Brazil has confirmed its place at the 2023 Americas Cup – one step closer to Rugby League World Cup qualification – with an emphatic 56-0 victory over Colombia.

The final game of the South American Championship in the picturesque Andean town of Jericó saw Brazil needing to win to inch out rivals Chile for the title.

The Carcarás showed they meant business from the second minute when fullback Ravi Araujo scored, and rarely took their foot off the pedal as they led 34-0 at halftime.

Prop and captain Caio Ozzioli, who has been pioneering rugby league in Brazil since 2014, scored a rare hat-trick, but did not get carried away with the win.

“We have a lot of work to do before we face the likes of Jamaica, the USA and Canada,” Ozzioli said.

“We know that. There’s much improvement left in us.

“I believe our strength in this Championship was that we played as a team; we were united in one dream.

“There’s nothing in this world quite like being a Brazilian.

“We can now say we are two-time champions of South America.”

Ozzioli’s closing comment was in reference to becoming the first nation to win the South American Championships twice, taking out the previous title in 2018 when continental heavyweight Chile was absent.

Chile’s camp has been morose since unexpectedly losing to Brazil by a two-point margin on Friday, but the Weichafes have the personnel to bounce back strongly in years to come.

Indeed, both nations should be applauded for creating one of the best new rivalries in International Rugby League.

Competition in the South American continent promises to become even more intense in years to come, with Argentina soon expected to return as an official IRL member. Eyes are also being cast to neighbours such as Uruguay, Peru and Venezuela.

“The most pleasing aspect of the 2022 South American Championships was that we saw crowd numbers grow each day,” Tournament Director Robert Burgin said.

“The level of football being played has also increased four-fold in the past four years, and that goes for all nations.

“Colombia may have been defeated heavily on the scoreboard today, but they are a real heartland for the sport, with people who truly care about the game.

“I entered their sheds after both games in this tournament and there were people crying on both occasions. These are young men who want to do better, and I have no doubt, will be better.

“In my opinion, this was the best South American Championships of the four that have been held, and so much of that is due to Juan David Espinal and the town of Jericó giving everybody unforgettable experiences.”

Prior to the event starting, the town gave all three teams a street parade that lasted 30 minutes, led by a 40-strong person marching band, and ending with more than 1000 people gathered in the town square.

In the shadows of the most diverse Rugby League World Cup ever being held in England a week before, it was another positive sign to start the journey to France in 2025.

Player of the tournament was bestowed upon Brazilian second-rower Leandro ‘The Horse’ Caetano, who posted three tries against Colombia, after also being amongst Brazil’s best in the tense 20-18 win against Chile.

Fullback Araujo collected 20 points from 8 goals and a try to finish the tournament as the leading points-scorer (22 points), just clear of Chilean maestro James Horvat (20 points).

The 56-0 win is Brazil’s biggest against an IRL-affiliated nation, only just short of their 60-0 win against unranked Uruguay.

FINAL STANDINGS
Brazil – 2 wins, 0 losses, 4pts (+58)
Chile – 1 win, 1 loss, 2pts (+18)
Colombia – 0 wins, 2 losses, 0pts (-76)

BRAZIL 56 (Leandro Caetano 3, Caio Ozzioli 3, Ravi Araujo, Marcos Paixao, Zach Grundy, Alyfer Dos Santos tries; Ravi Araujo 8 goals) beat COLOMBIA 0 at Estadio JB Londono, Jericó, Colombia. Referee: Andrew Pilkington. Touch Judges: Hugo Pulido (Colombia), Emiliano Rodriguez (Argentina). Fourth Official: Juan Blumetti (Argentina).

SQUADS (Positional order)
COLOMBIA: Jean Villamil, Carlos Mendoza, Jesus Delgado, Sebastian Rodger, Jessue Guillot, Sebastian Martinez, Hector Linares, Andres Jimenez, Nelson Parada, Leonardo Delgado, John Garcia, Fredy Diaz, Andrew Zuluaga. Interchange: Carlos Mendoza, William Martinez, Daniel Medina, Victor Alegria.

