Up and Under

The Up and Under is a weekly feature on Americas Rugby News which reviews the best and worst from games involving the Americas teams over the previous week.

 

UP

Argentina

History was made in Durban on Saturday as Los Pumas defeated South Africa for the first time, and did so in South Africa. The impressive 37-25 victory featured four tries and demonstrated a team knowing what they were doing. Argentina had a game plan that worked against the Springboks who were well and truly unprepared. The result sees Argentina moving bery close to France in the World Rankings and sees South Africa dropping from second with Ireland the benefactor. Of much greater importance is the World Cup, and now many are trembling about Argentina who certainly have the goods to go very far indeed.

Juan Imhoff

A hat-trick at international level is usually reserved for All Blacks wingers facing lower tiered opposition in Rugby World Cup pool fixtures. On Saturday, Juan Imhoff made global headlines by crossing for three tries against the 1995 and 2007 World Champions South Africa. The hat-trick was the first ever against the Springboks on South African soil. Big names of the past had crossed for two tries in a test against South Africa in the country. Such names include Christian Cullen, Joe Rokocoko, Jeff Wilson, JJ Williams, and Shane Williams, but Imhoff is alone in scoring three in a test.

Tomás Cubelli

Argentina’s difficulties in finding a player for Agustín Pichot’s scrumhalf position have been ongoing since he earned his last cap in 2007. Tomás Cubelli, though, has sent a strong message to the coaching staff that he is the player to organize play from the base of ruck, scrums and lineouts. His impressive performance saw him involved in two of Juan Imhoff’s tries and being singled out on numerous rugby media for his performance. In the post-Pichot days it certainly rates as being as good as any.

AJ MacGinty

The new sensation in the USA Eagles was instrumental in his team completing a last-gasp win over Canada last Monday. A late drop goal gave the visiting USA Eagles a rare away victory over Canada and made it back-to-back wins. The USA can now look to defeat Canada three times in-a-row for the first time in history when they meet again in a Rugby World Cup warm-up fixture in Ottawa on August 22. MacGinty’s form has him established ahead of Toby L’Estrange, also allowing Shalom Suniula to concentrate on his challenge to Mike Petri at scrumhalf.

Chile and Uruguay Under 19s

Both Chile and Uruguay completed opening round victories in the 2015 South American A Championship this past weekend. Played at the home of Paraguayan rugby in Asunción Chile were far too strong in winning 32-3 while Uruguay did even better, winning 44-0 against the hosts. Of the four Chile, Uruguay and Brazil are to feature in the proposed Americas Six Nations competition.

 

UNDER

Canada

Winless in the 2014 and 2015 Pacific Nations Cups, Canada’s record under Kieran Crowley since Rugby World Cup 2011 has been underwhelming. The Canadians have fallen off the wagon in losing matches that they would have won previously and lacking the same threat on attack to produce results. As remarkable as it sounds Canada finished second in the 2013 Pacific Nations Cup, behind Fiji. That year it was a Five Nations event with Samoa not involved and the Canadians defeated all of the USA, Fiji and Tonga. A 16-13 away loss against Japan was what stopped the North Americans from winning. Since then performances have dropped away considerably.

James Pritchard

The name James Pritchard is in the history books as the highest scoring Canadian international of all time. He overtook World Rugby Hall of Famer Gareth Rees to achieve the record and very recently appeared certain to play in a fourth Rugby World Cup, like Rees. Crowley, though, cut him from the squad this past week, with Matt Evans and Harry Jones appearing to be the fullback options and Jeff Hassler, Taylor Paris, DTH van der Merwe and Phil Mackenzie covering wing.

British Media

With England and Wales hosting the World Cup and South African being a two-time champion it is only natural to assume that there would be special attention placed on such a team being badly beaten at home some 40 days before the World Cup. The Guardian, though, made no mention of the match at all and the Telegraph’s coverage was limited to reporting on Jean de Villiers’ jaw injury. Both, nonetheless, ran multiple stories on the match between the Welsh and Irish reserves as well as the Bledisloe Cup upset result in Sydney. The French media did not follow the example of the British and covered the match in detail with emphasis on Juan Imhoff who plays in the country. Also scoring points was Marcelo Bosch who plays in England.

PNC Commentary

Dan Power and Dallen Stanford were a breath of fresh air, true color commentators and, as former USA internationals, both know their rugby very well. The Power-Stanford combination was like a good red from the Napa Valley, something you can’t wait to have again. Matches which they covered were a treat to all, while the same cannot be said of the games without them – drab, dusty, and forgettable.

Mike Petri

The shock non-selection of James Pritchard by the Canadians may be welcomed in a comparative manner by a large segment of the USA rugby public. That being the performances of Mike Petri for the USA Eagles. His box-kicking and slow delivery have caught the attention of many an Eagles supporter. Americas Rugby News’ own Ted Hardy is a big Petri fan but, like he said on Talking Rugby this past Wednesday ”he needs to stop kicking. For every box kick that Blaine Scully recovers, there are 2-3 (or more) stinkers. I can forgive a bad game here and there, but this is a multi-year pattern of poor kicking.”