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The dates for the Americas 2 qualification series for Rugby World Cup 2019 have been set. Canada will face off against Uruguay on back-to-back weekends with the first match set for Saturday, January 27 and the second one week later on Saturday, February 3. The winner of the series will be decided on aggregate score and will earn a direct ticket to Japan where they will compete in Pool D against Australia, Wales, Georgia, and Fiji.
As the higher-ranked of the two on the official World Rugby Rankings, Uruguay won the right to choose which match was played at home and they have opted to host the February 3 game at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo. This match will also double as the first fixture of the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship. The January 27 match will take place in Vancouver with the covered surface at BC Place reportedly being targeted to avoid the poor weather conditions that hampered Canadian home games in the 2017 Americas Rugby Championship.
It will not be the end of the road for the loser. A seat at the last-chance saloon, the Repechage tournament, is reserved for the disappointed party. That series will take place on unconfirmed dates in late 2018. Four teams will take part in a round-robin structure to be played at a neutral venue. The other participants will come from Africa, Asia, and either Europe or the South Pacific. Namibia is most likely to come from Africa, with Hong Kong and South Korea the top contenders in Asia. One of Spain, Russia, or Germany will play against Samoa to determine the fourth spot.
Canada find themselves fighting for the Americas 2 spot for the first time after falling to the USA in the Americas 1 series earlier this year. Uruguay qualified by virtue of their win over Chile in the 2017 South American Championship. It’s familiar territory for Los Teros, who have never before won the Americas 2 spot but earned a great deal of confidence by defeating Canada this past February. Los Teros qualified for the 2015 World Cup via the Repechage route by defeating Russia in November 2014.
