Americas Rugby Challenge Logo and Fixtures revealed

The new logo and complete fixture list for the inaugural Americas Rugby Challenge has been revealed. Four teams will play three games each between August 26 and September 1 with all matches to be played at the Estadio Cincuentenario in Medellín, Colombia.

Joining Los Tucanes in the tournament are Mexico, Guyana, and Paraguay. Mexico and Guyana qualified through Rugby Americas North competition while Paraguay and Colombia represent Sudamérica Rugby having stepped up to the Sudamericano 6 Naciones ‘A’ tournament this year.

The South American continent are the highest ranked of the teams, with Paraguay 38th in the World Rankings and Colombia at 43. In the Americas Rankings they are numbers 7 and 8 respectively. Guyana comes in at number 9, 47th on the World Rankings, while Mexico is currently at 12 in the Americas and 53 in the World.

While the congested schedule is not ideal the creation of the tournament – effectively the Americas Rugby Championship ‘B’ – provides extra high level fixtures to the four teams against opponents that are similarly ranked. All four nations have shown potential but with programs largely restricted to their regional competitions have lacked further opportunities to develop.

With the Americas Rugby Championship already claiming ownership of the ARC acronym, the new competition will be abbreviated to ARCH.

FIXTURES

Sun, Aug 26 – Paraguay vs Mexico
Sun, Aug 26 – Colombia vs Guyana

Wed, Aug 29 – Guyana vs Paraguay
Wed, Aug 29 – Colombia vs Mexico

Sat, Sep 1 – Mexico vs Guyana
Sat, Sep 1 – Colombia vs Paraguay