RWC 2027 Final Qualification Tournament Team Guide: Brazil

RWC history

Number of tournaments: 0

Best finish: NA

Most points in a match: NA

Biggest win: NA

Did you know...?

Brazil has never qualified for a Men's Rugby World Cup, but they participated in the first edition of Rugby Sevens in the Olympics at Rio 2016 and the Women’s 15s have just taken made their RWC debut at 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England

Kit colour: Green and yellow.

Nickname: Os Tupis

Known for: While the Brazilian football team is known for their flair and unpredictability, Brazil’s national rugby team are known more for a solid structure built around an excellent kicking game.

Current form

World Ranking: 32

Form: LLLLL

Final Qualification Tournament Matches

8 November: Samoa v Brazil – The Sevens Stadium, Dubai

13 November: Belgium v Brazil - The Sevens Stadium, Dubai

18 November: Namibia v Brazil - The Sevens Stadium, Dubai

How did they qualify for Dubai?

Brazil (Qualified 24 October, 2025)

Brazil had a circuitous route to the Final Qualification Tournament which began back in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in August 2024 as they defeated Los Yacarés (The Alligators) of Paraguay 77-17 in Round 2 of the Sudamericano. Although the Tupis were beaten 36-10 by Chile in their final match the win over Paraguay was enough to see them into the decisive third round.

In this round the winner would qualify directly for RWC 2027, while the runner-up would go into a play-off against the fourth placed team from the Pacific qualifiers, namely Samoa. The third placed team would qualify for the FQT while for the fourth placed team their dream of RWC 2027 would be over.

In the opening matches Uruguay defeated Paraguay by an aggregate score line of 116-10, while Brazil slipped to defeat against a powerful Chile line-up 70-41 over two legs. This set up a Uruguay-Chile final and a Brazil-Paraguay third place play-off, with the winner advancing to the FQT. Uruguay defeated Chile 46-37 in the two-legged final to reach Australia 2027, and send Chile to the South America Pacific Play-off.

Then in what can only be described as a stunning upset on 11 and 18 October, Paraguay upset the odds to bounce back from their over 100-point loss to Uruguay to defeat Brazil both home and away in the third-place play-off by an aggregate score of 70-43.

This meant that Paraguay advanced to the FQT and Brazil’s RWC 2027 dreams were over. But just before the tournament in Dubai was set to start, Paraguay advised World Rugby they had inadvertently played an ineligible player in the final play-off matches against Brazil and withdrew themselves from the Final Qualification Tournament. So Brazil hastily had to prepare their squad to head off for Dubai just a few days later.

Head Coach: Josh Reeves

A goal-kicking fly-half in his playing days Reeves has played and coached on four continents. Originally from Christchurch, New Zealand, 39-year-old Reeves hails from Shirley Rugby Club where he played four seasons before moving to Brazil with his now wife Ana, in 2014.

Since arriving in Brazil he has gone on to become a full-time player and coach within the Brazilian Rugby system since 2015, amassing over 30 test caps. Milestones include appearances against the Maori All Blacks and the Barbarians. He once kicked 18 points for Brazil in a famous win over Canada in the 2019 Americas Rugby Championship.

Reeves also appeared for the Utah Warriors in the USA Major League Rugby and the Cobras in the inaugural season of the SLAR (Super Liga Americana), a South American professional league. He also has experience in Ireland, as player-coach at Sligo, also playing for Wanderers in the All Ireland League and coaching at St Andrews College in 2011/12.

This is his second spell as head coach of the Tupis following on from a brief spell in 2022. He also serves as Technical Director of the Brazil Rugby Confederation.

In brief

Brazil have been given the ultimate reprieve after finding themselves as a late inclusion in the Final Qualification Tournament following the withdrawal of Paraguay after fielding an ineligible player.

Up until recently the Tupis had put in some impressive performances comfortably defeating Paraguay 77-17 back in August last year, and running already RWC 2027 qualified Chile close in two matches in July.

However just days before the Sudamerica 3 playoff against Paraguay in Asunción in October, head coach Emiliano Caffera was replaced by former player and head coach Josh Reeves. Brazil went on to lose both matches in the two-legged playoff 39-19 in Paraguay and 31-24 in Brazil.

Thanks to Paraguay’s withdrawal Reeves and his squad now have the chance to turn their recent form around and get back to winning ways in Dubai.

Key player: Andre Arruda

A hard running 36-year-old No.8, Andre Arruda is a mainstay for both the Brazil national team and the Brazil Cobras, the Brazilian entrant in the Super Rugby Americas, which also features teams from Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay. Always at the centre of the action for his team, Arruda has accumulated 48 caps since his debut in 2017 and was a standout performer for the Tupis in both their recent play-off matches against Paraguay. In the first match he took an intercept in the 17th minute and raced 50 metres to score to put Brazil ahead. Then in the second match he barged over in just the ninth minute to give the Tupis an early lead.

Legend: Moisés Duque

Elegant 36-year-old centre Moises Duque, who announced his retirement after the recent RWC 2027 play-off match against Paraguay, holds the record as Brazil’s most capped player in history with 66 test caps. He began his career with the São José Rugby Clube in the Campeonato Brasileiro de Rugby before playing briefly for Blagnac in the Fédérale 1 in France. An accurate goal-kicker he landed a conversion and four penalties in Brazil’s most famous victory, a 24-23 win over United States in the 2016 Americas Rugby Championship. It was the first time the Tupis had faced USA. The following year Duque was the competition's top point scorer with 43 points.

Squad

Brazil will bring the bulk of their squad from the recent play-off defeats to Paraguay to Dubai including outstanding No. 8 Arruda but minus vintage centre Duque, who has just announced his retirement.

Some other interesting names to look out for are 27-year-old New Zealand born lock Ben Donald, from the Bay of Plenty Steamers, who qualifies for Brazil under the accumulated residency rule and 27-year-old Argentinian born prop Leonel Moreno who plays his club rugby for Lazio in Italy.

The Tupis will also call on players currently based in the USA (Major League Rugby), France, Italy, Portugal, England, and hooker Yan Rosetti who plays with Barcelona in Spain.

Forwards

Brendon Alves, André Arruda, Matheus Cláudio, Adrio de Melo, Matteo Dell’Acqua, Cléber Dias, Ben Donald, Henrique Ferreira, Vicente Galvão, Tiago Gonçalves dos Santos, Hélder Bryan Lúcio, Rodolfo Martins, Leonel Moreno, Gabriel Oliveira, Wilton Rebolo, Felipe Rosa, Yan Rosetti, Renato Santos, Aquiles Schulter, Caique Segura, Endy Willian.

Backs

João Amaral, Moisés Duque, Gustavo Gobeti, Felipe Gonçalves, Raphael Hollister, Lorenzo Massari, Widson Menezes, Carlo Mignot, Robson Morais, Thiago Oviedo, Lucas Spago, Robert Tenório, Lucas Tranquez, Antonio Zanatta.

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