Rugby World Cup hopefuls climb rankings to shed biggest underdog tag

Rugby World Cup 2027 hopefuls Paraguay have climbed up to 31st in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings as a result of their second win in as many weeks over Brazil.

Having won the first leg of the Final Qualification Tournament play-off 39-19, Los Yacares bagged a 31-24 victory in the return match to book their place at the four-team line-up in Dubai (8-18 November), 70-43 on aggregate.

Rugby World Cup regulars Samoa and Namibia, and fellow potential debutants Belgium, are the other teams vying for the last ticket to the tournament in Australia in 2027.

The win lifted Paraguay three places in the rankings, above Czechia and Russia, and also Brazil, who’ve fallen to 32nd.

Samoa, who are 16th in the world, will be the highest-ranked team in Dubai, while Belgium and Namibia are currently placed 22nd and 27th, respectively.

While Paraguay will be firm underdogs in Dubai, Kenya were actually ranked lower when they participated in the second iteration of the round-robin RWC 2023 Final Qualification Tournament in 2022. The Africans entered that tournament ranked 33rd and failed to win any of their three games.

The inaugural Final Qualification Tournament, played in Marseille in 2018, brought together four teams closely bunched in the rankings.

From the highest-ranked team, Hong Kong China in 21st, to the lowest-ranked Germany in 29th, only eight ranking places separated the teams in the RWC 2019 FQT, as opposed to 15 this time around and 14 in 2022.

Worryingly for Samoa, neither of the highest-ranked teams qualified for the tournament proper from the Final Qualification Tournament in the two previous events.

Canada were the winners of the RWC 2019 FQT, played in Marseille, despite going into the tournament ranked 23rd, two places lower than Hong Kong China.

Meanwhile, at the RWC 2023 FQT, the USA were one place better off than Portugal, but it was Os Lobos who made it through to France on points difference.