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The Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) is to be used as the Americas RWC 2023 Qualifiers. Confirmation came through in an interview by Eugenio Artesiano with Pancho Rubio on the website Hablemos de Rugby.
The fundamental change will mean that Americas 1 and Americas 2 will no longer be separated but be played within all of the Americas. This will firstly put an end to Americas 1 going to the winner of Canada, and the USA and; secondly to South America 1 not qualifying directly.
If the assumption occurs that Argentina qualify automatically as one of the 12 teams from RWC 2019 then Americas 1 and Americas 2 will go to the best two performers from the ARC.
Uruguay finished above both Canada, and the USA in the 2019 ARC and also above Canada in both 2017, and 2018. Brazil also did better than Canada in 2017, and 2019. The change therefore comes after results in the ARC confirm the competitiveness within the competition.
The change is to see the ARC in 2021-2022 counting towards RWC qualifiers. All teams will thereby play each other both at home, and away in a process comparable to that used by Rugby Europe.
In addition to having the Americas qualifiers for RWC 2023 determined far closer to the World Cup itself an added bonus is the prestige which will be added to the ARC itself. The matches will garner added interest which will enable for increased TV viewer numbers, attendances at the games, and sponsor opportunities.
No official publication has yet been made by World Rugby or by the regional governing bodies of Sudamérica Rugby or Rugby Americas North.
