Up and Under

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

USA Eagles
The Eagles roster for the Americas Rugby Championship is one to be analyzed in depth. Without question it is a team that can get the better of Argentina in the opening round of the competition this coming Saturday in Houston, Texas. A host of professionals are to be back from Europe for the match including Todd Clever, Cam Dolan, Eric Fry, Takudzwa Ngwenya, Greg Peterson, and Blaine Scully. Argentina’s roster has just three Super Rugby players.

Todd Clever
The name Todd Clever was the notable one as it confirmed that Mike Tolkin had made a cardinal sin dropping the Californian from the Eagles in 2005. In striping him from the captaincy Clevergate unfolded with the former Eagles captain missing when it mattered most. Injury to Scott LaValla only made things worse. The Americas Rugby Championship sees a return of the man to have arguably had the biggest impact in growing the profile of rugby in the USA.

Marcos Ayerza
Veteran Argentine loosehead prop Marcos Ayerza scored for the Leicester Tigers who won away against Gloucester on Saturday. The try was one of three of the afternoon for Ayerza’s club who won the game 19-18. For Ayerza it was his first try for Leicester in four years and three months. His World Cup teammate, Juan Imhoff, also scored his weekend as Racing 92 hammered Oyonnax.

Multiple New Canadian Pros
It’s been a pretty decent year for Canadians joining the professional ranks. Kyle Gilmour and Aaron Flagg signed deals before the World Cup kicked off, and since we’ve seen Ciaran Hearn and Andrew Tiedemann join them overseas. Most recently Doug Wooldridge was hired by Clermont, and the latest is Evan Olmstead, who will play for London Scottish for the rest of the season.

More Home Tests for Brazil
Following the ARC the Tupis are to have two further home internationals. Brazil will host both Chile and Paraguay in this year’s edition of the South American A Championship. It means that the desire of playing more internationals and doing so against a greater array of opposition is being realized.

UNDER

PRO Rugby
Little news in the way of PRO Rugby continues to be coming through. The new U.S. professional rugby competition is expected to begin on April 17 yet two of the five inaugural teams remain unconfirmed. Denver, Colorado has been widely tipped to join the confirmed Californian cities of Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco. Also speculated is that Salt Lake City, Utah will be getting a team. Last week Kansas City came through as an additional possibility.

Gordon McRorie
Visa complications for one of Canada’s three Rugby World Cup scrumhalves means first choice Gordon McRorie will miss a big chunk of the ARC. McRorie urgently requires changes to his visa if he is to travel with the team outside of the country.  As such opportunities have come about for Andrew Ferguson and Jake Robinson for the matches against the USA, Argentina, and Chile. McRorie is ok for the home opener against Uruguay.

Pumas Missing in action
Star prop Juan Figallo became the latest European based Argentine player to commit to his club. With it the 27 year old is out of consideration for international duty. That is, if the new criteria on player selection is indeed carried out, the stated policy that those in Europe are ineligible to represent Argentina. Marcos Ayerza, Marcelo Bosch, Mariano Galarza, and Juan Imhoff are other big names impacted by the ruling.

Wellington Sevens
What a diabolical showing that was for Rugby Sevens. In the year of the sport entering the Olympic Games the capital city of the sport’s leading country failed to deliver a memorable tournament for the fans. The Cake Tin was a shadow of its former self as the venue was close to empty for the two-day event. Perhaps it is time to move the event to the southern city of Dunedin and to let the public have fun. Indeed critics have lashed out at organizers and local authorities for being strict on alcohol consumption before and during the event. Fans responded by not going. The next hosts, Sydney, have sold out in advance.