Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
The Americas have been involved at every Men’s Rugby World Cup. Teams from both North America and South America featured at Rugby World Cups 1987-2019. Rugby World Cup 2023 will be the first without a North American competitor. It will also be the first with three South American competitors.
Canada, the USA and Argentina all competed at the inaugural Men’s Rugby World Cup. Played in Australia and New Zealand in 1987 the three countries were in separate pools. Their paths did not meet then nor four years later at Rugby World Cup 1991 in England, France, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Changes to the qualification process for Rugby World Cup 1995 affected the Americas. The outcome was Canada and Argentina competed at the tournament n South Africa while the USA missed out. Canada and Argentina were in separate pools. The Canadians were unable to repeat their heroics from Rugby World Cup 1991 where they reached the Quarter Finals.
Rugby World Cup 1999 was expanded from 16 to 20 teams. The Americas benefited with Uruguay debuting at the tournament. The World Cup was played in England, France, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Uruguay played entirely in Scotland, Canada in France, the USA in Ireland and Argentina in Wales, France and Ireland. There were no Americas vs Americas fixtures.
Australia hosted Rugby World Cup 2023. Argentina, Canada, Uruguay, and the USA were all back again. They were spread across the four pools. There would be no Americas vs Americas matches. The tournament saw wins from all four Americas competitors. This was historic.
Uruguay missed out on qualifying for Rugby World Cup 2007 in France and 2011 in New Zealand. The tournaments again saw Argentina, Canada and the USA in separate pools. There was no match between two teams from the Western Hemisphere.
Los Teros returned to the World Cup in 2015. The Uruguayans played pool matches in England and Wales. They did not face Americas opposition. Argentina, Canada and the USA were also involved. They were in separate pools and thus there were no matched between two Americas competitors.
The long wait ended at Rugby World Cup 2019. Argentina and the USA met in a pool match in Kumagaya, Japan. Los Pumas were 47-17 winners. he fixture loomed as being repeated at Rugby World Cup 2023 in France. The qualifiers did not follow thus script, however, as Uruguay qualified as Americas 1 and Chile as Americas 2.
Chile will make their debut at Rugby World Cup 2023. Los Cóndores will debut against Japan on September 10 in Toulouse. Chile’s fourth pool match will be against Argentina in Nantes on September 30. Chile vs Argentina will be historic as the first-ever match between two South American countries.
Uruguay will complete as Americas 1 at Rugby World Cup 2023. Los Teros will not play against Americas opposition in their pool. Both Canada and the USA were unsuccessful at qualifying for the tournament.
