South American Rugby Championship

South American Six Nations
Sport Rugby union
Founded 1951
No. of teams 13
Continent South America (main division) and Central America (lower divisions)
Most recent
champion(s)
 Brazil (1 title)

South American Rugby Championship refers to the continental rugby championships for South America, organized by Sudamérica Rugby.[1][2] The current name of the championships is South American Six Nations, implemented in 2018. Throughout history, South American Championships have also exist for lower divisions of the rugby union championships, as well as youth and women tournaments, and editions for rugby sevens.

History

Structure of the South American rugby union competition from 2014 to 2017, in four levels with 13 countries.

The South American Rugby Championship is a round-robin tournament, with each team playing each other once at a designated host stadium. The top level championship for men's rugby union, disputed annually, has received a number of different titles in history. It began in 1951 as Sudamericano de Rugby, which lasted until 1998. From 1951 to 1998, only Argentina, Chile and Uruguay were the core teams in the tournament. They competed alongside occasional additions of Brazil, Paraguay and Peru, with the winner being decided on which team finishes with the most table points.

In 2000, a second division was added, which meant the bottom placed team of the A division had a play-off match with the top placed team of the B division, although this did not apply to every tournament due to the Rugby World Cup qualification formats. In 2012, a third Division was added, which meant up until 2014, the bottom placed team of the B division would play a play-off match against the top placed C Division team. Although like A and B, this did not apply to every tournament due to the Rugby World Cup qualification format.

In 2014, the tournament became a four-tiered competition, with Argentina no longer competing as a regular. However, the tournament would keep the same format for promotion and relegation. The top placed team from Division C would play a play-off match against the bottom placed team from Division B to determine which Division those teams are in for the succeeding tournament. The winner of the play-off match would earn a place in Division B for the succeeding tournament; the loser would play in Division C the following year. This worked in the same way for Divisions A and B. The top placed team of Division B would play a play-off match against the bottom placed team from Division A to determine which divisions those teams would play in for the succeeding tournament. The winner of the play-off match would earn a place in Division A for the succeeding tournament, while the loser would play in Division B the following year.

However, the top two teams of Division A would compete at a separate competition, the CONSUR Cup, alongside Argentina, the following year regardless of their positions of that year. The CONSUR Cup was staged in 2014 and 2015, and the events were the de facto South American Championships for those years. In 2016 and 2017, the CONSUR Cup was renamed to Sudamérica Rugby Cup, but the format was kept intact. The Sudamérica Rugby Cup, in 2016 and 2017, can also be considered the de facto South American Championships for those years. In 2018, the format of the tournament was changed once again: six teams (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay) would play in the top division, which was renamed to South American Six Nations.

Argentina is the most dominant nation at the South American Championships, winning 34 of 40 editions, as well as the two editions of the CONSUR Cup, and the two editions of the Sudamérica Rugby Cup. Uruguay won the tournament four times (1981, 2014, 2016 and 2017), while Chile (2015) and Brazil (2018) won the South American title once.[3]

Results

The first edition of the South American Rugby Championships was organized in 1951 as a parallel competition to the inaugural edition of the Pan American Games, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2000, a second division was added, which changed the name of the first and main division of the tournament to Mayor A (Senior A), while the second division was called Mayor B (Senior B). Teams from Central America were also allowed to compete at the South American Championships. In 2012, a third division, Mayor C (Senior C) was added. In 2018, the tournament was renamed to South American Six Nations.

