2011 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification

Round 1A (Caribbean Regional Tournament) - April 2008

The Caribbean Regional Championships held in the Cayman Islands was the first Qualifying event for the Rugby World Cup 2011. The Tournament included the nine eligible IRB members from the Caribbean & Central America. Mexico was competing in their first major international competition as one of the IRB's newest members. The Mexicans faced Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in a preliminary qualifying match to determine the final eight. The match was played at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. In addition to determining a champion, the tournament played out each final position. The tournament was won by Trinidad and Tobago who advanced to Round 2 of the qualifying process. The main tournament was hosted by the Cayman Islands, with all matches being played at Truman Bodden Stadium in George Town. Attendance at this tournament varied throughout, but the maximum attendance was calculated at 1,395 during the final.

Teams

• (Team eliminated in the preliminary round)

|April 20, 2008||39||12 |April 20, 2008||21||20 |April 20, 2008||10||3 |April 20, 2008||29||13 |April 23, 2008||56||0 |April 23, 2008||25||13 |April 26, 2008||40||24 |April 26, 2008||17||6

|April 23, 2008||6||13 |April 23, 2008||12||19 |April 26, 2008||17||23 |April 26, 2008||11||10

Round 1B (South American Consur B Championships) – June 2008

This round is also the 2008 South American Rugby Championship B Division, a competition for second tier South American nations. The tournament was played at Colegio de San José in Asunción, Paraguay in June 2008. The winners were Brazil who beat hosts Paraguay on the final day. They advanced to Round 2 to face Trinidad and Tobago. Brazil and Paraguay were promoted to the Division A of the Consur.

Main article: 2008 South American Rugby Championship "B"

Standings

:{| class="wikitable" |- !width=165|Team !width=40|Played !width=40|Won !width=40|Drawn !width=40|Lost !width=40|For !width=40|Against !width=40|Difference !width=40|BP !width=40|Pts |- bgcolor=#ccffcc align=center |4||4||0||0||169||20||+149||3||19 |- align=center |4||3||0||1||181||25||+156||3||15 |- align=center |4||2||0||2||86||123||-37||2||10 |- align=center |4||1||0||3||53||148||-95||0||4 |- align=center |4||0||0||4||23||196||-173||1||1 |}

Matches

Round 2 (Regional Champions Playoff)

This playoff was between the two regional champions of Round 1. The winner of the playoff progressed to join Uruguay and Chile in Round 3A.

Brazil advanced by winning the series two matches to none.

Round 3A (South America Consur A Championships) - April/May 2009

This round was also the 2009 South American Rugby Championship A Division, a competition for first tier South American nations. The tournament was played in Montevideo, Uruguay (with the exception of the first match played in Viña del Mar, Chile) in April and May 2009. Paraguay participated in the tournament; however, their participation was limited to the Consur A Championship and their results had no bearing on Rugby World Cup qualifying. Uruguay, who defeated Chile and Brazil, qualified for Round 4 to face the loser of Round 3B.

Standings

:{| class="wikitable" |- !width=165|Team !width=40|Played !width=40|Won !width=40|Drawn !width=40|Lost !width=40|For !width=40|Against !width=40|Difference !width=40|Points |- align=center |2||2||0||0||117||12||+105||6 |- align=center |2||1||0||1||88||49||+39||4 |- align=center |2||0||0||2||6||150||-144||2 |}

Round 3B (North American Qualification Playoff)

This round was a two legged playoff between the USA and Canada. The winner, Canada, qualified for Pool A of the 2011 Rugby World Cup as Americas 1; the USA moved on to Round 4.

Series drawn 1-1. Canada won on aggregate 47 - 30.

Round 4 (Final American Qualification Playoff)

This two-legged playoff between Uruguay, the winner of South American Qualification (Round 3A), and the US, the loser of the North American Playoff (Round 3B) qualified the United States for Pool C of the Rugby World Cup as Americas 2, while Uruguay advanced to the Final Place Playoff as Americas 3 to face Kazakhstan (the second place Asian team) in the semifinal.

USA won the series 2–0 and 54–28 on aggregate.

Uruguay v USA

Con: Etcheverry (1/1) Pen: Morales 18' Etcheverry (4) 55', 64', 74', 76' Swiryn (2) 19' m, 48' c Wyles 65' c Con: Hercus (2/4) Pen: Hercus 37'

USA v Uruguay

Swiryn 35' m Clever (2) 46' c, 80' c Con: Hercus (1/3) Malifa (1/1) Pen: Hercus (1/2) 2' Drop: Hercus (0/1)

References