Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Three rounds into the Americas Rugby Championship and everyone agrees in unison – the competition is here to stay.
Where are we?
Of the fundamental pillars for the success of a viable sporting competition the competition should be categorized as being off to a very good start with two of the four identified boxes being ticked.
- The Crowds have been positive with all matches attracting interest despite little in the way of local advertising in the various markets.
- ESPN has been covering many of matches live throughout Latin America and the USA. There have also been live streams made available by unions.
- Title Sponsorship is lacking for now but each union could have a different name used for the competition as is the case with the Rugby Championship.
- Missing is genuine test lineups. The Argentina XV is not playing capped matches while remaining fixtures are all fully capped with rankings up for grabs. What has been made known is that overtime this will change with it being Los Pumas and all sides gaining greater access to their professionals based in Europe.
Opening Up
Getting the competition up an running saw the opening up of the continental region. Up north and down south competing nations share borders but in between there is a geographical gap which previously appeared insurmountable only to now have been overcome.
The major hurdle of closing the geographical gap between Canada and Chile has been overcome and now work is being done to do the same between them on the field. All competing countries are using the tournament to grow with solid investments underway, particularly from both Brazil and Uruguay acting to improve their standard of play.
In making a Six Nations rather than Four Nations tournament the unions were making a conscious decision to grow the game through expansion. They were doing so to benefit all and to target the enlargement of the market. Brazil’s 204 million population is significantly larger than Chile’s 18 million or Uruguay’s 3.4 million just as it is of Argentina’s 43 million or Canada’s 35 million.
What it means is that the combined population of the six competitors is larger than that of all other annual international competitions in world rugby. The marketing potential is thereby huge and it is a focal point of the competition. Agustin Pichot knows this and wants his country involved without missing a step. Through it Argentina is laying the foundations now for long term gain to be enjoyed by all.
Second Division
Paraguay’s exclusion has been a talking point and, with good reason. The union has a national rugby stadium and Los Yakarés continue to be ranked above Brazil in the official World Rankings. This is due to Paraguay having defeated Brazil twice over the past two years. However with Brazil officially having 3 million rugby supporters and an additional 7 million casual fans there is a substantial base to build from.
Paraguay’s population of just under 7 million is notably smaller but is not one to be considered small. It is larger than three of the Six Nations unions – Ireland, Scotland and Wales and is also larger than New Zealand. Yet these countries all dwarf Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
Paraguay is not to be excluded. To the contrary, overtime, the Americas Rugby Championship will open up further with the addition of a second division. It will provide increased international competition with Paraguay set to join other emerging countries with Colombia and Mexico having already been identified as key markets. Both have teams that have demonstrated progress in recent years and their respective populations of 48 million and 122 million provide the required foundation for a marketable product.
At the present point in time they are ranked 9th and 11th in the Americas. In addition to Paraguay the remaining three based on ranking for a second division would be Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and the Cayman Islands. All three are lowly populated with the Cayman Islands having as few as 58,000 people. The 13th ranked Bermuda is another such instance with a population of 65,000.
It changes though immediately thereafter with the 14th and 15th ranked Venezuela and Peru each having populations of 30 million. They could forseeably both move up the rankings. In order to do so they would require matches outside of the South American B Championship and potentially also for the lower ranked Ecuador to obtain World Rugby membership status.
Not out of the question would be ensuring one of the two are certain of placement in the Americas Rugby Championship B when it is drafted. Doing so would merely require a qualification process and, in all likelihood, it is in fact probable. Expect to therefore see a second division of Colombia, Guyana, Mexico, Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela added around the beginning of the next Rugby World Cup cycle.
Unlike in Europe there will be promotion and relegation. The only question being whether it will be automatic or require a repechage play-off.
On average the five New Zealand franchises are to each travel a total of 24,033 Km in the Super Rugby season. Australian sides will average just under 29,000 and South Africans slightly over 30,000. The two new sides are therefore to have vastly more demanding schedules with less recovery time than will the founding unions’ franchises. It was inevitable and without a second Argentine or North-East Asian franchise the numbers will not go down.
