Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
The qualifiers for Rugby World Cup 2023 remain open. Both of Saturday’s RWC 2023 qualifiers in North America saw narrow wins from the home teams. The home teams have played in notably more RWCs than the visitors; this in itself suggests that historical playing levels have been altered.
Canada won in the final second of the match against Chile. The 22-21 win appeared impossible in the final minute. Chile won a penalty and opted to tap and go in their own end. The referee penalised them for sealing off from which Canada won from a simple penalty.
The outcome of the match in Langford, British Columbia is a +1 for Canada and a -1 for Chile. The equation is very simple for both teams. Canada go in to game two in Valparaíso next weekend with a one point advantage. Chile require a win by 2 or more points to remain in the RWC 2023 race. The loser, on aggregate, out of Canada and Chile will be eliminated.
The winner of the Canada vs Chile series will advance to face either the USA or Uruguay in the final series of Americas qualifiers. The winner of that series will qualify for RWC 2023 as Americas 2. The Americas 2 qualifier will complete Pool D. It presently comprises Argentina, England, Japan, and Samoa.
The USA are favorites to qualify as Americas 1. The Eagles defeated Uruguay 19-16 in Glendale, Colorado on Saturday. The final result saw Uruguay coming away as content losers; Los Teros had been 19-3 down at the start of the third quarter. Felipe Berchesi’s penalties and his conversion of Guillermo Pujadas’ try drastically reduced the deficit.
The result from Colorado means that the USA head to Montevideo with a +3 and Uruguay with a -3 points differential. The USA therefore can win or draw and they will qualify for RWC 2023 as Americas 1. The USA can also qualify by losing by 2 points or less. Uruguay require a win by +4 to qualify as Americas 1.
The Americas 1 qualifier will be the fourth confirmed participant in Pool A of RWC 2023. The group presently contains France, Italy, and New Zealand. The fifth competitor will be the Africa 1 qualifier.
What happens if teams are tied on aggregate?
If the accumulated number of points scored by each team across both matches are equal, then rule 5.3 from Rugby World Cup Ltd will decide who qualifies. Such a possibility would occur if Chile beat Canada by 1 point or Uruguay defeat the USA by 3 on Saturday, October 09.
Under Rule 5.3 game two of a series will enter Extra Time if the teams are level on points aggregate. Extra Time will consist of two 10 minute halves.
If the teams remain equal on aggregate after Extra Time then the teams will play an additional 10 minute period, but this time as Sudden Death.
If the teams remain level after Sudden Death then there will be a kicking competition to determine the winner. The kicking competition would be a place-kick competition to determine the winner of the match. Five players from each team will be selected by the respective captains to participate in the kicking competition. It will involve kicks from thre locations – (i) 15 meters in front of the posts, (ii) on the 15 meter line to the left of the posts and (iii) on the 15 meter line to the right of the posts.
Such a system was used to determine the Top 14 vs Pro D2 play-off earlier this season. Biarritz won promotion and relegated Bayonne by virtue of winning the kicking contest.
