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Súper Liga Americana, new South American Pro Rugby Competition

2022 schedule announced. Same six teams, but unfortunately (due to finances as much as Covid) it is to be played in bubbles in Uruguay, Chile and Argentina, with all six sides playing in the same location on any given day.


I feel bad for overlooking this tournament previously. The standard was clearly far higher than I thought despite Jaguares dominance, as shown by the performance of Uruguay and Chile internationally last year. I mainly only followed scores and can remember Selknam (Chile) and Olimpia (Paraguay) both making progress as last season progressed. So I am looking for them to shake up the playoff seedings this time around after fairly narrow losses in the semis last time.

Concerns about finances and a lot of 1330hrs weekday kick-off times, plus the ongoing public health situation suggests the situation is delicate for the future of the tournament. But on field the standard should be good despite player departures (including players to Spanish, Portguese and Italian clubs who presumably don't play top dollar).

The big story for a neutral is whether Selknam can improve to at least second best, to challenge the Jaguares and peak in time to then out on Chilean shirts and face the US in the RWC qualifier.

Other sub plots are:
- can the Cobras bring Brazilian rugby out of a tailspin (they lost to Kenya and Zimbabwe last month, just a few years after beating the US). Or will they be a shock last placed finish?
- will Olimpia and Cafeteros show signs of Paraguay and Colombia closing the gap on Brazil and making strides towards being able to field an international side in a South American international tournament (following the demise of the ARC for political reasons).

It all restarts on 5th of March, 2022. I pick Selknam as my favourites, and that is with my head, not my heart.
 
Wouldn't be too concerned about Brazil. They brought a rather inexperienced side to stellenvosch. Missed quite a few of their first XV from the South American championship including their halfback pairing. I'm not at all confident about going up against Chile next year.
It's a shame the league isn't looking too great off the field but it faces some pretty big geographic hurdles.
 
no new teams, specially for argentina is really dissapointing, I saw every game last year they were much better that I expected, but even with that said and the ammount of argies in the other teams, the onesidediness of the jaguares team ask for at least one new argie team, 4 in total would be nice.

Its also dissapointing because we started with ceibos in cordoba, having jaguares in the superrugby, and there were also talks months ago of adding a new franchise on tucuman. Also now news about a match with the MLR champion, and the "bubble" way of playing the tournament, even when everyone is already vaccinated. IDK I feel that covid kill the tournament before it started, or at least delayed its devolopment by a decade.

I'll be tuning in to see another perfect tournament by jaguares...

PS: it was still nice to see Uruguay and Chile beating canada and the US, hopefully that gives the league more backing
 
no new teams, specially for argentina is really dissapointing, I saw every game last year they were much better that I expected, but even with that said and the ammount of argies in the other teams, the onesidediness of the jaguares team ask for at least one new argie team, 4 in total would be nice.

Its also dissapointing because we started with ceibos in cordoba, having jaguares in the superrugby, and there were also talks months ago of adding a new franchise on tucuman. Also now news about a match with the MLR champion, and the "bubble" way of playing the tournament, even when everyone is already vaccinated. IDK I feel that covid kill the tournament before it started, or at least delayed its devolopment by a decade.

I'll be tuning in to see another perfect tournament by jaguares...

PS: it was still nice to see Uruguay and Chile beating canada and the US, hopefully that gives the league more backing
I agree with the pessimism of the bubble, especially reading headlines this week that makes me think live crowds at sporting events will be achievable in South America. I have read speculation that Brazil and Colombia may be the ones struggling financially.

In terms of competitiveness, I am more optimistic. In the first half of the season the Jaguares destroyed all opponents by 50+ points. But in the last couple of weeks of the season and then the playoffs, the Jaguares were pushed hard. I didnt see the games. Is there any explanation for this change in form? Did a bunch of players leave the Jaguares mid-season or something?
 
There was no lost of players for what I remember, I figured the difference was due to the last matches being with the best teams and the time pass give them time to develop
 

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