The Americas Rugby Championship: When too much rugby isn't enough

ESPN has committed to 5 years so I doubt we'll see much change until after then. I wouldn't be surprised if the Suda B is rebadged as the ARC B in the coming years as a means of opening the door for the likes of Mexico to begin to participate in the near future. In regards to Brazil's progress. I think Chile were fortunate to get them in week 1 and Uruguay would probably admit they snuck home against them in week 3. They appear to be very close and gaining ground quickly.

Sharminator thanks for that and hearing about other South American economies. I had no idea about Paraguay's economic status was as low as that.

Yeah, this year they are still going to play the Sudamericano A .. which has the ARC teams plus Paraguay, in April/May ... but I think with the success of the ARC they will ditch that next year, and put Paraguay in the Sudamericano B, which usually has Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. It makes little sense for Chile, Uy, Brazil and Arg to play each other in Feb March, then again in April May, and Uruguay have already announced they will be fielding a B team in the Sudamericano A this year as their 1st team will be preparing for mid year tests. The Suda B is usually played over 8 to 10 days in one country, whereas the A is held over a month in various locations, with one of the teams in a match always playing at home. With the Suda B they dont really need an ARC B yet .. and the countries involved wouldnt be able to afford it anyway .. but a playoff with the last placed team in the ARC might be nice .. although I doubt any of the ARC teams would advocate that, and there is the problem that if you lose Brazil or Argentina or Canada or the US, the sponsorship money goes. Anyway that is a bit hypothetical as the contracts for the ARC were signed with the current participants through until 2019 if I remember correctly. Brazil have shown a huge improvement, and with their athletic talent, money and population, I think they will overtake Chile and Uruguay in the long term.

No, Paraguay is a lot poorer than Chile and Uruguay, and is actually the poorest South American country apart from Bolivia. In terms of GDP per person Chile is the richest country in South America, followed by Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil .. Paraguay only has a third of the GDP per capita of the others, and a Soy and Cattle based economy with little domestic manufacturing and no mineral or oil resources which many other South American countries have. Paraguay also usually figures amongst lists of countries with the most corruption in the world, and poorest educational and health standards. There are about 25 rugby clubs here .. the sport is expanding as 10 years ago there were only 8 clubs, but it is dominated by old boy clubs of private schools in the capital, and rugby is unknown, and confused with American Football, by most Paraguayans.

ESPN broadcast the same signal in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay (Southern Cone) ... and the same in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela (Northern Cone), not sure about Chile, Peru and Bolivia, but Bolivia is a small country so probably takes the Souther Cone signal. They broadcast more rugby in the Southern Cone, but they still show some games in the North.

Yep, live in Paraguay and played more than 20 games for the Paraguayan Senior mens rugby team.

I frankly don't see Argentina quitting SANZAAR, ever.

It's PladAR not PLAR. (Plan de Alto Rendimiento) or high performance plan.

Not excusing the loss. I think the Eagles looked at the win against Chile the week before where they cruised and Brazil's loss to Chile in the first round and thought they only needed to show up. They overlooked the fact that Brazil actually played quite well and Canada away from home the week before and pushed Uruguay right to the end the week before that. Underestimate your oponent at your own peril. It is unfortunate that Paraguay missed out on economic grounds but unfortunately in these matters money does indeed make the world go round. I know there has been talk about establishing an ARC B in the nearish future in order to involve the likes of Paraguay, Colombia, Mexico, Peru etc. The emergence of Brazil is quite interesting from the outside looking in. Especially the growth in the budget levels. I was aware of the HPU set up but not in every region. That's quite impressive. I had also read about a development program the CBRU had laucnhed in schools in Rio targeting 50,000 kids a years with plans to roll it out region by region in the coming years. The win against the Eagles will likely help them on all thise fronts as well.

