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
The USA’s thumping 64-0 win over Chile places the Eagles in pole position to win the inaugural Americas Rugby Championship. The 10-tries-to-zero triumph was the USA’s biggest win in a test match in a decade, and third biggest in history. The remaining matches against Brazil and Uruguay represent a feasible path to being Americas Champions.

Canada
In passing the 50 point mark for the first time in the ARC, Canada now travel to South America in third position. The 52-25 rout saw the bonus point secured in the opening half and gave them a second win from three matches. Canada can finish higher if they win their remaining matches, a realistic objective.

Canada Women’s Sevens
The Canadian women also had a memorable weekend, defeating New Zealand for the first time ever in São Paulo to reach the Cup final. Australia got the better of them in the wet but Canada have now jumped to third in the series rankings and look in good shape to challenge for a medal in Rio. Inspirational captain Jen Kish was in top form, scoring one of the best tries in the tournament.

Peru Women’s Sevens
In Costa Rica this weekend Peru’s women’s team won the 2016 Rainforest Sevens tournament. The Peruvians were one of four competing countries and the only from South America. Joining Peru and the host nation were Panama and Trinidad & Tobago.

Los Jaguares
This week is to be historic for professional rugby as it will be the first time in which Argentina has a team competing in a fully professional competition. Los Jaguares’ away match against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein is going to be a serious challenge regardless of the make-up of the two sides. The Argentine team is coming off a good win over the Lions but cannot be complacent.

UNDER

Chile
Over 115 points conceded by Chile in rounds 2 and 3 of the ARC is not pretty. Los Cóndores are not bottom of the standings but have a vastly inferior points differential to that of Brazil. The Tupis showed a lot more fight against Uruguay and Canada over the past two weekends than Chile did against the Argentina XV and USA. Time is precious and Chile must rebound.

ARC Round 3 Schedule
Organizers of the ARC deserve special praise. The tournament has been a delight to watch and players have clearly jumped at the opportunity to play regular fixtures. That said, whoever drew up the round 3 schedule made a horrible mistake. All of the matches were played simultaneously, with each kicking off a half-hour following the match before, starting in Fort Lauderdale. In the future a priority must be given to allowing fans to watch the entirety of all matches live by ensuring co-operative kickoff times and universal broadcast access.

Segundo Tuculet
Trying to be creative is one thing but being an international fullback requires a balance of skill set and thought. The player at the back must make decisions about what to do and when or he may cause his own side great harm. Against Uruguay, Tuculet was erratic with suicide passes to keep the ball in play and misjudging an opposition kick to gift Uruguay points. His replacement Pedro Mercerat fared much better, winning the game for Argentina with a long range penalty.

Benjamín Urdapilleta
A missed touch finder from Benjamín Urdapilleta cost Castres a probable home victory against Clermont on Saturday. The former Puma kicked from within his in-goal but failed to find touch and Clermont were able to counter and score in the corner. Remarkably it was Clermont’s first win in Castres in 40 years.