The qualifying process for the 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup for Sudamérica began in August 2024, with eight teams competing for one qualification spot (Sudamérica 1) into the final tournament and two spots into play-off matches (Sudamérica 2 & 3).
Format Unlike the other regional qualification process, a tournament did not operate as the regional qualification tournament for Rugby World Cup 2027 in Sudamérica. Instead a format between the main Sudamérica teams (excluding Argentina who had already qualified) and the four development teams was created to decide who would qualify for the World Cup.
Qualification took place over three rounds with a single repechage match between the second and third rounds;
Round 1 saw the four development Sudamérica nations (Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru and Venezuela), play in a straight knock-out format with the winner advancing to the Round 3 repechage match against the bottom placed side in Round 2. Round 2 saw the evolving Sudamérica nations Brazil, Chile and Paraguay play in a round robin format with the top two sides advancing to Round 3 directly, whilst the bottom placed side progressed to the Round 3 repechage match against the winner of Round 1. Round 3 saw the top two sides from Round 2 and the winner of the Round 3 repechage match join the highest remaining ranked Sudamérica team, Uruguay, in the final stage of qualification. The third round will start with a home and away two-legged semi-final play-off series (seeded by 1 v 4 and 2 v 3), with the two winners progressing to the Sudamérica 1 play-off series and the two losers advancing to the Sudamérica 3 play-off series. The winner of the Sudamérica 1 series on aggregate over the two legs played home and away, qualified for the World Cup as Sudamérica 1, whilst the loser advanced to a cross-regional play-off series against Pacific 4 in a Pacific / Sudamérica play-off series to qualify for the World Cup. The winner of the Sudamérica 3 series on aggregate over the two legs played home and away, progressed to the Final Qualification Tournament, as did the loser of the Pacific / Sudamérica play-off series.
Entrants Eight teams will compete during the Sudamérica qualifiers for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, with Argentina the only team qualified from the Region prior to the qualification process.
(Rankings as of first qualification match in this region)
Nation Rank Began play Qualifying status 6 N/A Qualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup 29 18 August 2024 Advances to Final Qualification Tournament as Sudamérica 3 on 24 October 2025 following Paraguay's voluntary withdrawal. 22 28 September 2024 Qualified as Pacific / Sudamérica qualifying play-off winner / Sudamérica 1 on 27 September 2025 42 25 September 2024 Eliminated by Paraguay on 16 October 2024 93 25 September 2024 Eliminated by Colombia on 25 September 2024 41 18 August 2024 Voluntarily withdrawn on 24 October 2025 due to fielding an ineligible player in the 3rd place play-off. 80 25 September 2024 Eliminated by Venezuela on 25 September 2024 17 26 July 2025 Qualified as Sudamérica 2 on 6 September 2025 78 25 September 2024 Eliminated by Colombia on 29 September 2024
Round 1 The first round was contested by four teams in a knockout format, which was held in Medellín, Colombia.
The semi-finals match-ups were decided by the World Rugby Rankings; Colombia (42) played Costa Rica (93) and Venezuela (78) played Peru (80).
Colombia won the first round and advanced to the round 3 repechage match, whilst Costa Rica, Peru and Venezuela were eliminated.
Semi Finals
Bronze Final
Final
Final standings Pos. Team Qualification 1Advances to Round 3 - play off v 2 Eliminated from Qualification. 3 4
Round 2 Round 2 saw Paraguay finish bottom and dropped down to the Round 3 repechage match whilst Brazil and Chile advanced directly to the third round.
Matches
Round 3 Repechage The winner of this match, Paraguay, advanced to Round 3, whilst Colombia were eliminated.
Round 3 The third round away a straight knockout format, seeded by 1 v 4 and 2 v 3.
The winner qualified for the World Cup as Sudamérica 1, whilst the runner-up progressed to a play-off series against Pacific 4 (Samoa) for direct qualification to the World Cup. The third placed team advanced to the Final Qualification Tournament, along with the loser of the play-off series.
