Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
International competition came to a close for 2017 on Saturday. With it the Americas Rankings – November 26 2017 edition is to be the final one for the year. Test match rugby will return on January 27 2018 with Canada hosting Uruguay in a Rugby World Cup 2019 qualifier.
Argentina end the year retaining top spot in the Americas Rankings. This is the case despite the year having been largely forgettable with wins over Georgia and Italy being overshadowed by losing the ten remaining matches. Ireland’s 28-19 win was insufficient to impact Argentina’s ranking. It there by remains at 78.22 points. France’s shock home draw against Japan means Argentina rise to 8th in the world.
The USA finish the year holding on to second position. The Eagles 21-20 loss against Georgia sees them dropping from 66.92 to a new ranking of 66.87 points. It sees no change in overall position in the Americas Rankings and the World Rankings.
Finishing 2017 in third position is Uruguay. The historic series victory was sealed on Saturday by defeating Namibia 39-34. The result sees Namibia tumbling to 24th in the World Rankings. Uruguay, meanwhile have improved from 64.84 to now carry a ranking of 65.53 points.
Canada feel 57-17 to Fiji in Narbonne, France yet see no change to their rankings. Canada thereby ends 2017 ranked with 61.13 points and remains 21st in the World Rankings. In the Americas Rankings Canada is 4th. This raises a debate within itself as to whether Uruguay is the favorite to win Americas 2 qualifying series?
Also suffering a big defeat this weekend was Brazil. The 67-28 loss against Spain means Brazil loses 0.20 points to fall from 55.81 to 55.61. This, in itself, means Brazil drop back below Chile based on this result alone.
Chile entered their match against Germany with 55.74 points. Thanks to winning 32-10 Los Cóndores gained the maximum points on offer. As such Chile’s updated ranking is 58.18 points. It means Chile end 2017 ranked notably higher than Brazil, comfortably as the 5th highest positioned country in the Americas Rankings. In the World Rankings Chile are now 24th.
It should be noted that Costa Rica continues to be ranked on 32.16 points. This is the case despite the country having gained World Rugby membership this month. Upon gaining World Rugby membership unions enter the World Rankings and do so with a 30.00 ranking.
| RANK | COUNTRY | POINTS | WRR | |
| 1 |  |
Argentina | 78.22 | 8 |
| 2 |  |
USA | 66.87 | 17 |
| 3 |  |
Uruguay | 65.53 | 18 |
| 4 |  |
Canada | 61.13 | 21 |
| 5 |  |
Chile | 58.18 | 24 |
| 6 |  |
Brazil | 55.61 | 27 |
| 7 |  |
Paraguay | 48.54 | 39 |
| 8 |  |
Colombia | 48.36 | 41 |
| 9 |  |
Guyana | 46.55 | 49 |
| 10 |  |
Trinidad & Tobago | 45.51 | 53 |
| 11 |  |
Cayman Islands | 45.20 | 54 |
| 12 |  |
Mexico | 45.12 | 55 |
| 13 |  |
Venezuela | 41.87 | 62 |
| 14 |  |
Jamaica | 38.76 | 69 |
| 15 |  |
Bermuda | 37.39 | 76 |
| 16 |  |
Barbados | 36.48 | 82 |
| 17 |  |
Peru | 35.70 | 83 |
| 18 |  |
Bahamas | 34.03 | 87 |
| = |  |
Guatemala | 34.03 | = |
| 20 |  |
Turks & Caicos Islands | 33.53 | 90 |
| 21 |  |
St. Vincent and the Grenadines | 33.12 | 91 |
| 22 |  |
Costa Rica | 32.16 | 93 |
| 23 |  |
St. Lucia | 31.79 | 95 |
| 24 |  |
Ecuador | 30.57 | 100 |
| 25 |  |
Belize | 30.00 | – |
| = |  |
Bolivia | 30.00 | – |
| = |  |
British Virgin Islands | 30.00 | – |
| = |  |
Cuba | 30.00 | – |
| = |  |
Guadeloupe | 30.00 | – |
| = |  |
Haiti | 30.00 | – |
| = |  |
Honduras | 30.00 | – |
| = |  |
Martinique | 30.00 | – |
| = |  |
St. Kitts and Nevis | 30.00 | – |
| = |  |
Suriname | 30.00 | – |
| 35 |  |
Nicaragua | 29.16 | – |
| 36 |  |
Dominican Republic | 29.12 | – |
| 37 |  |
Panama | 27.32 | – |
| 38 |  |
Curaçao | 27.08 | – |
| 39 |  |
El Salvador | 26.63 | – |
