La Plata to host a leg of IRB World Sevens Series

The Estádio Ciudad de La Plata, located in the capital of Buenos Aires province, La Plata is proving to be the unofficial new home of Argentine rugby. The stadium will host Argentina´s home international vs the All Blacks this year and according to key sources the venue will host a leg of the IRB World Sevens Series starting in 2013. With a capacity of 53,000 and state of the art facilities the venue is fast becoming Argentina´s premier stadium and doing so while Buenos Aires is going without matches. Thir is true in soccer as much as rugby as it hosted the final of the 2011 Copa America. 

At a conference in Buenos Aires yesterday organized by Agustín Pichot it became clear that the IRB has confirmed and will soon make it official that La Plata will host a leg of the IRB World Sevens Series in 2013.  It is a part of the extension which is underway that will see Tokyo host a leg this coming weekend. The inclusion of La Plata means that now every continent will now host at least one leg. The IRB´s region of the Americas will have two with Las Vegas, Nevada hosting the other. The new stadium in La Plata has, therefore, been favored over the option of Mar del Plata which has made an official bid for the event.

Amongst other details to emerge from the conference was the UAR´s push for an Argentine team to enter Super Rugby. The idea being for Los Pampas XV, reinforced with star players based in Europe, to play Super Rugby. The IRB has been wanting Argentina to creaet a domestic professional competition, somehting that Pichot says Argentina is not suited to. For the time being, at least, it would not be likely to be the best path to take.