In the Americas Region for 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying, Argentina had automatically qualified for the World Cup, and two places were available in the Americas qualification process, which were taken by Canada and the United States. An additional Americas team, Uruguay, also qualified as the Play-off winner.
Format
The qualification process for the 2–3 teams from the Americas participating in the 2015 Rugby World Cup are as follows:IRB, Official RWC 2015 Site, RWC Qualifying, Americas (NACRA/CONSUR), http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/qualifying/fixtures/geoarea=23914/qfdiagram.html
Round 1:
Round 1 was split into two sections, Round 1A and Round 1B. The 2012 NACRA Rugby Championship acted as the qualification matches for Round 1A. The Caribbean teams were split into two zones consisting of two rounds. Round 1 consisted of the bottom five teams of the NACRA region, to the IRB rankings, playing each other in a robin-round format. The winning nations of either zone then advanced to Round 2 of their respective zones. The winning nations in either zone after Round 2, earned the right to compete for the NACRA Rugby Championship title, thus being able to advance to the Round 1 Final. The 2012 CONSUR B Rugby Championship acted as the qualification matches for Round 1B. The second division teams all played each other once, with the winning team of the tournament advancing to the Round 1 Final. The Round 1 Final saw the Caribbean champions and the CONSUR B champions play each other for the right to play in the Round 2 Final against the losing team of the CONSUR A tournament, or Round 2A.
Round 2: The 2012 CONSUR A Rugby Championship formed the qualification process for Round 2A. The top two teams of the tournament, remained in the division for the 2013 Championship. The bottom placed team, advanced to Round 2 Final to play the Round 1 Final victors. The winning side of Round 2 Final, earned the right to compete in the 2013 CONSUR A tournament, keeping their Rugby World Cup dreams alive.
Round 3:
Like Round 1, Round 3 was also split into two sections, Round 3A and Round 3B. Round 3A used the 2013 CONSUR A Rugby Championship as the qualification matches. The winning side would advance to the Round 3 Final and would play the losing side from Round 3B. Round 3B saw Canada and the United States play a two-match series in August 2013. The winner of the series qualified for the 2015 Rugby World Cup as Americas 1, and enters the tournament in Pool D. The losing team parachuted down to the Round 3 Final and would play the winning side from Round 3A. The Round 3 Final, would see the loser of Round 3B play a two-match series with the winning team from Round 3A. The winner of this two-match series, qualified for the Rugby World Cup as Americas 2. The losing side, would move to the Repechage and play in an inter-confederation match against the second placed team from the Asian qualification process.
Entrants The 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying teams that will compete for the 2015 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification. (World rankings, shown in brackets, are to first Americas qualification match on 24 March 2012)
(87) (78) (48) (35) (13) (67) (23) (75) (59) (86) (71) (41) (64) (76) (50) (17) (21) (53)
Qualified nations (Automatic qualifier) (Americas 1) (Play-off winner) (Americas 2)
Round 1 Round 1A: 2012 NACRA Rugby Championship The 2012 NACRA Championship was the first qualifying event for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The tournament featured nine IRB members from the Caribbean and North and South America. Those teams, along with their IRB World Ranking and rating points as of March 19, 2012, were as follows:
Teams 48th, 45.94 50th, 45.85 59th, 42.54 67th, 41.23 71st, 40.00* (new ranking) 76th, 39.30 78th, 39.13 86th, 36.35 87th, 36.33
Zone 1 Round 1 The winning team, Cayman Islands, advanced to Zone 1 Round 2 to face Bahamas and Bermuda. Advanced to Zone 1 Round 2 PlaceNationGamesPointsTablepointsplayedwondrawnlostforagainstdifference121016432+326221018160+215321013386-534
Matches
Round 2 The winning team, Bermuda, advanced to the final of the 2012 NACRA Championship, or Round 1A final, to face Zone 2 winners Guyana. Advanced to Round 1A Final
PlaceNationGamesPointsTablepointsplayedwondrawnlostforagainstdifference122002311+128221013014+166320021543-280
Matches
Zone 2 Round 1 The winning team, Barbados, advanced to Zone 2 Round 2 to face Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Advanced to Zone 2 Round 2
PlaceNationGamesPointsTablepointsplayedwondrawnlostforagainstdifference12200853+82822002385-820
Matches
Round 2 The winning team, Guyana, advanced to the final of the 2012 NACRA Caribbean Championship, or Round 1A Final, to face Zone 1 winners Bermuda.
