Uruguay wants to play year-round

The 'Pan American Six Nations' would feature Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Uruguay and USA in an annual regional tournament - an official name for which has yet to be decided.

No season has been specified either, but the most likely months would be between February and March, summer for South America and winter in North America, with the participating countries taking turns to host the cup.

"It would be huge tournament because it's going to give us the chance to keep growing. It is a big way to start the year. Uruguay captain Santiago Vilaseca said at Stadium MK, where his team lost to Fiji in Pool A on Tuesday.

"It would allow us to remain competitive, as it's difficult to prepare a team if you are not playing competitively," Uruguay coach Pablo Lemoine said.

Plans for the tournament made a significant advance in April with a meeting in Miami between the Panamerican Rugby Association (PARA) and the sport's governing body in all the nations who would play.

"This is a historic moment for rugby in the Americas," PARA president and former Argentina scrumhalf Agustín Pichot said at the time.

"We believe, together with all the rugby unions participating, that the championship would be a total success for the development of rugby in the region."

During the meeting in April, the six nations' rugby unions agreed the tournament would be managed by PARA, and all teams would play each other (five games each).

"The fact that the main rugby-playing countries are discussing the future of international competition is great news. Any additional tournament for other-tier countries would in theory include a mechanism of promotion and demotion to the upper and lower tiers," World Rugby representative Tom Jones said.

@WolrdRugby