BRAZIL: Ravi Araujo, Marcos Paixao, Douglas Parazi, Donovan Barreira, Felipe Dittz, Victor Domingues, Zach Grundy, Caio Ozzioli, Lucas Domingues, Alyfer Dos Santos, Leandro Cateano, Gabriel Saraiva, Nicholas Sydorowitz. Interchange: Bruno Gil Melo, Vinicius Parazi, Diego Sanches Nogueira, Luis Bussol

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Just over a week since the Australian Kangaroos were crowned World Champions in Manchester, details of IRL regional qualifying tournaments for France 2025 have now been finalised.

Brazil will join Canada, Jamaica and the United States in the 2023 Americas Championship after winning the 2022 South Americas Championship played in Columbia last weekend.

With the World Cup having concluded a week earlier, International Rugby League is able to confirm the number of berths each region will have at France 2025 and the qualifying process for eligible nations.

In the Men’s World Cup, Asia-Pacific will have six berths, Europe will have six berths, the Americas will have two berths and Middle East Africa will have one berth.

The 16th berth will be awarded to the winner of an inter-regional repechage between Cook Islands and the winner of the 2023 MEA Cup contested by Ghana and Nigeria and South Africa.

Australia, England, Fiji, Lebanon, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga automatically qualify after reaching the quarterfinals of RLWC2021 in England.

As the host nation, France also automatically qualifies for the 2025 World Cup.

QUALIFICATION PROCESS:
All eight quarterfinalists at RLWC2021 – Australia, Samoa, New Zealand, England, Lebanon, Tonga, Fiji and Papua New Guinea – automatically qualify for France 2025, along with France, as the host nation.

France automatically qualify as the host nation

The regional berth allocation, confirmed in March, is:

EUROPE (6-8 berths)
ASIA-PACIFIC (5-7 berths)
AMERICAS (2 berths)
MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA (1-2 berths)

EUROPE:
Teams already qualified:

England
France

England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Serbia, Spain and Wales will contest the 2023 European Championship A, to be played in two groups of four.

Qualifying process:
The 2023 European Championship A will act as a route to the 2024 European qualifying tournament for France 2025, which will also include teams from the 2023 European Championship B.

Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway and Ukraine will contest the 2023 European Championship B, to be played in two groups of three, for the right to advance to the 2024 European qualifying tournament.

Netherlands qualified for the 2023 European Championship B as 2021 European Championship D winner, ahead of Malta and Turkey, while Czech Republic, which finished second in Euro D, was invited to replace Russia, which has been suspended indefinitely from all international competition.

ASIA PACIFIC (6-7 BERTHS)
Teams already qualified:

Australia
Fiji
New Zealand
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Tonga

Qualifying process
Cook Islands will enter an inter-regional repechage in 2024 for the final berth at France 2025.

AMERICAS (2 BERTHS)
Teams already qualified: Nil

Qualifying process:
The two highest placed teams from the 2023 Americas Championship will qualify directly for the 2025 World Cup in France.

The 2023 Americas Championship will be contested by Brazil, Canada, Jamaica and USA after Brazil won the 2022 South American Championship in Colombia on 25-27 November, ahead of Chile and Columbia.

MIDDLE EAST AFRICA (1-2 BERTHS)
Teams already qualified:

Lebanon

Qualifying process:
The highest finishing nation at the 2023 MEA Cup, from South Africa and 2022 MEA Championship finalists, Nigeria and Ghana, will enter an inter-regional repechage in 2024 for the final berth at France 2025.

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Courage was the order of the day as Chile and Colombia clashed on the second day of the South American Rugby League Championships, with the Chilenos keeping their title hopes alive in a 34-14 win.

Reduced to 13 players for most of the game, Chile withstood a highly physical and relentless onslaught from rank underdogs Colombia.

After losing 20-18 to Brazil in an upset on Day 1, Chile needed a victory to stand any chance of progressing to the Americas Cup in 2023

And although they led from start to finish in the Colombian town of Jerico, they weren’t given an easy passage by the Condores, who gave 100 per cent before a vocal home crowd.

Centre Zecil Yao opened the scoring two minutes in for Chile, and the visitors built on that to surge ahead comfortably 28-0, but that was only the first chapter of an intriguing afternoon.

