AROUND THE WORLD IN TEN STORIES 1 Brazil 2 New Zealand 3 Nigeria

A r ound- up of news f r om all point s of t he globe

Brazil head into next month’s Americas Rugby Championship in high spirits. They lost 35-3 to the Maori All Blacks in November but the buzz the fixture created in the country bodes well.

A crowd of 34,450 saw the match in São Paulo and another 180,000 people watched it unfold online via Twitter.

They start their ARC campaign away to the Argentina XV on 2 February and will hope to draw a big crowd for their home match a week later against Canada. The Black Ferns Sevens made history by becoming the first rugby team to win the Lonsdale Cup. The award, given by the NZ Olympic Committee, honours the most outstanding contribution to an Olympic or Commonwealth Games sport in a calendar year.

New Zealand’s women’s sevens team dominated their sport in 2018, winning the Commonwealth Games, Sevens World Cup and five World Series titles, as well as going on a 39-match winning run.

“They are ground-breakers for women’s sport,” said the nation’s sports minster Grant Robertson. Eco 11 (below) lifted the club trophy at the Sandie Beach Rugby event in Tarkwa Bay. Their final versus Racing went into extra-time, with tries by Prince Amgbare and Kareem Quadri decisive.

The tournament is designed to raise rugby’s profile in Lagos and Mike Archer, the general manager of the Nigeria Rugby Federation, said: “Beach rugby is a celebration of the joy of rugby.

“I hope the federation will be working very hard to raise the game’s awareness level. It is a game for boys and girls.”