Wow Sharminator, you're a mountain of knowledge on rugby in the Americas! Feel a bit sorry for Paraguay but as you say the sheer weight of Brazil numbers and money is not easy to discount. I've really enjoyed the ARC and hope it is here to stay. Never been to Paraguay although I hear it can be pretty lawless in parts...

Yes agreed. Well Germany are the big climbers they have moved up to 23, they beat Portugal 2 weeks ago I believe.

Columbia/Mexico/Parauguay have to be looked at further if you ask me. I'd even look at bringing in Venezuela down the track too. -Paraguay I thought had similar standard of living to Chile/Uruguay, could you clarify that. Or are Chile/Uruguay have a stronger middle class.

Do you live on Paraguay?

Ive lived in South America for 10 years ... and before Argie involvement in the TRC the big complaint was that Argentina wasnt allowed into the Tri Nations .. there were even some proposals (not sure how serious they were) about having an Argie team in a 7 nations, or replacing Italy, and playing out of Spain. If you remember in the 90s Argentina was about the same level as Canada, Samoa and other 2nd tier teams. With professionalism, players moving to Europa, and the natural ability of players like Pichot and Contemponi, Argentina improved, allowng them to win 3rd place in the 2007 RWC .. but Argentina were always calling for involvement in regular top tier competition... They simply wont ever give up their spot in the TRC ... as they had to fight too hard to get it. If you want to be the best, you have to play the best regularly .. and the TRC allows Argentina to do that.

Not really the same as rugby is not a major sport in either the US or Brazil ... wheras Basketball is one of the big 4 pro sports in the US .. even if it was only a college team at the Olympics. The Brazil win was however officially the biggest upset since the world rugby rankings have been introduced though with the 42nd ranked team beating the 16th ranked team. It does however also show the limitations of the rankings, as the Brazil only moved up 4 places to 38th, and the US only lose one spot, 16th to 17th ,,,

It was a very experimental US lineup of domestically based US players, with virtually no one from the US world cup squad apart from a few old heads on the bench, However, that isnt an excuse for the loss. John Mitchell obviously completely underestimated Brazil and the US team looked lost with few combinations, and a lot of basic errors, in addition to tactical errors such as when they went for a long range shot at the posts in the last 10 minutes, and missed, instead of drilling to ball into the corner to pin Brazil on their line. On the other hand credit also has to be given to Brazil. Since the end of the arrangement with Cantrbury in 2014 .. Ambrosio and the Argie CEO of Brazil Rugby have basically replicated the Argentine development strategy. They have set up High Performance and Talent Identification centres in every region of Brazil .. and had 100 players across the country in training as part of the larger squad for the ARC. When I was playing against Brazil until 4 years ago you could guarantee that the majority of players would come 3 or 4 clubs, the majority from Sao Jose de Campos, with a few from Spac, Niterioi and Bandeirantes thrown in. The final squad for the ARC had players from 18 different clubs! And also included Aussie David Harvey (who played the first two games for Brazil), 3 Argentinians and two Frenchman with Brazillian roots. The other change in Brazil is moneywise .. in 2011 the budget for all Brazils rep rugby teams was 300 000 Aussie dollars .. in 2015 the same budget is 6.5 million Aussie dollars .. and Brazil is regularly sending teams overseas as well as receiving inbound tours .. such as Germany last December. Brazillian rugby is on the up ... and they have huge resources .. it makes me a little sad as my adopted country Paraguay can never have those resources ... and with only 20 rugby clubs in the country ,, and 1500 players .. we have until now been able to beat Brazil regularly .. and Brazil have more than 100 clubs and 11 000 adult players. With the resources they have available I am sure that in time they will surpass Uruguay and Chile ...

