Rugby Americas confirm changes to test structure

December 04, 2019
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Ultimate Rugby

Rugby Americas has announced changes to its senior men’s XV competition structure in order to further assist the growth of the game across the region by minimizing the conflict amongst competitions.

Americas Rugby Championship to be held annually in August, September to align with global calendar, including Major League Rugby and Súperliga Americana de Rugby competitions
2020 Americas Rugby Championship & Americas Rugby Challenge schedules announced
Promotion and relegation opportunity announced for winner of Americas Rugby Challenge

The Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) – Rugby Americas’ flagship high-performance tournament for men’s XV – will now take place in August and September beginning in 2020.

The 2020 schedule announcement aligns with the global competition calendar and occurs just weeks after the record-breaking 2019 Rugby World Cup.

The new calendar focuses on optimizing high-performance outcomes for players in the Americas region while minimizing conflict with club & professional duties January through June.

The third season of Major League Rugby gets underway in February, and last Friday the inaugural season of the Súperliga Americana de Rugby was announced in Montevideo, Uruguay to boost competition across South America.

The newly formed six-team competition includes franchises from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile, while another from Colombia will join in 2021.

The change in dates allows for an uninterrupted pre-season and professional competition for athletes in North and South America and a perfect window for national team coaches to evaluate those they want to invite into their assemblies for national duty. The traditional June test match window will now shift to July, before teams compete in the ARC in August & September.

The annual November test window will remain the same.

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