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The winner of the Asian Rugby Men’s Championship 2021 will play Oceania 2 home and away. The winner on aggregate will determine the qualifier and the loser will go to Final Qualification – Asia / Pacific 1. Fiji had to go through the regional qualification process to make it through to RWC 2019 as Oceania 1. But they just about did enough to finish third in their pool in Japan and spare themselves the same fate this time around. So that leaves Samoa and Tonga as the two favorites for Oceania 1.Asia Rugby, with its top-ranked team automatically qualified already, did not get another direct qualifying place. However, the 2021 Asia Rugby Championship winner (Asia 1) will have the chance to qualify via a cross-regional play-off against Oceania 2. Samoa was not invited to take part in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 but have been ever-presents since, while Tonga has competed in every tournament bar 1991 when they failed to qualify. Both countries have enriched the Rugby World Cup with their presence and the home-and-away play-off between them will be fiercely contested. The loser will have to negotiate at least three more matches if they are to make it through as Oceania 2. The first assignment will be a one-off game against the winners of the Oceania Cup, won in 2019 by Papua New Guinea. Whoever comes out on top in that game will face a home-and-away play-off against the champions of the Asia Rugby Championship. Hong Kong is the current holder of that title.