Americas Rugby Championship

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 United States and Argentina. The winner of the inaugural Canadian Rugby Championship, BC Bears, went on to compete on the international stage, playing the winner of the international semi-final match between USA Select XV and Argentina Jaguars. The Argentina Jaguars defeated the BC Bears 35–11 in the final to capture the tournament's first title.[4]

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, and a Canada Selects side made up of the top players in the 2010 CRC season.[5] 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.[6]

The tournament returned in 2012, having not taken place in 2011 due to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The tournament kept the same format as 2010, however the national side of Uruguay 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.

The tournament was not held in 2015 because of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. 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 Six Nations Championship. Like the European championship, teams will play both home and away, whereas players from European clubs will be available.[7]

A second competition, the Americas Rugby Challenge 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.[8]

The new competition brought together Rugby Americas North (RAN) and Sudamérica Rugby, following the example of the Americas Rugby Championship, The Americas Rugby Challenge is officially the ‘B’ competition for the ARC.

As with the Americas Rugby Championship, the new Americas Rugby Challenge saw all competing countries playing against each other. The first edition of the competition was a Four Nations tournament with Rugby Americas North and Sudamérica Rugby both having two representatives each. [9]

The host nation of Colombia were joined by Sudamérica Rugby rivals Paraguay. Guyana and Mexico represented Rugby Americas North.[8]

•  Argentina XV
•  Brazil
•  Canada
•  Chile
•  United States
•  Uruguay

• BC Bears: 2009
• Ontario Blues: 2009
• Prairie Wolf Pack: 2009
• The Rock: 2009
•  Tonga A: 2010
•  Argentina Jaguars: 2009–2014
•  USA Selects 2009–2014
•  Canada A: 2009–2014

Nation	Years represented	Champions	Runner-up
Argentina	9	7	2
Brazil	4	0	0
Canada	9	0	3
Chile	4	0	0
Tonga	1	0	0
United States	9	2	3
Uruguay	7	0	1

Updated to after 2019 Americas Rugby Championship