Pan-Am Games Rugby Starts Friday

The Pan-Am Games rugby competition kicks off Friday in Lima, Peru with both the women's and men's events logging one pool game on the first day.

The schedule is as follows:

Game times are local time (same as Central Time)

9:50AM: Colombia vs Argentina Women

10:15AM: USA vs Trinidad & Tobago Women

10:40AM: Brazil vs Peru Women

11:05AM: Canada vs Mexico Women

11:30AM: Brazil vs Chile Men

11:55AM: USA vs Guyana Men

12:20PM: Canada vs Uruguay Men

12:45PM: Argentina vs Jamaica Men

Saturday sees a full slate of games with everyone playing twice to finish out pool play.

On Sunday, the top two teams from each pool face off in the semis and then the medal matches. The bottom two teams from each pool play a semi and final for placement.

Men's Pools:

Pool A: USA, Chile, Brazil, Guyana
Pool B: Argentina, Canada, Uruguay, Jamaica

Women's Pools:

Pool A: USA, Trinidad & Tobago, Argentina, Colombia
Pool B: Brazil, Peru, Canada, Mexico

“We have one clear goal and that is to win the Pan American Gold,” said Argentina men's head coach Santiago Gomez Cora. His squad spent a week training in Brazil. “It was really helpful as it allowed us to focus on the task ahead in good weather.”

Uruguay includes two players with Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 experience in Eugenio Plottier and Diego Ardao.

The USA men field a fairly young team. Cal standout Christian Dyer, who was named to the squad eallier, has had to pull out due to injury.

“Our Pan Am squad is excited to continue on the overwhelming success of the sevens program as a whole,” said JD Stephenson, who will coach the team this weekend in place of Mike Friday. “Automatic qualification for both our men’s and women’s programs is a tough act to follow, but the group selected is hungry for an opportunity to impress against some of the world’s best. The selection committee has picked a squad that represents our Tokyo 2020 hopefuls, but also those who could be pivotal in our success working towards 2024.”

Canada won the inaugural women's event in 2015, and the Maple Leafs return with a repeat on their minds.

“We’ve got a great mix of talent on this Pan American Games team,” said head coach and former Canadian captain Morgan Williams. “We have some exciting up-and-coming talent as well as some experienced world series veterans. This will be a great opportunity for exposure and experience on a big stage, especially as we look to build to Tokyo 2020.”

Meanwhile Peru will be up against it but get a chance to play some high-level rugby.

“We fully understand that this tournament is the most important in our sporting career and for this, we’ve been preparing very hard for quite some time,” says captain Rosemary Quesada Guzmán. “As amateurs, we trained twice a day, three times a week in able to be at our best for the Games.”

Previous Pan-Am Games Results:

2011 (Guadalajara, Mexico) Men: Gold Canada, Silver Argentina, Bronze USA

2015 (Toronto, Canada) Men: Gold Canada, Silver Argentina, Bronze USA

Women: Gold Canada, Silver USA, Bronze Brazil

This year's even will likely have to same top three for men and women. However, Uruguay is a strong men's team and Pool B promises to be a tough one for both Argentina and Canada. Watch out also for Chile.

Canada's squads are both very experienced, and the USA women also will take what is almost a front-line squad.