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World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge

{{short description|Rugby union tournament for the Americas and Pacific island nations}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2018}}

{{Infobox sports league

| current_season =

| last_season = 2021 World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge

| upcoming_season =

| title = Americas Pacific Challenge

| logo = World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge logo.png

| logo_size = 175px

| caption =

| formerly =

| sport = Rugby Union

| inaugural = 2016

| countries = {{plainlist|

  • {{Runion|ARG}}
  • {{Runion|BRA}}
  • {{Runion|CHL}}
  • {{Runion|PRY}}
  • {{Runion|USA}}
  • {{Runion|URU}}

}}

| champion = {{nowrap|{{ruA|ARG|noflag=1}}}}{{pad|0.3em}}(2021)

| most_champs = {{ruA|ARG|noflag=1}}{{pad|0.3em}}(3)

| website =

| footnotes =

| current =

}}

The Americas Pacific Challenge (APC) is a rugby union tournament funded by World Rugby{{hsp}} that serves as a development competition for Americas and Pacific island nations. It provides a way to prepare players for participation with their senior national men's teams during international tests{{hsp}}{{cite news |title=Uruguay 'A' beats Canada 'A' at World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge |url=https://www.tsn.ca/canada-a-beaten-35-21-by-uruguay-a-at-world-rugby-americas-pacific-challenge-1.1187282 |work=TSN |location=Montevideo, Uruguay |agency=The Canadian Press |date=October 6, 2018 |access-date=October 11, 2018}} and in the Rugby World Cup qualification cycle.{{cite web |url=https://therunnersports.com/usa-selects-americas-pacific-challenge-roster-announced/ |title=USA Selects Americas Pacific Challenge Roster Announced |last=Rowe |first=James |date=September 20, 2018 |website=The Runner Sports |access-date=October 11, 2018}}

The competition has been hosted by the Uruguayan Rugby Union since 2016, with all games played in Montevideo.{{cite web |url=https://www.world.rugby/news/189117 |title=Americas Pacific Challenge set for October kick-off in Uruguay |date=July 9, 2016 |publisher=World Rugby |access-date=October 11, 2018}} Prior to its creation, two teams from the Americas had played in the Pacific Challenge, hosted by Fiji in 2015.{{cite news |date=March 10, 2016 |title=Rugby World Cup places on offer in Pacific Challenge |work=Radio New Zealand |access-date=February 8, 2019 |url=https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/268274/sport-rugby-world-cup-places-on-offer-in-pacific-challenge}} This was reversed in 2016 with two Pacific Island teams joining the inaugural APC{{hsp}}{{cite web |date=October 15, 2016 |title=Americas Pacific Challenge – Round 3 Preview |website=Americas Rugby News |access-date=February 8, 2019 |url= http://www.americasrugbynews.com/2016/10/15/americas-pacific-challenge-round-3-preview/}} which effectively replaced the previous format of the Americas Rugby Championship.{{cite web |url=http://www.americasrugbynews.com/2016/09/07/world-rugby-confirms-americas-pacific-challenge/ |title=World Rugby confirms Americas Pacific Challenge |date=September 7, 2016 |website=Americas Rugby News |access-date=October 11, 2018}}

History

The APC was first contested in October 2016 by the national 'A' teams of Argentina, Canada, Fiji, Samoa, Uruguay and United States.{{cite web |url=http://www.americasrugbynews.com/competitions/2016-americas-pacific-challenge/ |title=2016 Americas Pacific Challenge |website=Americas Rugby News |access-date=October 11, 2018}} Tonga took the place of the Fijian team for the 2017 competition,{{cite web |url=http://www.americasrugbynews.com/competitions/2017-americas-pacific-challenge/ |title=2017 Americas Pacific Challenge |website=Americas Rugby News |access-date=October 11, 2018}} and retained that place in 2018.{{cite web |url=http://www.americasrugbynews.com/competitions/2018-americas-pacific-challenge/ |title=2018 Americas Pacific Challenge |website=Americas Rugby News |access-date=October 11, 2018}}

