DUBLIN, Ireland - The International Rugby Board has established the Americas Rugby Championship, which will kick off on September 7, 2009.

The Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) will build on the success of the North America 4 tournament that it replaces, and is a key component of the IRB's Strategic Investment Program, which includes significant investment in USA, Canada and Argentina.

The new tournament features six teams, including four provincial sides from Canada joined by the Argentina Jaguars and USA 'A'. The format unites Rugby in North and South America in a high performance sub-international structure for the first time.

“The Americas Rugby Championship is a huge step forward for elite rugby in North and South America,” said Mark Egan, IRB Head of Development and Performance.

“Canada, USA and Argentina are priority Unions for our High Performance Investment Program and their domestic based players and coaches require a tournament format that exposes them to high level cross border competition on a more regular basis.”

“The tournament is currently structured to primarily focus on our High Performance Unions in the region, however, it is hoped that it will expand over time to include other countries such as Uruguay, Chile, Mexico and Brazil.”

Canadian Regional teams Atlantic, Ontario, Prairies and British Columbia will re-ignite traditional rivalries in a round robin pool taking place in September. The top four will qualify for the semifinals held on October 10, with the finals taking place on October 17 in Toronto.

“The ARC competition is key to developing the link between our domestic rugby structure and our national team program. The competition will provide our domestic based athletes with high performance structures and competition pathways that will be used to strengthen our domestic player base on a annualized basis,” said Graham Brown, Rugby Canada Chief Executive Officer.

Nigel Melville, USA Rugby Chief Executive, said: “The ARC will provide Eagles head coach Eddie O’Sullivan and his coaches with an opportunity to observe and work with domestically based potential Eagles players prior to the important November international window. The introduction of Argentina and possible expansion to include other teams in the future is an exciting expansion of our cross border aspirations for the event.”

Porfirio Carreras, Unión Argentina de Rugby President, added: “The Americas need to grow in the practice of our sport through competition. Argentina is determined to do everything possible to help this happen, and in conjunction with the USA and Canada we support the IRB initiative in introducing this tournament to further expand and develop the Game in our continent.”