacle event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having carried a 12-point lead from the first leg in Santiago (28-16), Uruguay sealed qualification despite losing to Chile in Montevideo (18-21), overcoming their South American rivals 46-35 on aggregate to confirm their spot at Australia 2027. This result ensures Los Teros will appear at their sixth Rugby World Cup, underlining their consistency as one of the region\u2019s leading rugby nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sudamericano final not only crowns the champion of South America but also provides a direct pathway into the expanded 24-team Rugby World Cup in 2027. With Argentina already pre-qualified from RWC 2023, Uruguay\u2019s victory makes them the second South American nation to book their place at the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uruguay are the 20th team to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2027, with four more nations to be confirmed through the remaining regional and global qualification processes. After historic wins at previous tournaments, including their famous upset over Fiji at RWC 2019, Los Teros will be eager to make their mark once again on the world stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently ranked 16th in the World Rugby Men\u2019s Rankings, Uruguay will also look ahead to the RWC 2027 Draw in December 2025, where they will discover their pool opponents for the tournament in Australia (1 October \u2013 13 November, 2027).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chile will now prepare to face the team that finishes lowest in the Pacific Nations Cup 2025 out of Canada, Samoa, and USA in a two-legged South America\/Pacific Play-off later this month (20 and 27 September) for a second chance to qualify for RWC 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Samoa\u2019s qualification dreams remain on hold after they lost 29-15 to Fiji in a physical and penalty-strewn Pacific Nations Cup encounter at Rotorua International Stadium in New Zealand to enter next weekend\u2019s fifth-place play-off.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But they gave it everything, hitting the ground at full tilt, leading 8-0 and 15-5 in the first half as they set out in search of the bonus-point win that would have seen them overhaul Tonga in Pool B, and claim a more direct route to Australia 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They got off to a perfect start, scoring the game\u2019s opening try in the third minute. Hooker Pita Anae Ah-Sue had the ball under his arm as a five-metre lineout maul drove over the line. Manu Samoa quickly had a second chance of a score minutes later from a similar position. This time, Fiji\u2019s defence stood firm and forced a knock-on as Samoa looked to move the ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, a ferocious Samoa scrum won a penalty. It was clear early on that they had worked on their set-pieces. Suddenly, with 10 minutes on the clock, Samoa were 8-0 up and Fiji had barely touched the ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When they did, however, they quickly got on the scoreboard. The manner was similar to Samoa\u2019s opener. A penalty to touch five metres out. A lineout, a maul drive and a try for hooker and captain Tevita Ikanivere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So Samoa upped the pace. Ten minutes later, Melani Nanai darted between two Fiji defenders, a switch of hands doing the job of a dummy, before his no-look inside ball released Joel Lam to score. They led 15-5 and had two of the four tries they needed for a bonus point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the defending champions were finding their feet. And they were willing to attack from anywhere, even when they were being stretched in defence. A series of quick penalties moved them from deep in their own territory to five metres from Samoa\u2019s line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ikanivere was held up, but another penalty gave Fiji another shot just before half-time and Seta Tamanivalu picked the perfect cutback line \u2013 there was no stopping him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In scoring terms, the second half got off to a muted start. But the spectacle was as enthralling despite the repeated penalty stoppages and the lack of points until the hour, when, following a series of phases, the ball went wide to Iakopo Petelo-Mapu. His smart dab ahead rolled dangerously into Samoa\u2019s in-goal area \u2013 where Simione Kuruvoli was first to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just like that, Fiji were ahead for the first time. Caleb Muntz extended their lead with a penalty \u2013 the 25th of the match \u2013 in the 65th minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fiji were not just ahead on the scoreboard. After a slow start, they had turned the game in their favour and Kalaveti Ravouvou rounded off a patient set to score the Flying Fijians’ fourth try in the corner with moments left on the clock to condemn Samoa to the fifth-place play-off in Denver, Colorado, next weekend, and send Tonga to Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the defeat, Samoa captain Michael Alaalatoa welcomed his side\u2019s improved performance. \u201cVery proud of our effort today,\u201d he told RugbyPass TV immediately afterwards. \u201cWe were very disappointed after the Tonga game. We bounced back well. [There were] just a couple of moments there when we let the Fijians back in. When you\u2019re playing against a quality side like Fiji, you can\u2019t let those moments slip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe wanted to show what it means to wear the jersey. I thought for long periods of this match we showed what it means to be a Manu Samoa player. We\u2019ve just got to nail our execution in crucial moments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fiji coach Mick Byrne, meanwhile, hailed his side\u2019s second-half turnaround after a first 40 dominated by Samoa. \u201cWhen we came out in the second half, we were pretty aggressive in defence, which got us back into the game. But 14 or 15 penalties is not good enough at this level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe just hung in there. We knew that if we could hang on to the ball and play our game, we were going to ask some questions. But, full credit to Samoa \u2013 they came out physically and played some great footy, and really asked some questions of us that we were struggling to answer in the first half.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Uruguay have secured their place at Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2027 after defeating Chile over two legs of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,7],"tags":[72],"class_list":["post-2975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-newsbeat","tag-rugby"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Argentina-Rugby_compressed.jpg",2048,1200,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Argentina-Rugby_compressed-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Argentina-Rugby_compressed-300x176.jpg",300,176,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Argentina-Rugby_compressed-768x450.jpg",640,375,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Argentina-Rugby_compressed-1024x600.jpg",640,375,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Argentina-Rugby_compressed-1536x900.jpg",1536,900,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Argentina-Rugby_compressed.jpg",2048,1200,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Argentina-Rugby_compressed-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Argentina-Rugby_compressed-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"International<\/a> Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Argentina-Rugby_compressed.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2975"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2979,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2975\/revisions\/2979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}