the Brics are a strong force that will rival the u.s and it's allies
I like to think of BRICS the way I think of Bitcoin. Just as Bitcoin is not "rival" of anything and is just an alternative to existing payment systems, BRICS is also not exactly a rival. It is an alternative alliance of countries to solve various problems including economical because the existing system (eg. UN, IMF, etc.) wasn't working as it should have been working.