1997 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby

Main article: Campeonato Argentino

The 1997 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby was the 51st annual rugby competition held in Argentina in 1997. Cordoba defeated Rosario in the final game to win the tournament.

53º Campeonato Argentino
Number of teams	19
Champions	Cordoba (3rd title)
Runners-up	Buenos Aires

The Campeonato Argentino consisted of 21 teams, divided into three divisions, "Campeonato", "Ascenso" and "Promocional". 

Rugby Union in Argentina in 1997

National

• The "Campeonato Argentino Menores de 21" (Under 21 championship) was won by Buenos Aires
• The "Campeonato Argentino Menores de 19" (Under 19 championship) was won by Buenos Aires
• The "National Championship for clubs" was won by Jockey Club de Rosario
• The "Torneo de la URBA" (Buenos Aires) was won by San Isidro Club
• The "Cordoba Province Championship" was won by La Tablada
• The North-East Championship was won by Universitario de Tucumán

International

• May–June: The England National Rugby Union team visited Argentina. They played six matches, with two tests. The first test was won by England, the second by the Pumas.

Further information: 1997 England rugby union tour of Argentina and Australia

• The Pumas went on a tour of New Zealand in June. They lost five out of six matches, with two heavy losses against the All Blacks by the scores of 8-93, and 10-62.

Further information: 1997 Argentina rugby union tour of New Zealand

• October–November: The Australian National Rugby Union Team played five matches in Argentina before their tournament in Great Britain. One test match was won by the Wallabies by the score of (23-15), and one by the Pumas (18-16).

Further information: 1997 Australia rugby union tour

• Argentina won the South American Championship.

Further information: 1997 South American Rugby Championship

"Campeonato"

The title was decided by a round robin tournament, with the last place finisher relegated to the second division.

1ª round 5 April Cordoba - Buenos Aires 33-29 Cordoba 5 April Tucumàn - Rosario 21-56 S.Miguel de T. 5 April Mar del Plata - Cuyo 14-16 Mar del Plata

2ª round 12 April Cuyo - Cordoba 26-26 Mendoza 12 April Mar del Plata - Tucumàn 17-35 Mar del Plata 12 April Rosario - Buenos Aires 21-29 Rosario

3ª round 19 April Rosario - Mar del Plata 45-13 Rosario 19 April Buenos Aires - Cuyo 80-18 Buenos Aires 19 April Tucumàn - Cordoba 29-30 S.Miguel de T.

4ª round 26 April Cuyo - Rosario 15-22 Mendoza 26 April Buenos Aires - Tucumàn 42-13 Buenos Aires 26 April Cordoba - Mar del Plata 68-20 Cordoba

5ª round 3 May Rosario - Cordoba 20-25 Rosario 3 May Cuyo - Tucumàn 37-40 Mendoza 3 May Mar del Plata - Buenos Aires 0-100 Mar del Plata

Champions

Relegated to "Ascenso"

Place	Team	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.
1	Cordoba	5	4	1	0	182	124	58	9
2	Buenos Aires	5	4	0	1	280	115	165	8
3	Rosario	5	3	0	2	164	103	61	6
4	Tucumàn	5	2	0	3	156	182	-26	4
5	Cuyo	5	1	1	3	112	182	-70	3
6	Mar del Plata	5	0	0	5	76	264	-188	0

"Ascenso"

	NOE	SAL	SFE	S-J	E-R	STG
Noroeste	––––	36-26	47-5	25-25	72-5	22-13
Salta	26-36	––––	31-31	26-23	38-32	79-17
Santa Fè	5-47	31-31	––––	24-14	47-10	25-13
San Juan	25-25	23-26	14-24	––––	38-8	53-13
Entre Rios	5-72	32-38	10-47	8-38	––––	30-13
Santiago	13-22	17-79	13-25	13-53	13-30	––––

Promoted to "Campeonato"

Relegated to "Promocional"

Place	Team	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.
1	Noroeste	5	4	1	0	202	74	128	9
2	Salta	5	3	1	1	200	139	61	7
3	Santa Fè	5	3	1	1	132	115	17	7
4	San Juan	5	2	1	2	153	96	57	5
5	Entre Rios	5	1	0	4	85	208	-123	2
6	Santiago	5	0	0	5	69	209	-140	0

"Promocional"

Pool A

The Centro team forfeited and did not participate in the tournament.

	A-V	CHU	SUR	AUS
Alta Valle	––––	29-20	22-21	24-18
Chubut	20-29	––––	15-14	30-17
Sur	21-22	14-15	––––	52-15
Austral	18-24	17-30	15-52	––––

Qualified for final

Place	Team	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.
1	Alta Valle	3	3	0	0	75	59	16	6
2	Chubut	3	2	0	1	65	60	5	4
3	Sur	3	1	0	2	87	52	35	2
4	Austral	3	0	0	3	50	106	-56	0

Pool B

The Cuenca del Salado and Oeste teams forfeited and did not participate in the tournament.

	MIS	FOR	JUJ
Misiones	––––	40-29	69-14
Formosa	29-40	––––	25-6
Jujuy	14-69	6-25	––––

Qualified for Semifinals

Relegated

Place	Team	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.
1	Misiones	2	2	0	0	109	43	66	4
2	Formosa	2	1	0	1	54	46	8	2
3	Jujuy	2	0	0	2	20	94	-74	0

Final

17 May 1997

Misiones	15-66	Alta Valle

• Alta Valle was promoted to "ascenso"

External links

• (in Spanish)Memorias de la UAR 1997
• (in Italian) Francesco Volpe, Paolo Pacitti (Author), Rugby 2000, GTE Gruppo Editorale (1999)