Seconds before halftime, the tournament’s leading point-scorer James Horvat gave prop Ignacio Altamirano a high-pressure pass that was fumbled, leading to a try by cult hero Andrew Zuluaga.

The man known as ‘Zulu’ carried the Condores forward from them on, bringing the crowd to their feet repeatedly as he punched holes in Chile’s fatiguing defence in the second stanza.

His teammates began to follow suit and homegrown second-rowers Johnny Garcia (two tries) and Fredy Diaz made impressive inroads on the edges.

A spate of injuries suffered over the course of the tournament left Chile on their bare bones, with significant concern for star fullback Thomas Garrido, knocked cold trying to stop Garcia’s first try.

In a memorable moment of sportsmanship, Colombian captain and physiotherapist Sebastian Martinez cleared the area, cradled Garrido’s head and talked him back to consciousness.

Both teams played with 11 players at one point, as Colombians Zuluaga and Jean Villamil spent time in the sin bin, while Christian Lopez was sent off, and Diego Quintil was hobbled in the shades of fulltime to give Chile an overflowing injury ward.

Diminutive fullback Villamil was amongst everything after being injected into the contest, catching towering high kicks and evading defenders in a Matty Bowen-esque performance.

Indeed, the whole afternoon was a great advertisement for domestic-based South Americans, with Chilean centre Felipe Aedo, lionhearted teammate Jaime Santander, and Colombian hooker Nelson Parada particularly outstanding.

While ex-NRL talent Daniel Vasquez was a strong performer with two tries, his less-experienced teammates and rivals refused to be overawed by the big occasion.

Chile’s win means that Brazil must win or draw against Colombia in the final game of the tournament.

Chile finishes their campaign with one win, one loss and a points differential of +18.

With a game in hand, Brazil sits on one win, zero losses and a points differential of +2.

CHILE 34 (Daniel Vasquez 2, Zecil Yao, James Horvat, Ignacio Altamirano, Taylor Salas tries; James Horvat 5 goals) beat COLOMBIA 14 (Johnny Garcia 2, Andrew Zuluaga tries; Hector Linares goal) at JB Londono Stadium, Jerico, Colombia. Referee: Andrew Pilkington (Spain). Touch Judges: Juan Blumetti (Argentina), Emiliano Rodriguez (Argentina).

TEAM LISTS (positional order)
CHILE: Thomas Garrido, Diego Quintul, Zecil Yao, Felipe Aedo, Juan Ortiz, Christian Lopez, James Horvat, Ignacio Altamirano, Mana Castillo-Sioni, Taylor Salas, Jaime Santander, Nick Doberer (c), Daniel Vasquez. Interchange: Moises Rojas, Ferec Cabezas.

COLOMBIA: Carlos Mendoza, Jessue Guillot, Jesus Delgado, Ruben Zequeda, David Perez, Sebastian Martinez (c), Hector Linares, Andres Jimenez, Nelson Parada, Leonardo Delgado, Johnny Garcia, Fredy Diaz, Andrew Zuluaga. Interchange: Jean Villamil, William Martinez, Daniel Medina, Juan David Espinal

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Rugby league player Alcino Amato has demonstrated Brazil’s new-found passion for the sport, dropping everything to fly 2000km in hope of celebrating a South American title alongside clubmates.

Amato was at home in Sāo Paulo on Friday when he watched his countrymen upset Chile 20-18 in the opening game of the South American Championships. By Saturday afternoon he had flown to Colombia.

Man of the match for Sāo Paulo Raiders in the 2021 Brasil Rugby League grand final, Amato desperately wanted to cheer on his 10 Raiders teammates who play for the national selection.

Given the green light by his girlfriend, he booked a flight at short notice, landed in Medellin, Colombia, then took a five-hour drive through the mountains to get to the tournament venue in Jericó.

His story could be about to become even more spectacular, with injury-hit Brazil considering adding him to their squad for a crucial final match on Sunday.

As Brazil had not travelled with a full 20-man squad, as dictated by tournament rules, Amato would be clear to come into calculations as a domestic-based player.

In order to clinch the South American Rugby League Championships, Brazil needs to either draw or win the ultimate match.

The Brasileiros currently have one win, zero losses and a points differential of +2.

With a game in hand, they need to catch Chile, who have one win, one loss and a points differential of +18.

On Saturday, Chile beat Colombia 34-14 in a tensely-fought battle that saw two sin-binnings, a send-off and two failed head injury assessments.

Colombia could still throw a cat amongst the pigeons by skittling Brazil, having won the second half versus Chile 10-6 on the back of barnstorming forward Andrew ‘Zulu’ Zuluaga.

The winner of the South American Championships moves one step further towards the 2025 Rugby League World Cup in France, but must still overcome North American teams Jamaica, the USA and Canada

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Brasil has overcome the odds to record their first-ever victory against continental rivals Chile, scoring a thrilling 20-18 result in the opening game of the South American Championships.

Chile led 12-10 at one stage in a see-sawing contest and looked to finish full of running, but not even a late barnstorming try to former NRL player Daniel Vasquez through half-a-dozen defenders could bridge the gap.

Brasil entered the match ranked 40th in the world and coming off a 82-0 hammering to South Africa in June. They also used just 3 don-domestic players, while Chile used a maximum of seven Australian-based players.

The result puts Brasil in the driver’s seat to progress to next year’s Americas Cup in Jamaica, where they would compete against the Reggae Warriors, the USA and Canada.

The top two teams from the entire Americas will progress to the 2025 Rugby League World Cup in France.

Fittingly, it was one of the Brazilians’ longest-serving players, Bruno Gil Melo, who starred in Friday’s victory, scoring two beastly tries off the bench to secure the cliffhanger.

High kicks were a nightmare in the high-altitude environment of the Colombian Andes, and the Sāo Paulo spearhead’s game-clincher came from an almighty hoist off the shoe of half Zach Grundy.

Grundy, who moved to South America as a teenager, also threw the final pass for another decisive second-half try to winger Marcos Paixāo that made the score 14-12.

For Chile, half James Horvat was also highly-involved as usual, dictating play and causing nightmares with his own gigantic kicks.

It seemed his years-long partnership with fullback Thomas Garrido would be the key in the last 20minutes as Brasil tired, but Garrido was pulled down numerous times just as he looked set to break through.

A huge positive on a disappointing day for Chile was the performance of domestic prop Ignacio Altamirano, bustling through for two tries when his team most needed them.

Chile must now back-up tomorrow in the tight schedule of the South American Championship and face Colombia, who despite being the lowest-ranked nation at the event, will chance their arm against the wounded Weichafes.

Brasil will play Colombia in the final game of the tournament on Sunday, needing a draw or win by any margin to be crowned continental champions.

BRASIL 20 (Bruno Gil Melo 2, Leandro Caetano, Marcos Paixāo tries; Victor Domingues, Ravi Araujo goals) defeated CHILE 18 (Ignacio Altamirano 2, Daniel Vasquez tries; James Horvat 3 goals) at JB Londono Stadium, Jericó, Colombia. Referee: Andrew Pilkington (Spain). Touch Judges: Juan Blumetti (Argentina), Hugo Pulido (Colombia).

TEAM LISTS (positional order)
Brasil: Ravi Araujo, Marcos Paixāo, Douglas Parazi, Donovan Barreira, Fellipe Dittz, Victor Domingues, Zach Grundy, Caio Ozzioli (c), Lucas Domingues, Alyfer Dos Santos, Leandro Caetano, Nicholas Sydorowitz, Gabriel Saraiva. Interchange: Vinicius Parazi, Diego Sanches Nogueira, Luiz Bussolo, Bruno Gil Melo.

Chile: Thomas Garrido, Zecil Yao, Jaime Santander, Daniel Polanco, Felipe Aedo, Christian Lopez, James Horvat, Ignacio Altamirano, Mana Castillo-Sioni, Austin Olivares Ekes, Taylor Salas, Nick Doberer (c), Daniel Vasquez. Interchange: Juan Ortiz, Diego Quintul, Ferec Cabezas, Moises Rojas.

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