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

Canada Women’s 7s
A 29-19 win by Canada over Australia on Sunday saw the North Americans crowned champions of the French leg of the HSBC Women’s Sevens Series. Played at the Stade Gabriel Montpied in Clermont-Ferrand, Canada won their first Cup title in this year’s circuit and only their second ever, following up on last year’s Series finale victory in Amsterdam. The Canadian women look in great shape to challenge for a medal – and even the gold – at the Rio Olympics in August.

Honduras, Nicaragua
The groundwork is now complete, with the path of Honduras and Nicaragua to become fully fledged Sudamérica Rugby members a certainty. Sudamérica Rugby’s Regional North Development Manager Alberto Ruiz Luca’s fact-finding mission in both countries was a success. The Federación Nicaragüense de Rugby (FENIRUGBY) and the Federación Hondureña de Rugby (FHR) may even become affiliated members in 2016.

Argentina want to Host Rugby World Cup 2027
The dream of Americas Rugby News’ own Paul Tait took a huge leap forward this past week. Argentine President Mauricio Macri gave his blessing for Argentina to bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2027. With government backing Argentina is surely the ideal country to stage rugby’s global showpiece tournament in eleven years time.

Wyles, Bosch, Figallo
History was made on Saturday with three players from the Americas making it a Champions Cup and Aviva Premiership double. Having all been involved in Saracens’ Champions Cup win over Racing 92 the players from Connecticut, Buenos Aires, and Salta won the English national title on Saturday, defeating the Exeter Chiefs in London. Wyles scored a first half try in the victory.

AJ MacGinty
Up against the most successful team in Guinness Pro 12 history, MacGinty directed Connacht to a Cinderella-story championship title. The Eagles flyhalf put on a fine performance, setting up a try and scoring five points from his boot. His next match will be for the USA who face Italy and Russia at home in the June Internationals. MacGinty will play next season for the Sale Sharks in the Aviva Premiership.

Martín Bustos Moyano
Córdoba fullback Martín Bustos Moyano was the star performer for Bayonne who defeated Colomiers 28-16 in the second of two Pro D2 semi-finals this past weekend. Bustos Moyano kicked 23 of his team’s points to see them now on there verge of returning directly to the Top 14. Chileans Pablo Huete and Ramón Ayarza were replacements for Bayonne. They will meet Aurillac in the final with the winner joining Lyon in trading places with Agen and Oyonnax.

Juan Imhoff
The Pumas winger scored two of Racing 92’s three tries in the team’s away Top 14 win on Friday evening over La Rochelle. The 30-14 result sees Racing tied with Toulon in third spot on 77 points. A home win over the 2nd placed Montpellier next weekend may see Racing skip the barrage and qualify directly for the semi-finals. Imhoff will not feature for Argentina in June and will be greatly missed following the six month loss of Emiliano Boffelli.

San Francisco
Boosted by the presence of 100-cap All Black Mils Muliaina, San Francisco finally got one in the win column with a much-improved performance over Ohio on Sunday. After a pretty shabby start to the season, a few reinforcements and a little extra fitness work looks to have them heading in the right direction. All of a sudden the second half of the season looks a lot more promising.

UNDER

Jaguares Foul Play
Two Jaguares forwards were sent off in the opening half on Friday, all but ending the hopes of the Agustín Creevy led side. The bad boys were Tomás Lavanini and Ramiro Herrera who were both red carded for charging with their shoulders and not using their arms to clear out Kings players in two separate rucks. Herrera was suspended for two weeks and Lavanini is awaiting the decision. Worth remembering is similar incidents have been overlooked by officials throughout the season.

John Quill
Also red-carded this weekend was Sacramento PRO Rugby captain John Quill. The Eagles flanker was sent off late in the first half in a confusing sequence that looked at worst yellow-card worthy on the replay. Reports from the field now suggest that there were some extras off-camera that may well have merited the send-off. Either way, the referee’s signals to indicate what the sanction was for were found wanting, as was the temperament of Quill who had been warned earlier for an off-the-ball scuffle.

Hayden Smith Gone to Retirement
Veteran Eagles second row Hayden Smith has played for the final time. An international since 2008, the 31-year-old went on to appear in the 2011 and 2015 World Cups and win 29 caps. He has also been with Aviva Premiership club Saracens for the same length of time.  The Eagles must now find a player to fill the void. Samu Manoa, who returned to the field on Sunday, will miss out on the June tests to instead play in the Top 14 playoffs.

Denver and Infinity Park
PRO Rugby pulled out of playing games Infinity Park in Glendale this past week. Denver will now play at the University of Denver’s CIBER Field for their four remaining home games. The change will enable all games to now be streamed live. It remains to be seen where the team will play in 2017.

Three Prior Hosts Bidding for Rugby World Cup 2023
Argentina had been interested in bidding to host Rugby World Cup 2023 but instead opted to back South Africa, the country’s strong ally. Having hosting in 1995 South Africa was unsuccessful in bidding to host in 2011, 2015 and 2019. France hosted in 2007 and, like South Africa, will be bidding for 2023 hosting rights. 1991 and 1999 sub-host Ireland is also bidding leaving Italy as the only debutant in the race.

Pro D2
What on earth is going on in France? Tarbes have already been dumped for an administrative forgery earlier this season, and now it seems esteemed clubs Biarritz, Bourgoin, and Narbonne are set to join them in Fédérale 1 next season. It’s a sorry state of affairs and there will be several Americas players affected by it, not least Canadian prop Andrew Tiedemann and a quartet of Argentines at Tarbes.