The huge travelling distances within some countries in South America can make it difficult for some provincial teams to enjoy regular matches, but that could all be about to change with the introduction of a Cross Border Tournament between Chile and Argentina.
The new initiative, with £50,000 funding from the International Rugby Board, aims to promote and develop levels of competitiveness in clubs and regional teams as well as improving players to raise standards as a whole in the future.
Twenty-four clubs from Chile and Argentina have already taken part in the Cross Border Tournament with Argentinean representatives Banco RC from Mendoza and San Juan RC winning the A and B zones.
The second stage involving six regional teams – three from each country – kicked off last Sunday with three matches in the Chilean capital Santiago and continues this weekend in Mendoza before the finals take place in Santiago on 2 December.
An eye on the future
La Serena gave the Chilean fans something to cheer when they beat San Luís 20-17 in the opening match, one which marked the first time either team had played an international game at this level.
The two other representative teams from Chile were Valparaíso and Santiago, who both elected not to field their strongest sides but give players in their second division teams or promising youngsters and developing players the chance to learn from the experience.
They consequently suffered heavy defeats with Valparaíso, the strongest region in Chile, losing 72-7 to San Juan and Santiago going down 68-19 to a powerful Argentinean team from Cuyo. However future development is the essence of this tournament.
Total Rugby Radio caught up with Hernan Rouco Oliva, the CONSUR [Confederation Sudamericana de Rugby] General Manager, to find out more about the Cross Border concept and its potential to spread around the region.
“Definitely [for some teams in Argentina it is nearer to play in Chile than with other teams at home]. This is the concept we are trying to solve, the distance issues we have in the whole region,” he explained.
Expansion plans in the pipeline
“That is the reason why this first Cross Border between provincial teams of Chile and Argentina is a starting point, for example the provincial teams from San Juan or Mendoza are close to Chile. Well let’s say close for us is 400 kilometres, but that is the idea.
“Usually the standard of rugby is a little bit higher in Argentina. However giving the Chile teams the possibility to play with some Argentinean provincial teams, the idea is to help them to interact in the way they play and increase their level. At the moment if you can compete more you have the possibility naturally to increase your level.”
Rouco Oliva added: “We are only starting to run these Cross Border tournaments. We will get a lot of experiences from monitoring the tournament and we will improve the approach for next years because we have plans to run Cross Borders for example with Uruguay and Argentina.
“We have the possibility to propose more initiatives for 2008, for example Paraguay and Brazil with the north east of Argentina. So there are a lot of possibilities to play Cross Border Tournaments around different countries.”
Listen to the interview with Hernan Rouco Oliva on this week’s Total Rugby Radio show from 18:00 UK time on Thursday 22 November.
