Super Rugby Americas (SRA) will be the new franchise rugby tournament format in America, and the first season will begin on February 18, 2023 after efforts by World Rugby. It will be organized and led by Sudamérica Rugby, the highest rugby entity in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. It will be a contest on two wheels, all against all, which will integrate seven teams through franchises. The holding of this tournament in the Americas has the precedent of the extinct ''Superliga Americana de Rugby (SLAR)'' en, American Rugby Superleague), a precursor competition. The name ''Super Rugby Americas'' was proposed by

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

to draw a parallel with Super Rugby Pacific, a competition made up of franchises from Australia, Fiji and New Zealand.

History

SLAR (2020-2022)

SLAR was first announced in April 2019, with plans of forming between six and eight professional franchises, two each in Uruguay and Brazil, meanwhile Argentina and Chile were to get a franchise each with plans to add two teams in 2021 with an additional team in Argentina and one from Paraguay. In November, SLAR's plans changed to a league of seven clubs, two each in Brazil and Uruguay with one team each in Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay. Officially sanctioned by

Sudamérica Rugby Sudamérica Rugby (previously known as Confederación Sudamericana de Rugby (abbreviated CONSUR) between 1988 and 2015),World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

, the league was officially launched in November 29, 2019. At the official announcement, SLAR confirmed the number of the teams for the 2020 season was be at five for the regular season due to the economic issues but SLAR was expected to be expanded at some point in the future, possibly in 2021. Cafeteros Pro (Colombia) joined at the end of the regular season to play a home and away series against the 5th-place finisher in the 2020 season before joining the league full-time. The tournament could be played without problems in 2021 and 2022. During 2022, there were already ideas to carry out a joint competition between the franchises that contested the SLAR and teams from North America. During the season, the Challenge Cup of the Americas, a friendly rugby cup, was played on an experimental way.

SRA (2023-Present)

As it is a competition with franchises, the impact of the SLAR was in doubt. According to South American specialists, the success achieved by the tournament was relative but after various requests from institutions to join and participate in a larger tournament,

requested the expansion of the format towards a more ambitious and regional competition. Once the news was released, Wenceslao Tejerina, High Performance Manager for Chile, announced that they were working on a new tournament. After the announcement of the new contest, the Uruguayan Sebastián Piñeyrúa, director of the South American entity, issued the following statement: ''"Due to the success obtained in the American Rugby Super League in the two full seasons of 2021 and 2022, from South America Rugby, SLAR organizers, we are in the middle of negotiations with national unions in North and Central America, to plan the future growth of Rugby in the continent, for this reason, we are working with all the member unions and franchises participating in SLAR 2022, to plan and develop future competitions, by franchises and international. On October 27, the format will be presented and details of the new professional competition of the Americas will be given"''. In this way, after efforts by South America Rugby and

, the emergence of ''Super Rugby Americas'' was announced in October 2022, a tournament that will also be organized by

USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugb ...

and

Rugby Canada Rugby Canada is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Canada was incorporated in 1974, and stems from the Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amateur Canadian football a ...

, which will include most of the clubs that competed in SLAR 2022 with the addition of franchises from the United States and Canada. According to the High Performance Manager of South America Rugby, Daniel Hourcade, the

Unión Argentina de Rugby The Argentine Rugby Union ( es, Unión Argentina de Rugby, abbreviated "UAR") is the governing body for rugby union in Argentina. It is a member of World Rugby, with a seat on that body's Executive Council, and a founding member of Sudamérica Rug ...

will also incorporate more franchises in the next editions of the new league.

Competition format

In 2020, Superliga Americana de Rugby was to span four months from February through May. For the first season, five of the six clubs Ceibos,

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

Selknam Selknam or Selk'nam may refer to: *Selk'nam people The Selk'nam, also known as the Onawo or Ona people, are an indigenous people in the Patagonian region of southern Argentina and Chile, including the Tierra del Fuego islands. They were one ...

, Olímpia Lions, and

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

La Superliga Americana va tomando forma
by Gabriel Sarquis ''Marca'', 29 Dec 2019 planned to take part in a double round-robin regular season, playing twice against each other team, once at home and once away, for a total of eight games. The top four teams would qualify for the championship playoffs to determine a season champion. The fifth place regular season team would have played a series against Los Cafeteros Pro to determine the fifth-place team. However, on March 17, 2020, the season was postponed until 2021, as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Like

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

, and the

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

, the Super Rugby Americas has no

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

Teams

Current teams

There are seven teams confirmed for the 2023 Super Rugby Americas season. * Notes:

Timeline

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:25 Period = from:2020 till:2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:200 left:20 bottom:55 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:current value:skyblue legend:Current_Teams id:previous value:powderblue legend:Previous_Name id:former value:pink legend:Former_Teams id:future value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8) legend:Future_Expansion PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:black fontsize:M from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2020 bar:1 color:white fontsize:M from:01/15/2020 till: 12/10/2021 bar:1 color:black fontsize:M from:01/01/2021 till:01/01/2021 text: Expand to 6 teams bar:1 color:white fontsize:M from:01/15/2022 till: 12/10/2022 bar:1 color:white fontsize:M from:01/01/2023 till: 12/10/2023 text: Expand to 7 teams bar:2 color:previous fontsize:M from:01/01/2020 till:12/31/2020 text: Ceibos (2020) bar:2 color:current fontsize:M from:01/01/2023 till:end text:

Dogos XV Dogos XV is a professional rugby union team based in Cordoba, Argentina. The team was founded in 2019 as Ceibos to compete in Súper Liga Americana de Rugby and was Argentina's second professional franchise. The team was disbanded ahead of the 20 ...

