Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
History was made in São Paulo on Saturday as Brazil faced the USA for the first time ever. It saw the world’s 16th best country, on rankings, playing away to the much lower ranked Brazil who entered the match ranked 42nd in the world.
The result of the match sees changes to the rankings of both countries but the impact that it has had goes far deeper as it has legitimized the Americas Rugby Championship as a Six Nations, rather than a smaller competition.
Prior to the inaugural competition beginning there was much doubt over how well Brazil and Chile would perform and whether they merited their places. Neither have prior Rugby World Cup experience and regional competitions played elsewhere tend to be restricted to including comparably ranked countries.
Brazil vs USA in the 2016 Americas Rugby Championship could thereby be used as a point of reference for years to come. Brazil’s win is arguably a bigger shock than that of Japan defeating South Africa at Rugby World Cup 2015.
The ranking of the two countries genuinely puts into perspective just how amazing was Brazil’s win. Also of note is the populations – they are two of the world’s largest five as they also are territorially. The U.S., though did themselves no favors by opting to field a predominantly untested side featuring wholesale changes from the team that had won impressively seven days prior against Chile.
The full match can be viewed below. Match commentary for the video is in Spanish.