2016 Second level of South American Rugby Championship match between Uruguay and Chile
Sudamericano de Rugby
Year Host Winner Runner-up Third Place Fourth Place Fifth Place Sixth Place
1951Argentina Argentina Argentina Uruguay Chile Brazil
1958Chile Chile Argentina Chile Uruguay Peru
1961Uruguay Uruguay Argentina Chile Uruguay Brazil
1964Brazil Brazil Argentina Brazil Uruguay Chile
1967Argentina Argentina Argentina Chile Uruguay
1969Chile Chile Argentina Chile Uruguay
1971Uruguay Uruguay Argentina Chile Uruguay Brazil Paraguay
1973Brazil Brazil Argentina Uruguay Chile Brazil Paraguay
1975Paraguay Paraguay Argentina Chile Uruguay Brazil Paraguay
1977Argentina Argentina Argentina Uruguay Chile Paraguay Brazil
1979Chile Chile Argentina Uruguay Chile Brazil Paraguay
1981Uruguay Uruguay Uruguay Chile Paraguay Brazil
1983Argentina Argentina Argentina Uruguay Chile Paraguay
1985Paraguay Paraguay Argentina Uruguay Chile Paraguay
1987Chile Chile Argentina Uruguay Chile Paraguay
1989Uruguay Uruguay Argentina Uruguay Chile Brazil Paraguay
1991No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Chile Paraguay Brazil
1993No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Paraguay Chile Brazil
1995No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Chile Paraguay
1997No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Chile Paraguay
1998No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Chile Paraguay
Mayor A
Year Host Winner Runner-up Third Place Fourth Place Fifth Place Sixth Place
2000Uruguay Uruguay Argentina Uruguay Chile
2001No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Chile Paraguay
2002Argentina Argentina
Chile Chile
 Argentina Uruguay Chile Paraguay
2003Uruguay Uruguay Argentina Uruguay Chile Paraguay
2004Chile Chile Argentina Uruguay Chile Venezuela
2005Argentina Argentina Argentina Uruguay Chile
2006No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Chile
2007No fixed host Argentina1 Uruguay Chile
2008No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Chile
2009Chile Chile
Uruguay Uruguay
 Argentina Uruguay Chile Brazil Paraguay
2010Chile Chile Argentina Uruguay Chile Brazil Paraguay
2011Argentina Argentina Argentina Chile Uruguay Brazil Paraguay
2012Chile Chile Argentina Uruguay Chile Brazil
2013Uruguay Uruguay Argentina Uruguay Chile Brazil
2014No fixed host Uruguay2 Paraguay Brazil Chile
2015No fixed host Chile2 Uruguay Paraguay Brazil
2016No fixed host Uruguay2 Chile Brazil Paraguay
2017No fixed host Uruguay2 Chile Brazil Paraguay
South American Six Nations
Year Host Winner Runner-up Third Place Fourth Place Fifth Place Sixth Place
2018No fixed host Brazil Argentina XV Chile Uruguay XV Paraguay Colombia
Notes

1: In 2007, the competition was not completed due to difficulties in finding a date for the match between Argentina and Uruguay, as it was the first time they participated in the final phase of the Rugby World Cup.

2: From 2014 to 2017, the Mayor A division of the championships excluded Argentina. The top team of the Mayor A division would be considered the winner of the first stage, and would later play the CONSUR/Sudamérica Rugby Cup, alongside the second placed team in Mayor A division, and Argentina.

CONSUR/Sudamérica Rugby Cup

From 2014 to 2017, the first division of the South American Championships, Mayor A (Senior A), excluded Argentina. The top two teams of the Mayor A division would then join Argentina in a future tournament, the CONSUR Cup (in 2014 and 2015) or the Sudamérica Rugby Cup (in 2016 and 2017). The winner of the CONSUR/Sudamérica Cup would then be the de facto best team of the continent for that year.

CONSUR Cup
Year Host Winner Runner-up Third Place
2014No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Chile
2015No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Paraguay
Sudamérica Rugby Cup
Year Host Winner Runner-up Third Place
2016No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Chile
2017No fixed host Argentina Uruguay Chile

Lower divisions

Mayor B

Year Host Winner Runner-up Third Place Fourth Place Fifth Place
2000Brazil Brazil Brazil Venezuela Peru
2001No fixed host Brazil Venezuela Peru Colombia
2002Peru Peru Brazil Peru Venezuela Colombia
2003Colombia Colombia Venezuela Brazil Colombia Peru
2004Brazil Brazil Paraguay Brazil Peru Colombia
2005Paraguay Paraguay Paraguay Brazil Peru Colombia Venezuela
2006Venezuela Venezuela Brazil Colombia Venezuela Peru Costa Rica
2007Peru Peru Brazil Peru Colombia Venezuela
2008Peru Peru Brazil Paraguay Venezuela Colombia Peru
2009Paraguay Paraguay Colombia Venezuela Peru Costa Rica
2010Costa Rica Costa Rica Peru Venezuela Colombia Costa Rica
2011Colombia Colombia Venezuela Peru Colombia Costa Rica
2012Peru Peru Paraguay Colombia Venezuela Peru
2013Paraguay Paraguay Paraguay Colombia Peru Venezuela
2014Colombia Colombia Colombia Venezuela Peru Ecuador
2015Peru Peru Colombia Peru Venezuela Ecuador
2016Peru Peru Colombia Venezuela Peru Ecuador

Mayor C

Year Host Winner Runner-up Third Place Fourth Place
2012Guatemala Guatemala Costa Rica Guatemala Ecuador El Salvador
2013Costa Rica Costa Rica Ecuador Costa Rica Guatemala El Salvador
2014Panama Panama El Salvador Guatemala Costa Rica Panama
2015El Salvador El Salvador Guatemala Costa Rica El Salvador Panama
2016Guatemala Guatemala Guatemala Costa Rica Panama El Salvador

See also

References

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