(2023−) bar:3 color:previous fontsize:M from:01/01/2020 till:12/31/2020 text:

(2020) bar:3 color:current fontsize:M from:01/01/2021 till:end text: Cobras (2021–present) bar:4 color:previous fontsize:M from:01/01/2020 till:12/31/2022 text: Olímpia Lions (2020–2022) bar:4 color:current fontsize:M from:01/01/2023 till:end text: Yacare XV (2023–) bar:5 color:current fontsize:M from:01/01/2020 till:end text:

(2020–present) bar:6 color:current fontsize:M from:01/01/2020 till:end text:

(2020–present) bar:7 color:former fontsize:M from:01/01/2021 till:12/31/2022 text: Cafeteros Pro (2021–2022) bar:8 color:former fontsize:M from:01/01/2021 till:12/31/2022 text: Jaguares XV (2021–2022) bar:9 color:future fontsize:M from:01/01/2023 till:end text: American Raptors (2023−) bar:10 color:future fontsize:M from:01/01/2023 till:end text:

Pampas The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...

(2023−) legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2020

Expansion teams

On 10 November 2020,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

has formalized professional rugby. The South American country’s first professional rugby team will be Cafeteros Pro. The team will enter the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) in

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. On 6 January 2021,

UAR The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...

replaced the Córdoba based team Ceibos with the Jaguares XV, following the Jaguares' departure from

. On 4 February 2021, the Brazilian side of the competition was renamed

Cobras Brasil XV Cobras Brasil XV is a professional rugby union team based in São Paulo, Brazil. The team was founded in 2021 to compete in Súper Liga Americana de Rugby. Cobras replaced the rugby section of Corinthians, which had been the original franchise for ...

, dropping their affiliation with the

multi-sport club. On 13 December 2022 SLAR confirmed the replacement of Cafeteros Pro with the reintroduction of Córdoba based team Dogos XV, in the past Ceibos. On 22 December 2022 Super Rugby Americas confirmed more news. First the came back of Argentine

Pampas XV Pampas XV is an Argentine professional rugby union team that currently competes in Super Rugby Americas.Jaguares XV, second the participation of American Raptors, third the rebranded of Paraguayan team from Olimpia Lions to Yakarés XV in order to indicate that relationship between the

Paraguayan Rugby Union The Paraguayan Rugby Union ( es, Unión de Rugby del Paraguay) is the governing body for rugby union in Paraguay. It was founded in 1970 and became affiliated to the International Rugby Board in 1989. Senior Paraguayan Rugby Championship See al ...

and the soccer team

Club Olimpia Club Olimpia is a Paraguayan sports club based in the city of Asunción. The club promotes the practice of various sports with most importance given to the football, rugby and basketball sides, the former being the highest priority and most s ...

is ended.

Expansion candidates

At the initial announcement, Brazil and Uruguay originally would have two team each, but instead one team each (Corinthians and Peñarol) will play in 2020 season, meaning it may be possible for the two countries to expand in the future (

Club Nacional de Football Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'' or simply as Nacional) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' and ''Mon ...

was hinted as a possibility in Uruguay) besides a possible Mexican team or a second Chilean team. With the possible change of

to a Trans-Tasman (Australasian) competition, Argentina could add a second team, the Jaguares, based in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, in 2021. In November 2020, another new team proposed for 2021 with official expression of interest by

Sudamérica Rugby Sudamérica Rugby (previously known as Confederación Sudamericana de Rugby (abbreviated CONSUR) between 1988 and 2015),Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

based team in the 2021 SLAR, but a second Argentine team won't play in 2021 and most Argentine players will depart the team either overseas, or enter the draft for the 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby season. In August and September 2021 it was rumoured that a second Argentine franchise could join the competition in the future, based in Tucumán, but this possible expansion was postponed to the 2023 season. In October 2022 news confirm that Argentine Tucumán will replace Colombian team Cafeteros Pro and two North American franchises, Canadian

Pacific Pride Pacific Pride Commercial Fueling (also known as PrideNet) is a network of membership-only fueling stations across the United States. It appeals to truckers and police forces. Its stations are franchised and are often combined with mainstream ...

and U.S. American Raptors, are going to participate at this new tournament renamed Super Rugby Americas.

History

SLAR (2020-2022)

SRA (2023-Present)

Competition format

Teams

Current teams

Timeline

Expansion teams

Expansion candidates

Former teams

Champions

List of SLAR finals

List of SRA finals

See also

References