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

Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana
Impressive results for both Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana on Saturday see the two Caribbean countries strongly positioned in the Rugby Americas North Championship. Trinidad & Tobago were too strong for Jamaica, winning 34-14 while Guyana overpowered Barbados with a comprehensive 48-17 victory.

Chile, Uruguay
Chile and Uruguay were both dominant in their respective test match victories on Saturday in the South American A Championship. Chile’s . Los Cóndores gave Paraguay a lesson in knocking over Los Yakarés 68-7. With their sevens players back Chile was a vastly improved side than that from the Americas Rugby Championship. Uruguay, meanwhile, humbled Brazil with a 36-14 win. The comprehensive victory in São Paulo saw Uruguay being too sharp around the park and able to dictate the bulk of play. Los Teros loom as a side well placed to push for qualification in consecutive Rugby World Cups.

Wyles, Lamositele, Bosch, Carizza, and Imhoff
Players from the USA and Argentina were involved in winning Semi Finals efforts this weekend in the European Champions Cup. Chris Wyles, Titi Lamositele, and Marcelo Bosch were a part of Saracens win in Reading over the Wasps on Saturday and will meet Racing 92 in the European Champions Cup Final. Racing 92 earned the right to face Saracens by defeating the Leicester Tigers in Nottingham. Pumas Juan Imhoff and Manuel Carizza played for the French side while Marcos Ayerza featured for the Tigers. Imhoff scored a legitimate try which was not given by referee Nigel Owens who admitted his mistake. He is a finalist for European player of the year.

Los Teritos, All-Americans
Saturday will take some beating for Uruguayan rugby supporters. Not only did Los Teros overwhelm Brazil  but Los Teritos came out as handsome winners over Zimbabwe in the World Rugby Junior World Trophy, wining 50-22. The All-Americans made it a double for the Americas by defeating Hong Kong by twenty points in a 32-12 effort. Both are to play again on Wednesday with Uruguay facing Samoa and the USA taking-on Spain.

San Diego
Having had a bye in the opening weekend of PRO Rugby San Diego’s match against Sacramento on Saturday was the first match in the history of the team. The Southern Californian’s truly came to play, overwhelming 37-24. A crowd of 2,500+ were treated to a great game of rugby and many more will now be encouraged to attend future San Diego matches.

Ramón Ayarza
Coming off a strong ARC, Ayarza’s big year continued this past week with him signing to play for Bayonne for the remainder of the season. The 22-year-old made the move to the Basque Country to join fellow Los Cóndores forward Pablo Huete. Bayonne sit second in the Pro D2 standings and are well positioned to compete in the semi-finals.

UNDER

Paraguay
Paraguay is not at the same level as Chile but the extent of Paraguay’s loss on Saturday was alarming. Paraguay was thoroughly outplayed, lacking the level in which the team had shown in recent years. With Los Yakarés not playing in the ARC this was the team’s first test match of the year while Chile was playing for the sixth time.

Brazil
For a team that recently defeated the USA, Saturday’s loss against Uruguay was concerning. Brazil was blown away by the physicality of Los Teros who were controlled the match until well into the second half. Brazil, though, did not give up and fought to gain some respectability. The 10,000 supporters on hand erupted when Mark Jackson and Felipe Sancery scored. Another strong attendance is expected across town vs Chile this coming Saturday.

Los Jaguares
Winless since round one the rotation policy of Los Jaguares is proving to be utterly disastrous. Rather than building a competitive team the policy has been to use Super Rugby to expose players to a near-test match level of play. This has seen below-strength sides play throughout the competition. Saturday’s loss against the Sunwolves is the lowest point thus far and will take some beating. Notwithstanding, surely Los Jaguares will not lose to the Kings this coming Saturday.

San Francisco
Not off to a good start in PRO Rugby are San Francisco. Following up from an opening round defeat against Sacramento, San Francisco are now 0-2 having gone down against Denver on Sunday. Their big worry must be in the forwards, where despite having big bodies they are coming out second best in the scrum. Watching star flanker Alec Gletzer hobble off in the 45th minute just adds to their woes.

Cipriano Martínez
A lengthy ban was also certain for Pucurá prop Cipriano Martínez. His vicious kick to the face in a recent Buenos Aires club match was shared around the world via social media with most calling for him to never play again. URBA heard the cries for action to be taken and responded accordingly, banning Martínez from playing rugby for 29 years.

Nick Grass
The San Francisco lock forward is another who may have to wait to play rugby again. Grass was suspended by PRO Rugby for punching an opponent on the ground and then appearing to go for his face. Accusations of eye gouging appear to be supported by television images. If proven guilty Grass will be suspended for at least 8 weeks. In 2009 David Attoub was suspended for 70 weeks for gouging Stephen Ferris in a European Champions Cup (formerly Heineken Cup) match.