The penultimate weekend of the Rugby Europe Men's Championship 2025 will decide which two teams are still in the running to qualify for Men's Rugby World Cup 2027.
The winners of this Saturday's matches between the Netherlands and Germany (12:00 GMT) and Belgium and Switzerland (19:00 GMT) will make it to the fifth-place play-off. The winner of this play-off will then represent Europe at the four-team Final Qualification Tournament later this year, where the 24th and final ticket to Australia will be handed out.
As the team with the best record of the four from the pool stage, the Netherlands will be the home side in the deciding match if they prevail against Germany.
The Netherlands and Belgium finished third in their respective pools after one win and two defeats, with the Dutch accumulating five points and Belgium four. Switzerland and Germany were beaten in all three games to prop up the Pool A and Pool B standings.
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As the higher-ranked teams at home, the Netherlands and Belgium enter the weekend as favourites.
The Netherlands have finished fifth in the last two Rugby Europe Men’s Championships and beat Germany 45-0 at that stage of last year's competition.
It is now 11 years since Germany beat the Dutch. However, when asked about the prospect of qualifying for a Rugby World Cup for the first time, the Netherlands' imposing 2.03m second-row Koen Bloemen insists the men in orange will take nothing for granted.
"I think it would be a massive step for us. It’s a confirmation of all the hard work that has been put in, in the last couple of years by the players and the coaches. But before that dream can become a reality, we’ve got some really tough games coming up where we’ve got to get the best out of the team."
Belgium intent on creating history
Belgium won by a record score and margin when they last met Switzerland in Mons last November. Surprisingly, the 48-7 victory was Belgium’s first win in five attempts against the Swiss dating back to March 2000.
Belgium stalwart Jens Torf is of a very similar mindset to Bloemen, though, when it comes to the ultimate prize at stake. He said: "Qualifying for the Rugby World Cup would be an historic moment for Belgium. It would represent the culmination of years of hard work and development in Belgian rugby.
"We know it will be a tough challenge, but we are determined to take it on with ambition and commitment. Qualification would bring incredible visibility to the sport in Belgium and inspire the next generation of players to believe in their dreams."
Switzerland kicked off their debut Rugby Europe Men's Championship campaign with a record 110-0 defeat to Georgia. There were definite signs of improvement in losing 43-13 at home to Spain in round two but a 73-0 defeat to the Netherlands in their final pool match was another stark reminder of the jump up in level from the Rugby Europe Men's Trophy.
Despite conceding more than 200 points, Swiss veteran Tim Vögtli believes they are heading in the right direction. "The first results didn’t go our way, but we did a lot of learning in the last few weeks, and if we manage to win the next two games it shows we deserve to be here and compete with the best," he said.
Of the four participants, Germany have got the closest to qualifying for a Rugby World Cup in the past. Under Mike Ford, the former Ireland and England defence coach, the Black Eagles came up just one win short of making it to RWC 2019 in place of Canada.
While one-sided, last year's game against the Dutch was ferocious and featured five yellow cards and Germany winger Felix Lammers insists they will be giving their all this weekend.
"The World Cup is the biggest stage in world rugby and every player dreams about being a part of it," he said.
"We know it’s going to be a massive challenge, but we’ll leave everything out there on the pitch and see what the result will be."
Top four in pursuit of the title
While the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland are still hoping to be in the mix for a place at Men's RWC 2027 by the end of this weekend, Georgia, Portugal, Spain and Romania have already booked their tickets to Australia as the top four teams in the competition.
Portugal play Spain in the first of the semi-finals on Saturday (15:30 GMT) in what should be a brilliant match. The previous six fixtures have been won by the home side, with last year’s 33-30 win for Portugal being the closest margin of victory since Os Lobos won 13-10 in 2002.
Sunday's only match is at the Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi, where Georgia take on East European rivals Romania (11:00 GMT).
Unbeaten in 36 Rugby Europe Men's Championship matches and winners of the last seven titles, Georgia start as the overwhelming favourites. Romania, however, were the last team to beat the Lelos in the competition, 8-7 in the 2017 title decider, and are making decent progress under head coach David Gérard, who has been in charge of the Oaks since RWC 2023.
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