Results from round four of the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) have seen changes to the Americas Rankings. The updated Americas Rankings – February 25 2018 see Uruguay now officially ranked higher than the USA. This is unprecedented.
Chile’s home defeat against Uruguay sees Los Cóndores dropping 0.41 rankings points to Los Teros. Uruguay’s 67-15 record-breaking win means the RWC 2019 bound Teros rise to have 67.32 rankings points.
In inland São Paulo state Brazil were well beaten by the visiting Eagles. The USA ran out 45-16 winners, a result which keeps alive the Eagles chances of an historic ARC Grand Slam. In the 2016 and 2017 tournaments no team was able to go through the ARC undefeated.
Uruguay and the USA went into their respective matches tied in the rankings. The reason for Uruguay now having a higher ranking is that Chile was ranked higher than Brazil. With more points exchanged Uruguay officially move above the USA to now be second in the Americas.
The remaning match did not have rankings on the line. The Argentina XV is not Los Pumas and is therefore not Argentina’s official senior test match side. The win over Canada therefore had no impact on the ranking of either competitor.
The ARC will conclude next weekend. All three matches are to again be played in South America. Canada will be looking for a win over Chile to gain rankings points while pride is on the line for Brazil who host the Argentina XV. The big game will be Uruguay at home to the USA. Not only will rankings points be up for grabs but so will the ARC title.
Costa Rica continues to be ranked on 32.16 points. This is the case despite the country having gained World Rugby membership in November 2017. Upon gaining World Rugby membership unions enter the World Rankings and do so with a 30.00 ranking.