Positive visit of the President of the Rugby World Championships to Argentina

After passing through Chile and Uruguay, on the last leg of his South American tour, World Rugby President Sir Bill Beaumont took part in various meetings with the leaders of the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR), as well as a tour of Casa Pumas. Watch Los Pumas 7’s training and player activity from the Buenos Aires Academy.

In 2016, Beaumont (70 years old) began his first term as president of world rugby, and this is his third visit to Argentina as president of WR (he had already come in 2016 and 2019).

Beaumont was re-elected in 2020 for another four years, although he has been in charge of the world’s top rugby entity since 1999. The Briton was accompanied by David Carigi, director of international rugby relations.

Beaumont spoke with journalists in the United Arab Republic as well as while in Uruguay with colleagues from El Observador.

“It was a very nice visit. The facilities at Casa Pumas for those selected are very good and excellent. Also, being able to watch a training session for Los Pumas 7, a very successful team that I see many times on the world circuit, was very interesting. It was a pleasure to share a moment with the guys. I’m also in the high-performance divisions in Chile and Uruguay, because three South American countries have qualified for the 2023 World Cup and I can see rugby moving forward and getting stronger and stronger.

“Argentina has been very generous in these years, and the growth of the region has gone up, thanks to a lot. Later, when you see the athletes produced by South America, what they built, also with a good TV partner that allows the product to show, in addition to the center of high efficiency In Uruguay with all that he has, with the experience of those who work there, he is a great strength,” Beaumont said.

The upcoming SLAR will be a new league (Super Rugby Americas?), with teams from the US and Canada and, almost certainly, a new Argentine franchise to replace Cafeteros Pro. This will be announced on October 27th.

“You have to invest, it’s simple. We’ve had meetings with North America and South America, and we’re looking at a concrete business model. World Rugby wants to get involved, but we have to look at everything: how many teams should participate, what the tournament format was considered like and hopefully.” Where can the local federations do this?

In addition, Beaumont referred to the activity of emerging teams, those outside of Tier 1 (Six Nations Championships and Rugby), and explained that World Rugby should aim to provide a regular tournament in all regions, rather than reach the higher level competencies.

“Let’s forget about the ups and downs. First, let’s think and start these tournaments. I have two years to finish my term. I would like to think that in 12 months we will have a map of where we’re going, with the participating teams and regions. For example: playing Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Colombia. And the US and Canada championships, and another in the Pacific with Fiji, Tonga and Samoa and the winners play each other. First regular tournaments, then competition in the July and November windows with Tier 1,” concluded the World Rugby President.

Regarding the meeting with Beaumont, the President of the United Arab Republic, Gabriel Travaglini, said: “The important thing about Bell’s visit to the region is to come and try to see how they can help us. From Argentina, it is a very important step for you to come here, to get to know our reality, to see our facilities. , getting acquainted with Casa Pumas and, later, at a meeting at the UAR, we were able to share with you a strategic plan.”

“From what he shared with us, he left with great conviction and complete determination to help us. Something that can be offered in different ways: from a political point of view, it could be economic and also from the competition side. We are working to ensure that rugby can be reinserted into the world,” Travaglini said.