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

Mexico
Mexico is now two wins from two appearances in the Rugby Americas North section of Rugby World Cup 2015 qualifying. Las Serpientes were far too powerful for Bermuda, downing the island nation 75-10 in Mexico City on Saturday.  Mexico leads the North Pool of qualification with the Cayman Islands in second spot. Mexico’s remaining match will be at home to the Cayman Islands on July 02.

Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Cayman Islands
Wins also came for the Caribbean nations of Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and the Cayman Islands. Their respective victories should mean the end to the Rugby World Cup 2019 dream for Barbados, the Bahamas and Jamaica. The three winners, meanwhile, march on. The next qualifier will be Bermuda and home to the Bahamas on June 04. Both teams were no match for Mexico. Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago are tied for top spot in the South Pool. Early indications are the winner will face Mexico in the repechage final.

Ohio, Denver in PRO Rugby Wins
A thunderous 50-17 win by Ohio over Sacramento on Sunday and a tight 41-37 win by Denver over San Francisco see the teams placed first and second in PRO Rugby. San Diego had the weekend off and will now have an opportunity to overtake Ohio when they play host to Sacramento next Saturday. Not so fortunate are the two northern Californian sides with Sacramento’s 37-25 win over the Bay Area side being the only win for either side after five rounds.

Chris Wyles, AJ MacGinty
Both USA veterans and rookies celebrated success for European clubs on Saturday. Wyles was in tremendous form in Englnd, scoring two first-half tries for Saracens who dominated the Leicester Tigers to book their place in the Aviva Premiership Final. Over in Ireland MacGinty contributed heavily to Connacht securing a maiden appearance in the Guinness Pro 12 Final. MacGinty scored 11 of the western Irish province’s points in their 16-11 win over the Glasgow Warriors.

Carizza, Fernández Lobbe, and Urdapilleta
Saturday was a highly productive day for Argentine players in France. Manuel Carizza, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe and Benjamin Urdapilleta were all point scorers in their clubs respective Top 14 victories. Carizza and Fernández Lobbe each crossed for a try while Urdapilleta scored a try and kicked seventeen points for Castres who continue rising the standings and now appear destined to play in the post season. Carizza and Fernández Lobbe’s clubs will also be playing for the title.

Hanco Germishuys
A player of immense potential for the USA is South African born Jacobus ‘Hanco’ Germishuys. The Junior All-American back-rower and captain was named Player of the Tournament for the World Rugby u20 Trophy. Aged 19, Germishuys has been living in the USA for five years and is destined to be called up to the USA Eagles before too long. In the plans are for Germishuys to convert to hooker.

Matt Tierney
One of the bright lights of Canadian rugby at the moment made his Top 14 debut for Pau at the tender age of 19 on Saturday. Tierney has also been called into the national senior men’s training group for the June international series. The tighthead prop from Mississauga, Ontario, looks to have great potential to match his massive frame.

UNDER

Uruguay
Los Teros played their hearts out against the Fiji Warriors but came short, losing the two match non-capped series 2-0 in Montevideo. The South Americans played some positive rugby and did so by using the with of the field far more so than what is customary. They, nonetheless, remain behind the level required to improve their World Rankings. Their test matches against Spain and Romania in the upcoming World Rugby Nations Cup are of interest in this regard.

Javier Ortega Desio
If there were Oscars for the worst performance of a rugby player for a professional team then Javier Ortega Desio’s performance against the Lions on Saturday would certainly be a finalist. The Argentine back-rower was a late call-up to replace Pablo Matera who pulled out injured. His showing was simply shocking, with no offensive production whatsoever and an incredible eight missed tackles. Of these tackles the Lions scored as a result on multiple occasions. Matías Alemanno, Emiliano Boffelli, and Matías Orlando also all had extremely poor performances but Ortega Desio stands out on his own.

Leonardo Senatore
South African public enemy number one may well be Senatore. The Rosario back-rower was handed the second ban of his career for biting. Having previously been found guilty of biting Eben Etzebeth in a Rugby Championship home international, Senatore repeated the foul play in similar circumstances as he played for Los Jaguares vs the Sharks in Super Rugby. The incident was caught on camera and Senatore received a lengthily ban. He will miss the remainder of the Super Rugby season and will also not be able to play for Los Pumas against Italy or France in June.

JP Eloff
Ohio and the USA were dealt a blow this past week with the longterm loss of the highly promising Eloff to a broken leg. The loss complicates the plans for both club and country. Added responsibility will now fall on the shoulders of AJ MacGinty who is to be central to the Eagles chances of further boosting rugby in the country by toppling Russia and Italy in home internationals in June.

Canada to host Injury Ravaged Japan
Japan’s hopes of marching forward after the success at Rugby World Cup 2015 were significantly dented this past weekend. Star full back and captain, Ayumu Goromaru and Michael Leitch, were both ruled out of Japan’s away test against Canada in Vancouver next month. Their loses are huge gains for the Canadians who are set to gain significant World Rankings points if they can defeat the Asian giants.