Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Panama defeated El Salvador 51-26 this afternoon to win the 2018 Centroamericano. With it the official third division of the South American Championship (Mayor C) has a new champion. Never before in history has Panama won a title.
As a participant in the South American C Championship since 2014, Panama has been a developing country. A restructuring and rebranding saw Costa Rica and Guatemala promoted to the second division with Panama being joined by EL Salvador and Honduras for this year’s competition.
In prior editions of the South American C Championship Panama had a return of third and fourth place finishes. The 2018 victory is thereby truly historical, ranking as the greatest accomplishment in Panamanian rugby’s young history.
The Tri-Nations tournament opened with Panama downing Honduras 39-27 in Tegucigalpa. The Panamanian victory was hard-fought. At the game’s midway stage Honduras held a 20-12 lead.
Honduras would play again in the second fixture of the competition. This time they crossed their eastern border to take-on El Salvador. In a hotly contested match Los Torogoces saw off Honduras in what was a 27-24 victory.
Honduras finished the Centroamericano winless while El Salvador won one and lost one match. Panama won both of their matches to win the tournament as the undisputed champions.
Today’s result will have implications for the Americas Rankings. The updated rankings will be published on Sunday following the completion of this weekend’s international competition. Still to play are two matches in Medellín, Colombia on Sunday.
The 2018 Centroamericano was a tremendous success and the 2019 tournament looms as being potentially even better. Not involved this year was Nicaragua, a country who defeated Panama in the 2017 competition.
Saturday August 11
Honduras 27-39 Panama
Referee: Luís Felipe González (Guatemala)
Venue: Estadio Olímpico José Simón Azcona
Saturday August 18
El Salvador 27-14 Honduras
Referee: Gustavo Patiño (Costa Rica)
Venue: Cancha de la Escuela Militar (El Salvador)
Saturday August 25
Panama 51-26 El Salvador
Referee: Luís Felipe González (Guatemala)
Venue: Cancha Cincuentenario
