The Americas Rugby Championship, often informally called the Americas' Six Nations, was an annual international rugby tournament between six North and South American nations:

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. Originally competed by various interlocking combinations of club, second-tier national and top national sides, the current (since 2016) international tournament has the top national sides competing (though Argentina, to date, sends its second-tier team). The current format provides these top national teams with additional test matches to be counted in the

World Rugby Rankings The World Rugby Rankings (formerly the IRB Rankings) is a ranking system for national teams in rugby union, managed by World Rugby, the sport's governing body. There are separate men's and women's rankings. The teams of World Rugby's member nati ...

. The original Americas Rugby Championship (organised by

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

) was inaugurated in 2009, when varying combinations of national, regional and development teams from North and South America competed for the title. In 2015, it was announced that from 2016, the competition would re-form under the guidance of the Americas Rugby Association and the respective unions, to provide the six national sides with additional rankings tests annually. The updated format is based on the structure of the European

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

, coinciding with each other in February and March of each year. Prior to this, the last competitive tournament to be held across the Sudamérica– RAN region had been the

PARA Pan American Championship The Pan American Championship ( es, Torneo Panamericano de Rugby) was the major international rugby tournament held in the Americas, hosted irregularly on five occasions from 1995 to 2003. The tournament was organized by the Pan American Rugby Asso ...

, which had ceased after its 2003 edition. World Rugby has granted all matches with test match status, with caps awarded for every match, though matches against the Argentina XV (rather than the top Argentina national squad) will not affect the

History

First conception

Originally formed in 2009 by World Rugby (then known as the International Rugby Board) to replace the North America 4 Series, was created to give the newly formed Canadian regions more competitive matches against strong opposition from the second teams of the

and

. The winner of the inaugural Canadian Rugby Championship,

BC Bears The British Columbia Bears (formerly Pacific Tyee) are the senior men's representative rugby team for British Columbia. They were founded in 2009 to compete in the Americas Rugby Championship against other representative teams from Canada, Argent ...

, went on to compete on the international stage, playing the winner of the international semi-final match between USA Select XV and

Argentina Jaguars Argentina XV, formerly known as the Jaguares, are the second national rugby union team in Argentina, after the full national side, the Pumas. Overview They already represented Argentina at the South American Rugby Championship, in 2001, 2002, ...

. The Argentina Jaguars defeated the BC Bears 35–11 in the final to capture the tournament's first title.

Second and third editions

In 2010, the tournament was cut from 6 to 4 teams, scrapping the Canadian Division part of the tournament to create a solely international based tournament for development sides. The USA Select XV and Argentina Jaguars were joined by the second team from

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

, and a Canada Selects side made up of the top players in the 2010 CRC season. Each team played each other once in a round-robin format, gaining 4 points for a win, with the team on the most points at the end winning the title. The tournament returned in 2012, having not taken place in 2011 due to the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

. The tournament kept the same format as 2010, however the national side of

joined the tournament replacing Tonga A, though in 2014, Uruguay sent their second team Charrúas XV. Argentina Jaguars went on to win every tournament between 2012 and 2014.

Current conception

The tournament was not held in 2015 because of the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was on ...

. In 2016, the tournament was relaunched and expanded to six teams with the inclusion of Brazil and Chile. Unlike the previous single-site tournament featuring lesser sides, the new tournament will be held in February and March, concurrently with the European

. Like the European championship, teams will play both home and away, whereas players from European clubs will be available.Rugby World’s guide to the Americas Rugby Championship
/ref>

Americas Rugby Challenge The Americas Rugby Challenge is an annual international rugby union tournament between the four best nations below the Americas Rugby Championship. It was created by Rugby Americas and features two teams from Sudamérica Rugby and two from Rugby A ...

A second competition, the

Americas Rugby Challenge The Americas Rugby Challenge is an annual international rugby union tournament between the four best nations below the Americas Rugby Championship. It was created by Rugby Americas and features two teams from Sudamérica Rugby and two from Rugby A ...

or ARCh was confirmed in August 2018, to be played in August and September. The inaugural competition took place at the Estadio Cincuentenario in Medellín, Colombia from August 24 to September 01.Historic Americas Rugby Challenge Confirmed for August and September
from americasrugbynews.com The new competition brought together

Rugby Americas North Rugby Americas North, abbreviated as RAN, is the governing body for rugby union in the North American continental region. Rugby Americas North operates under the authority of World Rugby, and is one of six regional unions represented within it. ...

(RAN) and

Sudamérica Rugby Sudamérica Rugby (previously known as Confederación Sudamericana de Rugby (abbreviated CONSUR) between 1988 and 2015),World Rugby announces ARCh teams and logo
/ref> The host nation of Colombia were joined by Sudamérica Rugby rivals Paraguay. Guyana and Mexico represented Rugby Americas North.

Format

Played annually, the format of the Championship is simple: each team plays every other team once in a round-robin format, making for a total of 15 matches played across the tournament. For each win, a team picks up 4 points and 2 for a draw. The team with the most points at the end wins the title. Unlike previous ARC, overseas based players are available for selection, while Argentina will mainly only select provincial and domestic players that are not part of their

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

Jaguares side.

Teams

Current teams

* * * * * *

Past teams

: 2009 * Ontario Blues: 2009 *

Prairie Wolf Pack The Prairie Wolf Pack is a Canadian rugby union team representing the Prairies region in the Canadian Rugby Championship. The Wolf Pack's inaugural season includes a home game at the Calgary Rugby Park against The Rock and away games at the BC ...

: 2009 * The Rock: 2009 *: 2010 *: 2009–2014 * 2009–2014 *: 2009–2014

Previous winners

''Updated to after the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

edition''

Past results

All-time results table

''Updated to after 2019 Americas Rugby Championship''

Results by nation

''Updated to after 2019 Americas Rugby Championship''

References

External links

Official website

Americas Rugby News

Americas Rugby Championship 2016 winner
{{South American Championships Rugby union competitions for national teams Rugby union competitions in North America Rugby union competitions in South America 2009 establishments in North America 2009 establishments in South America Recurring sporting events established in 2009