The Americas Rugby Championship sees no country overwhelmingly disadvantaged by traveling. A flight from Santiago to Montevideo is 2 hours and 15 minutes, roughly one hour less than one from Edinburgh to Rome. From Buenos Aires or Montevideo to São Paulo is also a shorter journey than that of Scotland to Italy while Santiago to São Paulo is 30 minutes longer.
The long standing argument that the Six Nations works well based on proximity, as does the European Rugby Champions Cup, undoubtedly holds water. The good news for the Americas is that the same can be applied.
In the opening round the Argentina XV played in Houston, Texas. Getting to the U.S. city from Buenos Aires is no problem with there being direct flights. Simply bear in mind the 10 hour flight time while considering it is one day and five hours from Durban to Dunedin and this route requires three stops.
Los Teros playing in the Vancouver area involves two stops but is a 20 hour journey from Montevideo. Chile’s trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida is another requiring a transfer. It is, nonetheless a 10 hour voyage. Brazil’s trip from São Paulo to Vancouver was 17.5 hours involving one stop.
Needless to say the travel demands are smaller and with the Americas having a far less complicated time zone variation than New Zealand to South Africa it is a much more natural fit than the original Super 12 or Tri Nations championship. Indeed, matches can be viewed at friendly hours for all. There are no games taking place when it is 2am, 4am or 7am in one of the competing countries.
Rugby World Cup South
The above factors are all conducive to a dream of mine, having Argentina host a Rugby World Cup. The country has the infrastructure already in place and an ever-growing rugby community in a country with ten times the population of reigning world champions, New Zealand. Such a friendly time zone enables viewers in Sydney or Auckland to watch matches at late morning kick-off times. Compare this to a 5am kick-off for Argentine viewers watching a test match in New Zealand.
Traveling around Argentina is also a treat and is far more sensitive to one’s pocked than is attending a Rugby World Cup in England and Wales. The currency exchange rate makes attending matches in the U.K. to be extremely expensive for anyone on a foreign currency, including U.S. or Canadian dollars.
While at the World Cup this past year Canadian journalist Patrick Johnson told me the prices are essentially double what he pays back home. That they were. Hotel prices, transport, food and beverage are all what you would expect to pay in North America yet in pound stirling not in dollars. Curious then that South Americans consider the Canadian dollar to be expensive. It all underlines that Argentina is very affordable and will make for a genuinely once in a life time experience for visiting Rugby World Cup fans.
Rugby World Cup North
It is not just Argentina though that is to benefit from this. The future of the Americas Rugby Championship bodes well for both Canada and the USA as prospective hosts. Like Argentina, the USA and Canada both play home matches in a range of cities across their countries. The Home Union problem of restricting games to one city is not replicated at all in the Americas.
The Las Vegas Sevens is to be joined by the Vancouver Sevens this year, giving North America a second leg on the world circuit. The tournament is looking like selling out and eclipsing the failure of Wellington and placing it among the great events of the calendar year.
In June Canada’s home match vs Italy is another expected to surpass the 20,000 attendance mark. It will be in Toronto. The two cities are key markets which could act as the center-pieces for a Canadian hosted Rugby World Cup. Yes, that means a World Cup in Canada alone.
This is the Forward Thinking of rugby in the Americas. Co-hosted Rugby World Cups in the Americas are not the answer as they are simply not required. Identifying ten additional Canadian cities with the infrastructure and interest in hosting tournament matches would be no problem. The real issue would be cutting cities to get the number down to the 12 or 13 number that has been used for all tournaments since 2003.
South of the border would be even more difficult. Chicago’s success in hosting the USA vs New Zealand makes it a prime contender. It is joined by the USA’s versions of supporting big and small venues. For instance while England had Exeter the USA could have Sacramento while Houston has proven itself to have a strong local market. Then there is New York whose region is to host an Aviva Premiership match next month. The options in the U.S. are virtually endless and the Americas Rugby Championship and PRO Rugby are opening new doors right before our eyes.