Advanced to Round 1A Final
PlaceNationGamesPointsTablepointsplayedwondrawnlostforagainstdifference121103010+206221013223+94320111342-292
Matches
Round 1A Final: NACRA Rugby Championship Final The winning team, Bermuda, advanced to the Round 1 Final to face the winner of the 2012 CONSUR B, or Round 1B victors, Paraguay.
Round 1B: 2012 CONSUR Rugby Championship B The winning team, Paraguay, advanced to the Round 1 Final to face Bermuda, the winner of the 2012 NACRA Rugby Championship.
Advanced to Round 1 Final
PlaceNationGamesPointsTablepointsplayedwondrawnlostforagainstdifference1330019628+1689232019266+2663310239116–7734300329146–1170 Number in brackets indicates the pre-tournament IRB ranking of team
Matches
Round 1 Final The winner of 2012 NACRA Rugby Championship, Bermuda, played the winner of the 2012 CONSUR B tournament, Paraguay, in order to progress through to Round 2. Paraguay were the home team as they were the higher ranked team at 39 to Bermuda's 49.
Round 2 Round 2A: 2012 CONSUR Rugby Championship A The top two teams remained in CONSUR A for the 2013 tournament (Round 3A), thus still being able to qualify for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The bottom placed team, Brazil, had to face a relegation challenge, Round 2 Final, from the CONSUR B champion, Paraguay, to earn to right to compete in the 2013 tournament and stay within the chance of qualifying for Rugby World Cup 2015.
Stays in contention of RWC placeAdvances to Round 2 Final
TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainstDifferencePts22005441+13621014533+12320022146-250
Matches
Round 2 Final: CONSUR A/B relegation playoff Paraguay, the winner of Round 1, faced Brazil, the last placed team in the 2012 Consur A competition, or Round 2A, for the right to compete in the 2013 Consur A, or Round 3A, and remain within the chance of qualifying for the World Cup.
Being the higher ranked team, Brazil hosted the match in front of over 10,000 spectators in São Paulo, Brazil's biggest ever home crowd.
Round 3 Round 3A: 2013 CONSUR Rugby Championship A Round 3A was contested concurrently with the 2013 South American Rugby Championship "A" in Montevideo, Uruguay and Temuco, Chile between 27 April and 4 May 2013.Rugby World Cup 2015, Qualifying Americas, http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/qualifying/americas/index.html However, this tournament included already qualified nation Argentina, and therefore had no effect on who advanced to the NACRA-CONSUR playoff final. This means fixtures against Argentina by Brazil, Chile or Uruguay were not included as Rugby World Cup qualification matches. The winner of this qualifying round, Uruguay, advanced to the NACRA-CONSUR playoff final, to stay in contention for qualifying for the 2015 Rugby World Cup as Americas 2 or to progress to the Repechage qualifying.
Advanced to NACRA-CONSUR playoff final
PlaceNationGamesPointsTablepointsplayedwondrawnlostforagainstdiff122008116+656221014745+23320022996–670
Matches
Round 3B: United States v Canada Home & Away playoffs Canada defeated the USA in a two-legged play off, sweeping the series and winning 40–20 on aggregate, thus qualifying for the World Cup as Americas 1. USA progressed to the NACRA-CONSUR playoff final against Uruguay.
