International rugby championship match comes to Round Rock Feb. 13

The Sports Capital of Texas will host one of the matches in the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, at Dell Diamond. The USA Rugby Men’s National Team, the Eagles, will play Canada in Round 2 of the tournament.

“We are honored and excited to host the first ever Americas Rugby Championship at our
beautiful Dell Diamond stadium in Round Rock,” Round Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau
Director Nancy Yawn said.

The competition in Round Rock, which is just north of Austin, marks the first time the USA
Rugby Men’s Eagles have played a match in the Austin area.

“We can’t wait to cheer on our USA Rugby Men’s Eagles,” Yawn added. “We invite rugby fans
around the region to come out and support these young men who are their nation’s best in their
sport!”

Under the guidance of the Pan American Rugby Association (PARA,) executive members of the
respective international rugby unions agreed to hold the first ever Americas Rugby
Championship next year. The competition, which includes six of North America’s and South
America’s top-ranked international rugby union teams, will provide Argentina, Brazil, Canada,
Chile, the U.S. and Uruguay with five additional rankings tests annually.

“We are delighted to be able to announce the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship that will
take place in 2016,” PARA Chairman Agustín Pichot said. “This could not have happened
without the hard work and cooperation of all six rugby unions involved.

“We would also like to thank World Rugby for their support. This is a very exciting time for the
Americas, with our first truly international tournament, as rugby continues to thrive and prosper
in this region.”

Dell Diamond stadium is the home field of the Round Rock Express, the AAA minor league
baseball affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Fitting a capacity crowd of 11,631, the venue will look to
continue the success of U.S. Rugby matches in Texas as the Eagles’ third, fourth, sixth and
eighth-largest crowds in history have all come in the Lone Star State.

Rugby is the fastest-growing team sport in America, as is evidenced with Texas’ 17 percent
increase in registered USA Rugby members in the last four years.

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Source: City of Round Rock