Bracket
Matches Semi-final 1 First leg
Second leg
Semi-final 2 First leg
Second leg
Sudamérica 3 play-off Paraguay won 70–43 on aggregate. However, Paraguay voluntarily withdrew after fielding an ineligible player in the playoffs, leaving Brazil to progress to the Final Qualification Tournament against Europe 5 (Belgium), Asia/Africa play-off winner (Namibia) and Pacific/Sudamérica qualifying play-off loser (Samoa)
First leg
Second leg
Sudamérica 1 play-off Uruguay qualified winning 46–37 on aggregate, while Chile progressed to a Pacific / Sudamérica qualifying play-off against Pacific 4 (Samoa).
First leg
Team details FB 15Cristóbal Game RW 14Iñaki AyarzaOC 13Matías GarafulicIC 12Santiago VidelaLW 11Nicolás GarafulicFH 10Rodrigo Fernández SH 9 Benjamín Videla N8 8 Alfonso EscobarOF 7 Clemente Saavedra (c)BF 6 Raimundo Martínez RL 5 Javier Eissmann LL 4 Santiago PedreroTP 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga HK 2 Diego EscobarLP 1 Javier Carrasco Substitutions:HK 16Salvador Lues PR 17Augusto Böhme PR 18Matías Dittus LK 19Bruno SáezFL 20Ernesto Tchimino SH 21Lucas Berti FH 22Juan Cruz Reyes CE 23Nicolás Saab Coach: Pablo Lemoine FB 15Juan GonzálezRW 14Bautista Basso OC 13Felipe Arcos PérezIC 12Andrés Vilaseca LW 11Baltazar AmayaFH 10Felipe EtcheverrySH 9 Santiago ArataN8 8 Manuel Ardao OF 7 Lucas BianchiBF 6 Santiago CivettaRL 5 Manuel Leindekar (c)LL 4 Felipe Aliaga TP 3 Reinaldo Piussi HK 2 Germán Kessler LP 1 Mateo Sanguinetti Substitutions:HK 16Facundo Gattas PR 17Francisco Suárez PR 18Ignacio Péculo LK 19Ignacio Dotti FL 20Carlos Deus SH 21Santiago ÁlvarezFH 22Ignacio Álvarez WG 23Juan Manuel Alonso Coach: Rodolfo Ambrosio Assistant referees: Damián Schneider (Argentina) Tomás Bertazza (Argentina) Television match official: Marcelo Pilara (Argentina)
Second leg
Team details FB 15Juan GonzálezRW 14Bautista BassoOC 13Felipe Arcos PérezIC 12Andrés VilasecaLW 11Ignacio Álvarez FH 10Felipe EtcheverrySH 9 Santiago Arata N8 8 Manuel Ardao OF 7 Lucas Bianchi BF 6 Santiago Civetta RL 5 Manuel Leindekar (c) LL 4 Felipe Aliaga TP 3 Reinaldo Piussi HK 2 Germán Kessler LP 1 Mateo Sanguinetti Substitutions:HK 16Facundo Gattas PR 17Francisco Suárez PR 18Ignacio Péculo LK 19Ignacio Dotti FL 20Carlos Deus FL 21Manuel Diana SH 22Santiago ÁlvarezWG 23Juan Manuel Alonso Coach: Rodolfo Ambrosio FB 15Cristóbal Game RW 14Nicolás GarafulicOC 13Matías Garafulic IC 12Nicolás SaabLW 11Iñaki AyarzaFH 10Santiago VidelaSH 9 Benjamín Videla N8 8 Alfonso Escobar OF 7 Clemente Saavedra (c)BF 6 Raimundo MartínezRL 5 Javier Eissmann LL 4 Santiago PedreroTP 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga HK 2 Diego Escobar LP 1 Javier Carrasco Substitutions:HK 16Augusto Böhme PR 17Salvador Lues PR 18Matías Dittus FL 19Joaquín Milesi FL 20Ernesto Tchimino SH 21Lucas Berti FH 22Juan Cruz Reyes FH 23Tomás Salas Coach: Pablo Lemoine Assistant referees: Tomás Bertazza (Argentina) Federico Longobardi (Argentina) Television match official: Lucas Galan (Argentina)
See also 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup qualifying
References
External links Rugby World Cup Official Site