July Tests 2024 – Brazil vs Belgium – ARN Guide

The 2024 July Internationals conclude worldwide on Saturday. The final two matches are in South America: Uruguay vs Scotland and Brazil vs Belgium. The later of the two is a match for rugby purists; people interested in familiarizing themselves with potential new competitors, at the 24-team RWC in 2027, are advised to watch Brazil vs Belgium.

Brazil’s clash with Belgium will be just the second test match between the countries. The first was highly competitive with Brazil winning 23-19 in Brussels in 2017.

The Diables Noirs / Zwarte Duivells (Black Devils) enter the match on the back of a solid win in Asunción. Belgium downed Paraguay 45-20. It was game two of the three-match tour of South America. The first was a 33-05 defeat against Chile in Viña del Mar.

Brazil has two July test matches. The first was this past Saturday in São Paulo. Os Tupis had an extremely frustrating ending. Having been in control an inexcusable error of kicking cost them victory over Hong Kong. Brazil lost 26-25 with time up.

 

LINE-UP CHANGES (from Brazil vs Hong Kong; Paraguay vs Belgium)

7 Adrio de Melo replaces Matheus Cláudio

5 Maximilien Henderickx replaces Dries de Keyser
7 Jérémie Brasseur replaces Gillian Bonoy
8 Lucas Rasssinfosse replaces Paul Gerard
9 Julien Berger, replaces Timothé Rifon
10 Hugo de Franco replaces Matías Remue
11 Lucas Michiels moves from 14; replaces Dazzy Cornez
12 Jens Torfs replaces Victor Pazgrat
13 Victor Pazgrat moves from 12; replaces Florian Remue
14 Thomas Wallraf replaces Lucas Michiels
15 Matthéo Van Holsbeke replaces Simeon Soenen

NOTES

• It will be just the second match between Brazil and Belgium and the first in South America.
• Brazil have made just the one change from the heart-breaking loss against Hong Kong.
• Belgium have changed two-thirds of their starting line-up from the side that downed Paraguay.
• Brazilian captain Cleber Dias was a try scorer in Brazil’s 2017 win over Belgium. André Arruda, Moisés Duque and Lucas Tranquez also featured in the 2017 win.
• The most capped Brazilian of all-time, Moisés Duque, will are his 63rd cap.
• Fullback Lucas Tranquez will are his 49th cap for Brazil.
• Jens Torfs also started for Belgium vs Brazil in 2017.
• The match will have consequences in the World Rankings. Brazil are 29th and Belgium 28th.

PREDICTION

Brazil was sharp for most of last week but not when it counted. The task is to make up for the last-gasp loss. Belgium’s impressive win over Paraguay will give the team confidence to return home with two wins and one loss from South America. Cloudy conditions are expected in São Paulo but no rain.  ARN projects Brazil to win by +8 points.

LINEUPS

BRAZIL
1 João Lucas Marino, 2 Endy Willian Pinheiro, 3 Matheus Rocha, 4 Ben Donald, 5 Gabriel Oliveira, 6 Cleber Días (capt.), 7 Adrio de Melo, 8 André Arruda, 9 Felipe Gonçalves, 10 João Amaral, 11 Ariel Rodrigues, 12 Lorenzo Massari Temer, 13 Carlo Mignot, 14 Robert Tenório, 15 Lucas Tranquez

Replacements: 16 David Muller, 17 Wilton Rebolo, 18 Leonel Moreno, 19 Gabriel Paganini, 20 Matheus Cláudio, 21 Rafael Teixeira, 22 Lucas Spago, 23 Moisés Duque

BELGIUM
1 Rémi de Wolf, 2 Alexandre Raynier, 3 Samuel Opsomer, 4 Maurice Fromont, 5 Maximilien Henderickx, 6 William van Bost, 7 Jérémie Brasseur, 8 Lucas Rasssinfosse 9 Julien Berger, 10 Hugo de Franco, 11 Lucas Michiels, 12 Jens Torfs, 13 Viktor Pazgrat, 14 Thomas Wallraf, 15 Matthéo Van Holsbeke

Replacements: 16 Lucas Sotteau, 17 Alexis Cuffolo, 18 Arno Smets, 19 Toon Deceuninck, 20 Paul Gerard,  21 Nestor Jendrain, 22 Timothé Rifon, 23 Florian Remue

MATCH DETAILS

Date: Saturday, July 27
Venue: Estadio Nicolau Alayon, São Paulo (BR)
Kickoff: 3:30pm (BR)
Weather Forecast: Cloudy; 26 (Celsius); Wind 5 km/h
Broadcasts: NSports

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Tómas Bertazza (Argentina)
Assistants: Juan López (Argentina); Sergio Alvarenga (Paraguay)
TMO: Victor Hugo Barboza (BR)

HISTORY

HEAD-TO-HEAD (1): Brazil 1, Belgium 0, STREAK Brazil +1
November 18, 2017  – Belgium 19-23 Brazil (Brussels, BE)