Rugby Americas North


Rugby Americas North is the governing body for rugby union in the North American continental region. Rugby Americas North operates under the authority of World Rugby, and is one of six regional unions represented within it.
Prior to 2016, the organisation was known as NACRA – the North America Caribbean Rugby Association. The preceding body before 2010 was NAWIRA – the North America and West Indies Rugby Association.
The main objective of RAN is the promotion and development of rugby in North America and the Caribbean. The association unveiled a four-year plan during the 2011 Annual General Meeting to grow rugby within its membership unions through promotion, media output and competition.
World Rugby's 40-member executive council includes two seats for RAN representatives, two seats for Canada, and one for the United States. By contrast to RAN's five votes on the World Rugby executive council, European countries have 16 votes.
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Competitions

RAN oversees regional competitions, such as regional qualifiers for Pan Am Games and Rugby World Cups including:
Senior
Youth
  • RAN Under-19 Championship

Governance

RAN is governed by a board of five executives. The United States, Canada and Mexico are fixed representatives, while the Caribbean countries elect two nations for delegation. In November 2021 RAN announced changes to its executive committee following its 2021 Annual General Meeting in Miami. George Nicholson was appointed as the new president and Dr. Araba Chintoh and Miguel Carner as vice presidents. Nicholson died in April 2024.

Player registration

As of 2010, there were 128,828 rugby players within North America: with the largest number of players from:
  1. United States
  2. Canada
  3. Trinidad and Tobago
  4. Mexico
As of 2016, RAN reported 160,769 total registered players and 1,595,565 non-registered players.
  1. USA – 119,682
  2. Canada – 27,512
  3. Mexico – 6,168
  4. Martinique – 3,500
  5. St. Vincent & The Grenadines – 1,806
  6. Jamaica – 1,518
  7. Trinidad & Tobago – 1,403
  8. Bermuda – 794
  9. Dominican Republic – 600
  10. Bahamas – 529
  11. Guyana – 522
  12. Barbados – 425
  13. Cayman – 410
  14. St. Lucia – 292
  15. Turks and Caicos – 200
  16. British Virgin Islands – 117
  17. Curacao – 104
As of the 2019 Rugby Americas North Review there were 134,300 participants reported, 69,500 males and 65,000 females.

Member unions

Rugby Americas North has 13 full members and 4 associate members and 2 recognized regional development unions:
Regional unions without current RAN recognition:
Notes:

Denotes associate member of RAN not affiliated with World Rugby.
The governing body is the French Rugby Federation which has territorial committees for overseas departments and territories.

World Cup qualifying

Rugby Americas North nations participate in qualifying tournaments for the Rugby World Cup every four years. Two Rugby Americas North nations –Canada and United States – have qualified to play in Rugby World Cups.
EditionAutomatically qualifiedQualified via competitionQualified via repechageEliminated in repechageEliminated at final stageEliminated at second stageEliminated at first stage
1987
1991
1995
1999

2003
2007

2011

2015

2019

2023