Venezuela and Colombia booked a place in the final of the Sudamerica Rugby B Championship in Lima, after victories on Wednesday against Ecuador and Peru respectively.
Whoever comes out on top in Saturday’s showpiece match will then move on to the next stage of the RWC 2019 qualification process, and a game against Rugby Americas North champions Mexico on 29 October.
“As great as moving on would be, if I have to be honest, we are probably 20 years away from making it to the finals of the Rugby World Cup. I hope, by then, that I will be coaching or helping in some way," said Los Tucanes captain Sebastián Mejía Gil.
Colombia have prevailed in the last four meetings between the sides but Venezuela's José Gregorio Gutiérrez is confident they can upset the form book. “Colombia is a strong team but we have been preparing for this tournament for a few months so we are confident that we can have a good win," he said.
Having comfortably won their opening games at the Niño Héroe Manuel Bonilla stadium, Venezuela and Colombia made no mistake in the second round of matches.
No doubt inspired by the presence of the Webb Ellis Cup inside the stadium, Venezuela turned in an impressive performance to score nine tries to two against in a 52-10 victory.
Controlling possession thanks to a solid set piece platform, La Vinotinto crossed for five tries before the break, with Luis López, Néstor Aguirre, José Rojas, Eduardo Hernández getting their names on the scoresheet in addition to a penalty try.
Ecuador registered their first points when Danny Vera dotted down for an unconverted try to make the half-time scoreline 27-5 to Venezuela.
Tries for René Monasterio, Juan López, a second for Aguirre, and Alfmarx Márquez followed in the second half as Venezuela pulled further clear, before Juan Dretel grabbed a late consolation.
Colombia on course for hat-trick
Colombia are 80 minutes away from winning the Suadamerica B Championship for a third consecutive year after a 41-14 win over Peru.
During the first 40 minutes, the Colombian’s tactics were clear for all to see: play to the strength of its pack of forwards. Once again, captain Sebastián Mejía led from the front as his team managed a penalty try and further five-point scores through Jon Arley Urrutia, Gerson Ortiz and Jaider Pemberthy. José Diosa added four goals and penalty.
In the last move of the half, Giorgio Carlos scored Peru’s only try which wing Felipe Suárez converted to make it 31-7 to the defending champions at half-time.
As dominant as Los Tucanes were in the first 40 minutes, it was a different game altogether in the second half, with Suárez converting his own try on the hour mark to reduce the deficit to 17 points.
Any thoughts of a comeback win for Peru were quashed, though, when Diosa kicked a penalty and converted Mejía’s tryto bring about the final scoreline of 41-14.
On Saturday, Peru and Ecuador will play-off for third place (at 2pm), while the final between Colombia and Venezuela takes place at 4pm.
As well as determining which of the sides plays Mexico in a RWC 2019 qualifier, the outcome of Saturday's final is likely to have a significant impact on the rankings.
Should Colombia complete a hat-trick of Sudamerica B Championship title wins a rise of between four to five places is within their reach, with 42nd place attainable if they win by more than 15 points. If the lower-ranked Venezuela win by such a margin it would result in Colombia dropping nine places to 55th and Venezuela climbing five to 58th.