order to raise the standards of rugby and make their clubs more competitive. An example of this is the Torneo del Litoral, which is organised by the unions of Rosario, Santa Fe and Entre Ríos. Historically, club rugby in Argentina has been dominated by clubs from the powerful Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires (URBA) and the URBA championship was seen as the strongest club competition in the country. In recent years however, clubs from outside Buenos Aires have closed the gap with URBA clubs. To reflect this the Nacional de Clubes was created in 1993. Originally the competition involved 16 clubs from all over the country but the formula was modified in 2009. That year a new competition was created, the Torneo del Interior. This competition involves the best ranked clubs from all regional tournaments outside of Buenos Aires. With the creation of this tournament, the Nacional de Clubes was overhauled. From 2009 on, only 4 clubs qualify for the Nacional - instead of 16 - and the competitions starts directly at the semi-finals stage. The 4 clubs qualifying for the Nacional's semi-finals are the two finalists of both the Interior and URBA tournaments, with the URBA winner meeting the Interior runner-up and vice versa. The first winner of the new and improved Nacional de Clubes was Rosario's Duendes Rugby Club, who beat Buenos Aires' Hindú Club in the final. Representative rugby The Campeonato Argentino is contested by representative teams of the 24 unions that exist within the UAR. It is divided into two competitions, the 8-team Zona Campeonato and the 16-team Zona Ascenso. The winner of the Zona Ascenso earns a place in the following years' Zona Campeonato, replacing the last-placed team of the latter competition. International rugby Argentina had often been linked with joining Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in the Super Rugby Union, possibly as two provinces. Following the hosting of the 2011 Rugby World Cup to New Zealand, who Argentina voted for, rugby figures within Argentina claimed that New Zealand could be helping out the country more, rather than just giving them an All Blacks test (which was actually arranged prior to the 2011 result). Some Argentines were under the impression that New Zealand should be helping them gain entry into Southern Hemisphere competitions, ala Super 14 and the Tri Nations Series. Allegedly, the New Zealand Rugby Union pointed to them not having "box