Americas Eyeing Record Places at Rugby World Cup 2027 - sportsnewsfoot

The Americas is eyeing a record number of places at Rugby World Cup 2027. The eleventh edition of the Men’s Rugby World Cup will be played in Australia. It is a return to the country that also hosted the tournament in 2003 and co-hosted, with New Zealand, in 1987. Those two tournaments and the 2027 edition could all feature differing numbers of Americas competitors. 

1987 was the inaugural Rugby World Cup. It featured sixteen teams including Argentina, Canada and the USA from the Americas. The 1999 edition saw expansion to twenty teams with five pools of four while 2023 saw an altered format to have five teams per pool. Uruguay qualified for both, debuting in Scotland in 1999 and qualifying again for Australia in 2003. Los Teros’ return from these two tournaments were wins over Spain and Georgia, both of whom were also expansion teams. 

Georgia has played at every World Cup since debuting in 2003. Uruguay did not qualify for Rugby World Cups 2007 or 2011. After returning for 2015, Los Teros have not only been constant but have also recorded wins. Uruguay defeated Fiji at Rugby World Cup 2019 and Namibia at Rugby World Cup 2023. The France 2023 tournament was historic with three South American teams participating. Argentina and Uruguay were joined by Chile with Los Cóndores being the first debutants since Russia’s Rugby World Cup debut in 2011.

The pathway to expansion from 20 to 24 teams included Chile. Los Cóndores’ qualification tore up the script. Chile defeated the USA two months after World Rugby had allocated Rugby World Cup 2031 hosting rights to the USA. The USA Eagles were sent to repechage and ultimately missed out, on aggregate, on qualifying for France 2023. The outcome was Portugal qualified for a second Rugby World Cup while North America had no participants for the first-time.

Chile’s win over the USA booked Los Cóndores’ tickets to France 2023; yet, Chilean involvement in the 20 teams went further. Chile also decided Canada’s fate as Chile defeated Canada to eliminate the North Americans. The outcome was disasterous for North American rugby as France 2023 was the first ever Men’s Rugby World Cup without Canada.

There is little doubt that World Rugby’s decision to expand from 20 to 24 teams is connected to North America, specifically to the USA. With the USA missing out on playing in France 2023, eight years before USA 2031, action was taken to expand the tournament and also to change the qualifying format.

The USA and Canada will play their 2027 qualifiers in the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup (PNC) with Japan, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Three places are up for grabs at Australia 2027 and Japan and Fiji have already qualified. In other words, avoiding the wooden spoon means a place at Australia 2027. The team that finishes bottom will not be eliminated. 

World Rugby has not been so generous to South America. The winner of the South American Rugby World Cup Qualifiers will qualify for Rugby World Cup 2027. The runner-up will face the bottom side from the PNC. The winner of the South America vs Pacific showdown will qualify for the World Cup.

The loser of the South America / Pacific play-off will advance to World Rugby’s Final Qualification Tournament. It will contain four teams who compete in a round-robin format Final Qualification Tournament. The other competitors will be Europe 5, South America 3,and the winner of the Africa 2 vs Asia 2 play-off.

The Americas is certain to have at least four participants and a record five is entirely plausible. Argentina has already qualified with Uruguay favored for South America 1 though Chile will put up a formidable challenge. The USA is favored for a spot via the PNC. A potential Chile vs Canada play-off will see the winner qualify and the loser into repechage. Brazil is also positioned as a possible team in repechage; Os Tupis are the Americas’ best placed side to be a Rugby World Cup debutant over the coming cycles. 

Will Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia have five teams? Will Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, the USA, and Canada all represent the Western Hemisphere? Qualification will be among the key talking points of 2025. The USA Eagles’ unbeaten November tour of Europe, Uruguay’s greatly-changed line-up, Chile’s continued progress and Canada’s change of the guard may mean for unpredictability.