Rugby in South America has grown significantly from the days of the first regional championship in 1951 when only a men’s competition existed and was played mostly at two-year intervals. In the last decade the number of tournaments in a year grew to 12, with three divisions of the men's senior championship, age-grade competitions and competitions for men’s and women’s rugby sevens.

The association was renamed Sudamérica Rugby in 2015 and continues to grow the game with education and programmes such as Get Into Rugby at the centre of this expansion. There is also a desire to engage regularly with Rugby Americas North.

With Argentina's men continuing to be flag-bearers for the region by reaching the RWC 2015 semi-finals, the region’s first Olympic Games in Brazil opened the sport to a new audience. Colombia’s women also performed heroics to qualify for that first Olympic event, creating heros over night.