The competition had a two-year hiatus which encompassed the 2019 Rugby World Cup and a 2020 season disrupted by impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Teams from Brazil, Chile and Paraguay took part for the first time in the 2021 Challenge, but the Pacific Islands did not participate due to difficulties with COVID-19 travel logistics.{{cite web |title=Americas Pacific Challenge – Round 1 Preview |url=https://www.americasrugbynews.com/2021/10/21/americas-pacific-challenge-round-1-preview-3/ |website=Americas Rugby News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022014728/https://www.americasrugbynews.com/2021/10/21/americas-pacific-challenge-round-1-preview-3/ |archive-date=22 October 2021 |date=22 October 2021}}

Format

The Americas Pacific Challenge uses a split pool format wherein the six competing teams are divided into two pools of three.{{cite web |url=https://www.usarugby.org/2018/08/2018apc/ |title=World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge 2018 Match Schedule Announced |date=August 22, 2018 |publisher=USA Rugby |access-date=October 11, 2018}} Each team plays one match against each of the teams in the opposite pool. The tournament's winner is decided based upon the number of points accumulated from each match.

Participating teams

The final placings of all teams for each year are recorded in the table below as numbers (where 1 denotes first place, 2 denotes second, etc.). The host nation's placing is shown in bold. A dash (–) is recorded in the year column if a team did not compete at a tournament.

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin-top:0.1em; margin-bottom:2.0em;"
style="width:0.1em; border-right:1px transparent;"|

! {{diagonal split header|Nation|
Year|style=width:10.0em; border:0px transparent; padding:0px;}}

! style="width:0.1em; border-left:1px transparent;"|

! 2016

! 2017

! 2018

! 2021

! style="font-size:90%;"| Years
played

colspan=100% style="line-height:0.85; padding:3px; font-size:80%; color:#777;"| North America
colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| {{ruA|CAN}}

| 6

 6 5 –

! 3

colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| {{ruA|USA}}

| 5

style="background-color:#c0c0c0;"|2 6 5

! 4

colspan=100% style="line-height:0.85; padding:3px; font-size:80%; color:#777;"| South America
colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| {{ruA|ARG}}

| style="background-color:#ffd700;"|1

style="background-color:#ffd700;"|1style="background-color:#c0c0c0;"|2style="background-color:#ffd700;"|1

! 4

colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| {{ruA|BRA}}

| –

 – –style="background-color:#cc9966;"|3

! 1

colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| {{ruA|CHI}}

| –

 – –style="background-color:#c0c0c0;"|2

! 1

colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| {{ruA|PAR}}

| –

 – – 6

! 1

colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| {{ruA|URU}}

| style="background-color:#9acdff; font-weight:bold;"|4

style="font-weight:bold;"|5style="background-color:#cc9966; font-weight:bold;"|3style="background-color:#9acdff; font-weight:bold;"|4

! 4

colspan=100% style="line-height:0.85; padding:3px; font-size:80%; color:#777;"| Pacific teams
colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| {{ruA|FIJ}}

| style="background-color:#c0c0c0;"|2

 – – –

! 1

colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| {{ruA|SAM}}

| style="background-color:#cc9966;"|3

style="background-color:#9acdff;"|4style="background-color:#ffd700;"|1 –

! 3

colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| {{ruA|TON}}

| –

style="background-color:#cc9966;"|3style="background-color:#9acdff;"|4 –

! 2

style="vertical-align:top; font-weight:600; font-size:97%; line-height:140%;"

! colspan="3" style="padding:2px;"| Number of teams
All-time total: 10

! 6 !! 6 !! 6 !! 6

! style="padding:2px;"| 4
Editions

Winners

class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; width:95%; cellspacing:0; border:0; border-spacing:0; border-collapse: separate;"
Year

! # of
Teams

! Winner

! Runner-up

! style="width:18em;"|Venue

align=center| 2016

|align=center|6

| {{ruA|ARG}}

| {{ruA|Fiji}}

| Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo

style="background: #D0E6FF;"

|align=center| 2017

|align=center|6

| {{ruA|ARG}}

| {{ruA|USA}}

| Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo

align=center| 2018

|align=center|6

| {{ruA|Samoa}}

| {{ruA|ARG}}

| Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo

style="background: #D0E6FF;"

|align=center| 2021

|align=center|6

| {{ruA|ARG}}

| {{ruA|CHI}}

| Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo

See also

References

{{reflist|25em}}

{{Americas Pacific Challenge}}

{{International rugby union}}

Category:World Rugby competitions

Category:Rugby union competitions in South America

Category:2016 establishments in South America

Category:Recurring sporting events established in 2016

Category:International rugby union competitions hosted by Uruguay