The tournament was actually pushed as a private initiative by Agustin Pichot and the Brazillian rugby President (a millionaire businessmen), who got the support of the UAR, Chile and Uruguay. The tournament has the backing of World Rugby .. but discussions were first held around this time last year in Miami, with a meeting of the Presidents of the Unions involved. Bascially Pichot and the South American Union Presidents went to meet with the US and Canada Union bosses. They met up, discussed the idea, and were basically told to go back to their home countries to see if they could get tv broadcast and sponsorship money to cover the costs, otherwise the US and Canada were not interested in it. Interestingly the tournament doesnt for example replace the Sudamericano (the South American champiobship) which is still being held in April and May. The reason for this is Paraguay, Paraguay came 2nd in the Sudamericano in 2014 .. and beat Brazil in both the 2014 and 2015 Sudmaericanos ... if it was going to replace the Sudamericano the Ameircas Rugby Championship would have to include Paraguay at the expense of Brazil (Paraguay are ranked 37th and Brazil were 42 until beating the US last weekend). The Argentina XV games are also a little strange .. they are full cap games .. for both the players playing for Argentina XV and players playing for the opposing team .. but ... the Argentina XV games do not count for World Rugby rankings points .. not sure how they decided that .. obviously it is a 3rd string Argie team with the Jaguares and all European pro Argentinian players not involved .. but I dont know why they are still awarding caps. The tournament is self funding, based on sponsorhship and broadcast rights from ESPN Argentina, ESPN Brazil, and ESPN USA and Canada, ESPN Argentina basically cover rugby and broadcast Argentinian club, region and international rugby in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile). The involvement of Chile and Uruguay didnt really add anything to the broadcast rights as Argie rugby is already shown the Argentinian ESPN broadcast in those countries. That is why Brazil was key as getting rugby on ESPN Brazil could attract additional broadcast revenue.

The Brazillian scrum dominance was a surprise ... especially as it continued after Eric Fry, who has a pro contract with Newcastle, came on. Brazil have improved leaps and bounds in the scrum .. I played against Brazil regularly until 4 years ago and their scrum was the weakest point for thier game. Through Talent Identification and Elite Develiopment programs they Brazil have really developed their scrum in the last year and a half, to the point where they can dominate Chile in the scrum and compete with Uruguay. Good on them.

I live in, and have played rugby for Paraguay. The fact we were left out of the Americas 6 Nations is a sore point here, as Brazil (World Ranking 42) were included instead of us (World Ranking 37) and we have beaten Brazil the past 2 Sudamericano Rugby Championships in a row. The reality is though that Brazil had to be included for economic reasons .. broadcast rights from ESPN Brazil allow the tournament to take place ... and Paraguay simply doesnt have the money to send teams on overseas tours, or to pay players to participate in a 6 week tournament (10 weeks if you include the Sudamericano which is in April-May). Espn Argentina and ESPN North America are showing all Argentina and US and Canada home games, and ESPN Brazil the Brazil home games as well as some Uruguay games such as Uy Brazil. The lower profile games such as Brazil Chile were only shown on poor quality streaming, providing no funds from Cable broadcasters. The president of the Brazillian Rugby Union is a millionaire, and has managed to increase the budget for the Tupis (the Brazillian rep sides) from the equivalent of just 300 000 Aussie dollars in 2011 to 6.5 million Aussie dollars in 2015. Its good that South American rugby now has this tournament .. but a little unfair that the participants came down to money rather than sporting merit.

Brazil have actually had the best womens 7s team in South America since women 7s has had a South American championship in 2004. They won every single championship except for last year, when they didnt compete, as the championship doubled up as the Olympic qualifier and they already had a place as host. 2nd place is usually between Colombia and Argentina, with Colombia winning last year. For some reason Uruguay and Chile have remained fairly week in Women´s sevens, despite their mens teams usually being 2nd or 3rd behind Argentina. The Brazillian mens team have also done better in 7s than 15s (having beaten both Argentina and Uruguay in 7s, whom they have never beaten in XVs). This is due in part to the reason you say ... they are a bit like Japan, they have small skilled very fast players, but traditionally have lacked bigger players for the forwards ,, especially props and second rowers. They have been adressing this in recent years though with Argentina Style PLAR centres (basically Talent Identinfication and Elite Players Development centres) and their pack is now beefing up.