Canada beat Chile 29-11 in Santiago on Saturday to secure their place in next year's Rugby World Cup in Australia.

The Canadians had already qualified for the finals but confirmed their place as the top qualifier from the Americas.

The victory, coming after last weekend's shock defeat by Uruguay, maintained their record of appearing at each of the four previous World Cups.

As winners of the four-team qualifying group, Canada will join New Zealand, Wales and two other qualifiers still to be determined in Pool D of next year's tournament.

But the United States will almost certainly have to rely on the "repechage" section to qualify after slumping to a second unexpected defeat.

Uruguay, who made their World Cup debut in 1999, snatched a historic 10-9 victory over the Eagles on Saturday, their first-ever win over the Americans.

It means that the winner of next Saturday's Uruguay-Chile encounter in Montevideo will claim the second Americas qualifying place.

The United States are currently second in the standings on 10 points, but should be overtaken by either Uruguay or Chile, who both have nine points.

Barring a draw, the US will finish third based on a tie-break formula and go into a special "repechage" play-off series.