Team details FB 15Chris WylesRW 14Takudzwa NgwenyaOC 13Seamus Kelly IC 12Andrew SuniulaLW 11Blaine ScullyFH 10Toby L'Estrange SH 9 Mike Petri N8 8 Todd Clever (c)OF 7 Peter Dahl BF 6 Scott LaValla RL 5 Samu ManoaLL 4 Louis StanfillTP 3 Eric Fry HK 2 Chris Biller LP 1 Shawn Pittman Replacements:HK 16Zach Fenoglio PR 17Titi Lamositele PR 18Phil Thiel LK 19Brian Doyle N8 20Cam Dolan SH 21Robbie Shaw FH 22Folau Niua CE 23Roland Suniula Coach: Mike Tolkin FB 15James PritchardRW 14Matt Evans OC 13Ciaran HearnIC 12Nick BlevinsLW 11D. T. H. van der MerweFH 10Harry Jones SH 9 Phil Mack N8 8 Aaron Carpenter (c) OF 7 John MoonlightBF 6 Tyler ArdronRL 5 Jamie Cudmore LL 4 Jebb SinclairTP 3 Jason Marshall HK 2 Ryan Hamilton LP 1 Andrew Tiedemann Replacements:HK 16Ray Barkwill PR 17Tom Dolezel PR 18Doug Wooldridge LK 19Tyler Hotson FL 20Nanyak Dala SH 21Sean White FH 22Nathan Hirayama CE 23Phil Mackenzie Coach: Kieran Crowley Man of the Match: Phil Mack
Touch judges: JP Doyle (England) Marius Mitrea (Italy) Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
Team details FB 15James Pritchard RW 14Matt EvansOC 13Ciaran HearnIC 12Nick BlevinsLW 11D. T. H. van der MerweFH 10Harry JonesSH 9 Phil Mack N8 8 Aaron Carpenter (c)OF 7 John MoonlightBF 6 Tyler ArdronRL 5 Tyler HotsonLL 4 Jebb Sinclair TP 3 Jason Marshall HK 2 Ray BarkwillLP 1 Andrew Tiedemann Replacements:PR 16Tom Dolezel PR 17Doug Wooldridge HK 18Aaron FlaggLK 19Jon PhelanFL 20Nanyak Dala SH 21Sean White FH 22Nathan Hirayama CE 23Phil MackenzieCoach: Kieran Crowley FB 15Blaine ScullyRW 14Takudzwa NgwenyaOC 13Chris WylesIC 12Andrew Suniula LW 11Luke HumeFH 10Toby L'EstrangeSH 9 Robbie Shaw N8 8 Todd Clever (c)OF 7 Peter Dahl BF 6 Scott LaVallaRL 5 Brian DoyleLL 4 Louis Stanfill TP 3 Eric Fry HK 2 Chris Biller LP 1 Shawn PittmanReplacements:HK 16Zach Fenoglio PR 17Titi Lamositele PR 18Phil ThielN8 19Cam Dolan LK 20Derek Asbun SH 21Mike Petri FH 22Folau Niua CE 23Roland SuniulaCoach: Mike Tolkin Touch judges: Leighton Hodges (Wales) Marius Mitrea (Italy) Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
Round 3 Final: NACRA-CONSUR playoff final The losing team from Round 3B, United States, played the winner from Round 3A, Uruguay to determine who qualifies as Americas 2. The final consisted of a home-and-away series, with the winner on aggregate, United States (59–40 or 1–0), qualifying for the World Cup as Americas 2.
The loser, Uruguay, advanced to the repechage to play Asia 2, Hong Kong.
Team details FB 15Gastón MieresRW 14Leandro LeivasOC 13Joaquín PradaIC 12Andrés Vilaseca LW 11Jerónimo Etcheverry FH 10Felipe BerchesiSH 9 Agustín OrmaecheaN8 8 Alejandro NietoOF 7 Diego Magno BF 6 Juan Manuel GaminaraRL 5 Santiago Vilaseca LL 4 Mathias Palomeque TP 3 Oscar Durán HK 2 Arturo Avalo (c) LP 1 Alejo Corral Replacements:LK 16Cristofer Soares De Lima PR 17Rodolfo De Mula PR 18Mario Sagario HK 19Nicolás Klappenbach FL 20Franco Lamanna FL 21Juan De Freitas SH 22Alejo DuránWG 23Francisco Bulanti Coach: Pablo Lemoine FB 15Chris WylesRW 14Blaine ScullyOC 13Folau NiuaIC 12Andrew SuniulaLW 11Tim Maupin FH 10Toby L'Estrange SH 9 Mike PetriN8 8 Cam DolanOF 7 Scott LaVallaBF 6 Todd Clever (c) RL 5 Samu ManoaLL 4 Hayden Smith TP 3 Eric FryHK 2 Phil Thiel LP 1 Olive Kilifi Replacements:HK 16Tom Coolican PR 17Nicholas Wallace PR 18Titi Lamositele FL 19Louis Stanfill FL 20Kyle Sumsion FH 21Shalom Suniula CE 22Seamus KellyWG 23Luke Hume Coach: Mike Tolkin Touch judges: Ignacio Iparaguirre (Argentina) Carlos Poggie (Argentina) Television match official: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)