Brazil and Argentina share honours as rugby rocks Ipanema beach
South American rivals helping grow the sport as excitement builds towards Olympic debut of rugby sevens at Rio 2016 Games
Brazil’s women score a try against Colombia with the Two Brothers mountain in the background
Words: Denise Mirás
Photos: Alexandre Loureiro/Inovafoto
Everybody knows about the sporting rivalry between Brazil and Argentina, which manifests itself most viscerally in football. But when it comes to rugby, arguably the most gentlemanly sport of all, relations between the two neighbours are much more cordial.
So it was at the second edition of the Beach Rugby Super Challenge, an international invitational event on Rio’s famous Ipanema beach. For the second year running, South America’s biggest countries shared the honours, Argentina winning the men’s title while Brazil’s women ensured the hosts took at least one of the trophies.
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Argentina's men initially struggled with the heat, but battled on to take gold
The two nations are working together to help promote rugby in South America, ahead of the sport’s return to the Olympic Games in Rio next year after a 92-year absence (it previously appeared in the traditional 15-player format). There is in fact an ‘Argentine Armada’ that is helping to develop the sport in Brazil, including Agustín Danza, CEO of the Brazilian Rugby Confederation (CBRu), Andrés Romagnoli, coach of the Brazilian men’s team, and Santiago Ramallo, the Rio 2016 rugby manager and World Rugby’s South American development manager.
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It makes sense: Argentina is already an established nation among the world’s rugby elite, at least in the men’s game, where it’s rugby union team is among the most feared opponents. In sevens, Argentina’s men have already qualified for Rio 2016, although it’s women’s team must negotiate a 16-team global repechage tournament in Dublin next June, from which only one side will qualify for the Olympic Games.
Brazil's women celebrate winning the Rio beach rugby event for the second year running
Danza said it was also in Argentina’s interest to help develop stronger rivals on the same continent, while Gabriel Cenamo, assistant coach to the Brazilian women’s team (to New Zelander Chris Neill), said: “We admire the Argentines very much, we are learning with them. The rivalry between us is much less so in rugby.”
One of Brazil’s Olympic hopefuls, 20-year-old Mateus Estrela, moved over to rugby from football, and is enjoying his new sport. “Although it is a sport with a lot of physical contact, there is a lot of respect. Everybody does what the referee says, only the captain speaks to him.”
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While Saturday’s (19 December) event, run by the CBRu and supported by World Rugby, was more about having fun and promoting the sport in the Olympic host city, the intense southern hemisphere summer heat meant the players had their work cut out. With a temporary seating for 1,000 people and Brazilian TV broadcasting the action live, the players put on a high-octane show despite a ‘thermal sensation’ of nearly 40 degrees.
The summer sun beat down on Ipanema beach
Jéssica of the Brazilian women’s team, who beat Argentina 8-5 in the final, said the conditions reminded her of playing in Dubai. Beach rugby is played over two halves of five minutes and with kicking not allowed, the action is fast and furious. Under the blazing Rio sun, Argentina’s Rodrigo said he almost feinted while Estrela joked that they were the “longest five minutes” of his life.
Fortunately, the Olympic rugby sevens tournament will be played in August – summer in Brazil – so conditions at the Deodoro Stadium should be much more agreeable for a sport known for its fast-running excitement. And with Brazil entering teams in both the men’s and women’s tournaments, passionate home support is sure to be an element of the tournament.
Italy and Portugal joined Argentina and Brazil in the men’s tournament, with the Portuguese inflicting a 5-4 round-robin defeat on the Argentines, who said they had difficulty breathing in the early rounds. However, they recovered and had their revenge in the final, triumphing 9-5 over Portugal, with Italy beating Brazil 6-1 for the bronze medal.
Brazil's women will hope to compete for a medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Brazil went through the women’s tournament unbeaten, beating Argentina in the final, with fellow Olympic qualifiers Colombia triumphing 4-3 over Uruguay for bronze.
The day had opened with a World Rugby ‘Get Into Rugby’ activity with about 450 children being introduced to the game. Baby Futuro, the captain the Brazilian women’s sevens team who has been playing the sport for 11 years, said: “The Olympic Games are going to be huge and it is great to have these kind of events as they help to promote the game to the people. The more we promote, the better it will be.”
