Sport Rugby union Number of teams 16 (Zona Campeonato) Holders Cardenales RC (2015) | Instituted 1998 Country Argentina | |
Most titles La Tablada, Duendes (3 titles each) | ||
The Torneo del Interior is an annual rugby union competition in Argentina. The competition involves clubs from all provincial unions outside of Buenos Aires. Teams qualify from the Litoral, Noroeste, Centro, Noreste, Pampeana, Oeste and Patagónico tournaments.
Contents
The tournament took place from 1998–2004, then was re-launched in 2009, in an effort to bring provincial clubs to the same level as the teams from Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires clubs take part in the Torneo de la URBA, a parallel competition organised by the Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires. From 2013 on, the top nine teams from the Torneo del Interior qualify for the Nacional de Clubes, where they compete with the top seven teams from the Torneo de la URBA.
Formula
The 32 teams are split into two divisions, the Zona Campeonato and Zona Ascenso, both made up of 16 teams. In the second half of the season, both zones start again with the 8 best ranked teams, concluding with semi-finals and a final.
Zona Campeonato
Qualification to this division: 6 clubs from Noroeste, 4 from Litoral, 3 from Centro, 2 from Oeste and 1 from Pampeana.
Zona Ascenso
Qualification to this division: 3 from Litoral, 3 from Pampeana, 2 clubs from Centro, 2 from Noroeste, 2 from Noreste, 2 from Oeste and 2 from Patagónico.
Championships
Below is the list of finals contested from 1998 to date: