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
World Rugby’s off-the-record desire for heavily populated countries to emerge had a box ticked this weekend. The largest Caribbean country in both geographical and population terms came out 34-24 winners over the Cayman Islands. The win sees Las Serpientes undefeated in the North Zone of Caribbean World Cup qualification. Mexico will not face Guyana on July 23 in the regional final.

Canada Women
Canada’s national senior women’s team have their eyes on World Cup glory in 2017, and they have thrown down the gauntlet early with a stunning 52-17 victory over defending champions England in Super Series action on Friday. The result will put all major contenders on high alert, if they weren’t already. Head coach François Ratier had to depart the team on the eve of the competition for personal reasons but will be glowing with delight at the performance of his charges.

El Salvador, Nicaragua
Further south of Mexico, the Central American Republics both had eventful Saturdays, albeit not on the field. El Salvador was granted Sudamérica Rugby membership status while Nicaragua acquired associate member status. In the case of El Salvador this means that World Rugby will now be consulted with the union recommended to obtain World Rugby membership.

Ohio Aviators
What was already strong is now stronger. Ohio stamped their status as the top dogs in PRO Rugby by thrashing the San Diego Breakers 44-21 on Sunday. The Breakers had no answer for the home side whose high velocity attack saw them winning comfortably. Chile had better act swiftly to cap loose forward Sebastián Kalm. A failure to do so may well see him playing for the USA.

Ontario Blues, Prairie Wolf Pack
This weekend saw wins for the Ontario Blues and the Prairie Wolf Pack in the Canadian Rugby Championship. The Wolf Pack did well to fight back from an 11-3 halftime deficit to come out on top on Saturday, while the Blues redeemed themselves for their earlier loss to the Rock with a big win in St. John’s. The competitiveness of the 2016 season means it is far too early to make any predictions.

Los Jaguares
The rocky road that has been the debut season for Los Jaguares may have taken a turn for the better on Saturday. The Buenos Aires franchise controlled the match against the Bulls, winning convincingly. Three tries to one was what ultimately won the points but the performance as a whole was far more settled than many matches have been. Captain Agustín Creevy led from the front, scoring two tries.

Tomás Cubelli
Also doing well for himself this weekend was Tomás Cubelli. Coming off the bench for the Brumbies the Buenos Aires scrum half scored one try and set up another. The Brumbies were too strong for the Reds this weekend and appear bound to feature in the playoffs. This being the case then Cubelli will be the lone Puma involved.

UNDER

Olympic 7s Draw and the Americas
The historic draw for Rugby Sevens’ debut in the Olympic Games did not go to plan. Teams from the Americas will be in direct competition with one another during the pool stages. In the men’s division Argentina, Brazil, and the USA are all in the same pool along with Fiji. On the women’s side, Brazil and Canada are both in Pool A while Colombia and the USA are to meet in Pool B.

Matías Alemanno
Having missed out on two of Los Pumas’ three June Internationals, Matías Alemanno’s concerns are not yet over. The second row from Córdoba was unfit to face the Bulls this past Saturday. For this reason a Super Rugby debut was handed to the uncapped 20-year-old Ignacio Larrague. Alemanno is yet to be deemed fully fit to place the Highlanders this coming weekend in Buenos Aires.

Missing Pumas
Alemanno is one of four specialist lock forwards contracted to Los Jaguares. Another of them, Juan Cruz Guillemaín, is out for the season making Tomás Lavanini and Guido Petti the only two certainties for the Rugby Championship. The UAR will enable some European based players to be selected under certain circumstances which raises the question of how many will in fact play. At the same time many continue to sign new deals in Europe or depart Argentina for the old continent. Promising 20-year-old Manuel Plaza is the most recent to do so, leaving Salta for Perpignan.

Super Sport South Africa
During live commentary the Super Sport commentary team responded to questions as to why they were mispronouncing the Jaguares. The response given was that ‘because we are told to’. Super Sport has commentators intentionally saying Jaguares with an English ‘J’ sound unlike the commentary teams from Australia and New Zealand. If others were to pronounce many Afrikaner players names as they read in English then it would not be pretty. The point being commentators have a job to do and that is to not take sides. Super Sport’s commentators and management have egg on their face.