All to play for in Americas Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifiers

There are two mouth-watering clashes on Saturday 9 October as Uruguay take on USA and Chile play Canada in the second leg of their Rugby World Cup qualifiers.

Uruguay and USA are battling it out to secure the Americas One slot at the 2023 World Cup in France, and it’s the Eagles who hold a narrow advantage going into this weekend’s match in Montevideo having won the first leg in Colorado 19-16.

USA captain Bryce Campbell said after the match: “I’m just really proud of the guys’ effort that we put in.

“We came out ready to play and we stuck it to them, especially in the first half. A bit of our discipline let us down in the second half letting them into it, but, at the end of the day a win’s a win and we’ll go down to Uruguay and get another one.”

Uruguay scrum-half Tomás Inciarte said of the second leg: “This game is a final for us. We have everything focused to win it. We want to go to Rugby World Cup 2023 as Americas One, and we are not thinking beyond this game. We want to win. The game is now open for either team.”

The winner on aggregate over the two legs will qualify for the next World Cup while the loser will go into the Americas Two play-off.

Also vying for a place in the Americas Two play-off are Canada and Chile. That qualifier is equally finely poised, with Canada defeating Chile 22-21 in the first leg. Canada will be looking to build on that one-point lead while Chile will be hoping home advantage in Valparaíso allows them to overcome the deficit.

The winner keeps alive their hopes of making the 2023 World Cup while the dream will be over for the losers.

Here’s all the match and team info you need.

Americas Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifiers schedule

Sat 9 October, Chile v Canada, 7pm UK & Ireland time/3pm local time, Estadio Elias Figueroa Brander, Valparaíso

Sat 9 October, Uruguay v USA, 8pm UK & Ireland time/4pm local time, Estadio Charrua, Montevideo

How to watch the Americas Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifiers

In the USA, Flo Rugby will be showing the Uruguay v USA match live while Premier Sports will broadcast the Chile v Canada match live in Canada.

ESPN Star+ will broadcast Uruguay v USA in South America.

World Rugby will also be streaming the Uruguay v USA match live on its YouTube channel and rugbyworldcup.com for those fans outside the broadcast territories above.

Americas Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifiers teams

This is how the teams line up for this weekend’s matches.

What RWC 2023 pools will Americas One and Two be in?

Americas One have been drawn in Pool A. They will play Africa One, France, Italy and New Zealand.

Americas Two will complete Pool D with Argentina, England, Japan and Samoa.

Download the digital edition of Rugby World straight to your tablet or subscribe to the print edition to get the magazine delivered to your door.

Follow Rugby World on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.