The South American Rugby Championship refers to the continental rugby union championships for South America, organized by Sudamérica Rugby.Mazlenaz - Championships historyTercer Tiempo Rugby (in Spanish) The current name of the championships is South American Six Nations, implemented in 2018. South American championships have also existed for lower divisions of the rugby union championships, as well as youth and women tournaments, and editions for rugby sevens.
History 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 that 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.Sudamericano Mayor A: Resultados 1951–2016 (archived)
Results List of tournaments 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.
Ed. Year Host Winner Runner-up Third place Fourth place 1951 Argentina 1958 Chile 1961 Uruguay 1964 Brazil 1967 Argentina 1969 Chile 1971 Uruguay 1973 Brazil 1975 Paraguay 1977 Argentina 1979 Chile 1981 Uruguay 1983 Argentina 1985 Paraguay 1987 Chile 1989 Uruguay 1991 No fixed host 1993 No fixed host 1995 No fixed host 1997 No fixed host 1998 No fixed host 2000 Uruguay 2001 No fixed host 2002 Argentina Chile 2003 Uruguay 2004 Chile 2005 Argentina 2006 No fixed host 2007 No fixed host 2008 No fixed host 2009 Chile Uruguay 2010 Chile 2011 Argentina 2012 Chile 2013 Uruguay 2014 No fixed host 2015 No fixed host 2016 No fixed host 2017 No fixed host 2018 No fixed host No fixed host 2020 Uruguay No fixed host Notes
Statistics by team Team Titles Years won 1951, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1969, 1971. 1973, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2020 1981, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2025 2015 2018
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.
Ed. Year Host Winner Runner-up Third place 2014 No fixed host 2015 No fixed host 2016 No fixed host No fixed host
Lower divisions
Mayor B Ed. Year Host Winner Runner-up Third place 2000 Brazil 2001 No fixed host 2002 Peru 2003 Colombia 2004 Brazil 2005 Paraguay 2006 Venezuela 2007 Peru 2008 Peru 2009 Paraguay 2010 Costa Rica 2011 Colombia 2012 Peru 2013 Paraguay 2014 Colombia Peru Peru Colombia, Peru Guatemala Colombia Paraguay
Mayor C Ed. Year Host Winner Runner-up Third place 2012 Guatemala 2013 Costa Rica 2014 Panama El Salvador Guatemala No fixed host
See also Americas Rugby Championship
References