A surprise announcement arrived at midday on Monday as the 2019 Americas Rugby Championship schedule has been confirmed. The reveal comes more than a month earlier than in 2018, giving fans extra time to make travel arrangements.

The most notable change to this year’s schedule is the addition of a rest week after Round 2. This has been added for player welfare, in particular affording the North American teams ample time to recover after their trips to the south with Brazil and Chile given extra time to prepare for their trips to the USA and Canada respectively.

This year also sees three fixtures played on Friday evenings, all involving Canada. Their home games will be at Westhills Stadium in Langford with their final match of the competition against the USA, unbeaten since the inaugural competition in 2016.

Argentina will play matches in Río Negro province and Neuquén, with their third in Buenos Aires. Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay will play in familiar venues of Santiago, São Paulo, and Montevideo.

The USA have selected two Major Rugby League venues for their fixtures. Brazil will be hosted at the brand new Aveva Stadium, home of the Houston SaberCats, while two matches will be played at Starfire Stadium in Seattle, a reward to Seattle fans for their impressive support of the MLR champion Seawolves.

There has also been a change to the competition logo, the new graphic a metallic shield closely resembling that of the Americas Rugby Challenge, aka ARC ‘B’. Kickoff times and broadcast details are still to be confirmed.

ROUND 1

Feb 2, 2019 Uruguay Canada Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo Argentina XV Brazil tba, Neuquén Chile USA tba, Santiago

ROUND 2

Feb 9, 2019 Argentina XV USA tba, Río Negro Brazil Canada tba, São Paulo Uruguay Chile Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo

ROUND 3

Feb 22, 2019 Canada Chile Westhills Stadium, Langford Feb 23, 2019 Argentina XV Uruguay tba, Buenos Aires USA Brazil Aveva Stadium, Houston

ROUND 4

Mar 1, 2019 Canada Argentina XV Westhills Stadium, Langford Mar 2, 2019 USA Uruguay Starfire Stadium, Seattle Brazil Chile tba, São Paulo

ROUND 5