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The USA are Americas 1. The Eagles routed Canada on Saturday to secure their place in Rugby World Cup 2019. In doing so it saw history made. Never before had the USA qualified ahead of Canada for a World Cup.
The Eagles put in a very impressive performance. Playing in San Diego, California the Eagles were in charge for the majority of the match. A strong start and dominant performance in the middle of the second half saw the USA qualifying for Japan 2019.
In Japan the USA will compete against Argentina, England, France and Oceania 2 in Pool C. The pool has already been deemed the Group of Death. It is, arguably, the toughest pool in Rugby World Cup history.
The remaining spot in the pool will go to the second placed side from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The ongoing qualifiers have Fiji on track to be Oceania 1. Either Samoa or Tonga could be Oceania 2. As it stands Samoa are slight favorites. This did, nonetheless, lose yesterday away to Tonga.
Canada’s attention is to now turn to Uruguay. The teams will meet home and away on January 27 and February 02. The winner of the series, on aggregate, will qualify for Rugby World Cup 2019 as Americas 2. This side will join Australia, Georgia, Wales and Oceania 1 in Pool D.
As it stands the opening match will be in Canada and the return fixture in Uruguay. The team ranked higher in the World Rankings in December will have home advantage for the return leg. At the present point in time Uruguay is 18th and Canada 23rd in the world. Canada’s remaining matches this year suggest it will be very tough to overtake Uruguay.
For a complete match report click here.
