World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge

The World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge is a rugby union tournament that serves as a development competition for Americas and Pacific island nations. The competition has been hosted by the Uruguayan Rugby Union since 2016, with all games played in Montevideo.[1]

Americas Pacific Challenge
SportRugby Union
Inaugural season2016
Countries Argentina XV
 Canada A
 Tonga A
 Samoa A
 Uruguay A
 USA Selects
Most recent
champion(s)		 Samoa A (2018)
Most titles Argentina XV (2)

The Americas Pacific Challenge (APC) was first contested in October 2016 by the national 'A' teams of Argentina, Canada, Fiji, Samoa, Uruguay and United States.[2] Tonga took the place of the Fijian team for the 2017 competition,[3] and retained that place in 2018.[4]

The APC is funded by World Rugby.[1] Prior to its creation, two teams from the Americas had played in the Pacific Challenge.[5] This was reversed in 2016 with two Pacific Island teams joining the inaugural APC [6] which effectively replaced the previous format of the Americas Rugby Championship.[7] The tournament serves as a venue for developing and preparing players for participation with their senior national teams during international tests,[8] and in the Rugby World Cup qualification cycle.[9]

Format

The Americas Pacific Challenge uses a split pool format wherein the six competing teams are divided into two pools of three.[10] Each team plays one match against each of the teams in the opposite pool.[10] The tournament's winner is decided based upon the number of points accumulated from each match.[10]

Teams

Current teams

There are six teams that compete in the Americas Pacific Challenge: [lower-alpha 1]

Past team

Winners
Year # of
Teams		 Winner Runner-up Venue
2016 6  Argentina XV  Fiji Warriors Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
2017 6  Argentina XV  USA Selects Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
2018 6  Samoa A  Argentina XV Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo

See also

Notes
  1. Except where noted, the current teams have contested all tournaments from 2016 onwards.

References
  1. "Americas Pacific Challenge set for October kick-off in Uruguay". World Rugby. July 9, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  2. "2016 Americas Pacific Challenge". Americas Rugby News. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  3. "2017 Americas Pacific Challenge". Americas Rugby News. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  4. "2018 Americas Pacific Challenge". Americas Rugby News. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  5. "Rugby World Cup places on offer in Pacific Challenge". Radio New Zealand. March 10, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
  6. "Americas Pacific Challenge – Round 3 Preview". Americas Rugby News. October 15, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
  7. "World Rugby confirms Americas Pacific Challenge". Americas Rugby News. September 7, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  8. "Uruguay 'A' beats Canada 'A' at World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge". TSN. Montevideo, Uruguay. The Canadian Press. October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  9. Rowe, James (September 20, 2018). "USA Selects Americas Pacific Challenge Roster Announced". The Runner Sports. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  10. "World Rugby Americas Pacific Challenge 2018 Match Schedule Announced". USA Rugby. August 22, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
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