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For the third consecutive year Uruguay will play host to the World Rugby Nations Cup. Montevideo’s Estadio Charrúa will be the setting for the RWC 2019 warm-up tournament featuring Los Teros and three visiting countries.
Three months out from RWC 2019 Namibia, Russia, and Romania will compete in the Nations Cup writes Ignacio Chans for El Observador. Confirmation comes out days after it was also confirmed that Canada and the USA are to return to compete in the 2019 Pacific Nations Cup.
The Pacific Nations Cup and Nations Cup tournaments will see Tier 2 countries be afforded preparation for Japan 2019. Of the three countries set to travel to Uruguay two (Namibia, and Russia) will compete in RWC 2019 and one (Romania) was disqualified by World Rugby after having qualified as Europe 1.
Romania was the longtime host of the Nations Cup. The first edition took place in Portugal in 2006 before Romania hosted the event every year from 2007-2016. In 2017 and 2018 it was played in Montevideo.
Unlike in the 2018 edition of the tournament, the 2019 Nations Cup will be senior men’s sides all playing in capped internationals. World Rankings will be on the line. This is to be the case despite the tournament falling outside of the international window.
The Nations Cup will take place in June and is to be followed by an international window of RWC warm-up matches in August. Uruguay is to play three matches, all of which are yet to be confirmed. Indications are that Uruguay is to play host to Namibia for two test matches. The URU is working on confirming the series as well as a third home match in Montevideo prior to departing for RWC 2019.
