Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union or more often just rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. Rugby is simply based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.
The Rugby Championship, formerly known as the Tri Nations Series (1996–2011), is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a similar tournament in the Northern Hemisphere.
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 rugby competitions, such as the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the World Under 20 Championship, and the Pacific Nations Cup.
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 Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, the Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from 3 countries: Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The Super 12 was established by SANZAR after the sport became professional in 1995. At its peak the tournament featured the top players from nations representing 16 of the 24 top-three finishes in the history of the Rugby World Cup. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the competition to split into three, the reformed competition in 2021 and beyond will only include Oceanian clubs representing Australia, New Zealand and from the Pacific islands.
The Argentina national rugby union team represents Argentina in men's international rugby union; it is organised by the Argentine Rugby Union. Nicknamed the Pumas, they play in sky blue and white jerseys. They are ranked 10th in the world by World Rugby, making them by some distance the highest-ranked nation in the Americas.
The Brazil national rugby union team, nicknamed Tupis, is controlled by the Brazilian Rugby Confederation. Brazil is one of the founding unions of CONSUR and played in the inaugural South American tournament. Brazil has not qualified for a Rugby World Cup, but participated in the first edition of rugby 7s in the Olympics. Brazil currently ranks 4th in South America and 6th in the Americas region.
Rugby union in Argentina is a hugely popular team sport. The first rugby match played in the country dates back to 1873, as the game was introduced by the British. The Argentina national team, sometimes referred to as the Pumas, have competed at the Rugby World Cup, and are considered a tier one nation by the sport's governing body, World Rugby.
Argentina XV, formerly known as the Jaguares, are the second national rugby union team in Argentina, after the full national side, the Pumas.
The South American Rugby Championship refers to the continental rugby union championships for South America, organized by Sudamérica Rugby. The current name of the championships is South American Six Nations, implemented in 2018. Throughout history, 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.
The Americas Rugby Championship, often informally called the Americas' Six Nations, was an annual international rugby tournament between six North and South American nations: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United States and Uruguay. Originally competed by various interlocking combinations of club, second-tier national and top national sides, the current international tournament has the top national sides competing. The current format provides these top national teams with additional test matches to be counted in the World Rugby Rankings.
The 1951 South American Rugby Championship was the first edition of the two tiered competition of the leading national Rugby Union teams in South America.
The 1983 South American Rugby Championship was the 13th edition of the competition of the leading national Rugby Union teams in South America.
The 1985 South American Rugby Championship was the 14th edition of the competition of the leading national Rugby Union teams in South America.
The 1991 South American Rugby Championship was the 17th edition of the competition of the leading national Rugby Union teams in South America.
The 1995 South American Rugby Championship was the 19th edition of the competition of the leading national Rugby Union teams in South America.
The 1997 South American Rugby Championship was the 20th edition of the competition of the leading national Rugby Union teams in South America.
The 1998 South American Rugby Championship was the 21st edition of the competition of the leading national Rugby Union teams in South America.
The 2001 South American Rugby Championship was the 23rd edition of the competition of the leading national Rugby Union teams in South America.
The 2003 South American Rugby Championship was the 25th edition of the competition of the leading national Rugby Union teams in South America.
The 2006 South American Rugby Championship was the 28th edition of the competition of the leading national Rugby Union teams in South America.
Argentina 
Brazil 
Chile 
Paraguay 
Uruguay