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 Sevens
Spirit and utter determination from captain Jen Kish and her team saw Canada winning Bronze at the Olympics Games last Monday. A dominant 33-10 performance from the North Americans secured a medal finish. It was a remarkable result after the British had defeated Canada 22-0 in the pool phase. Kish’s individual performances saw her named in the Dream Team. An honorable mention must also go to the USA Eagles women who finished fifth.

Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic women’s Rugby Sevens team defeated Cuba to secure the Copa Máximo Gómez.  They team did so in Cuba’s Granma province. It represented the first time that the Dominican Republic’s women had played on foreign soil.The Dominican Republic’s men’s side also competed but did not play against a senior Cuba side. Instead they participated in the Cuban National Tournament, winning four and drawing one match.

Carlin Isles
American fans might not have got the medal they wanted, but they did get some excellent individual performances. Leading the way in the try-scoring department is Isles, who finished the tournament with six tries, one more than Kenya’s Billy Odhiambo and Fijian ace Josua Tuisova. USA teammate Danny Barrett also made the leaders list with four tries, as did Pumas centre Matías Moroni. Isles, Barrett, and Odhiambo all accomplished their totals in only five games as opposed to six, as both USA and Kenya failed to make the medal rounds.

Felipe Arregui, Marcos Kremer
Argentina will open their Rugby Championship campaign away to South Africa this coming Saturday. Head Coach Daniel Hourcade took with him a 26-man roster which features two uncapped players. Neither Arregui nor Kremer have played at international level before. A but against the Springboks is about as tough an ask as it can get in international sport. Both players came through the PladAR system and are former Pumitas. Kremer is still young enough to play again at the 2017 Under 20 World Championship.

Jake Ilnicki, Chris Baumann, Josh Larsen
Canadian Ilnicki and USA Eagle Baumann have been unveiled as new players in New Zealand’s professional domestic championship. Both will play in the Mitre 10 Cup. Ilnicki will do so for the Manawatu Turbos, continuing his excellent year which saw him performing strongly for the San Diego Breakers in PRO Rugby. He replaces fellow Canadian Hubert Buydens who is out injured. Baumann will play for the Wellington Lions. He is also joining after a strong season of PRO Rugby. He won the USA title with the Denver Stampede. Former Canada u20s player Josh Larsen has joined Northland.

Juan Pablo Estellés
From Rio de Janeiro to Northampton is Juan Pablo Estellés. The Pumas 7s star has landed his first professional contract and will play the 2016-2017 season in the Aviva Premiership. Despite having been involved in representative teams for a number of years Estellés has been unable to make the jump to test level. His one and only cap came against Chile in 2008. The same match featured the debut of Martín Landajo. He has, nonetheless, been a regular for Argentina in non-capped rugby.

UNDER

Javier Rojas, Rodrigo Etchart
Argentina’s opening match at Rio did not follow the script. While Los Pumas 7s got the job done, defeating the USA 17-14 it came at a huge cost. Both Rojas and Etchart were injured and unable to play any further part in the Olympics Games, with both expected to be sidelined for several months. Veteran Nicolás Bruzzone entered the roster as a replacement.

Pumas 13 Shirt
Argentina’s top try scorer at Rio was CUBA centre Matías Moroni. Yet despite now being the likely long-term replacement for Marcelo Bosch as the Pumas no13, Moroni’s name was missing from the 26-man roster which departed for South Africa on Thursday. Also missing was Jerónimo de la Fuente who was declared unfit. This leaves Daniel Hourcade with no World Cup options for outside centre. Matías Orlando is the only fit tourist. Should he not start then third choice flyhalf Santiago González Iglesias will likely do so. The alternative is to play a winger out of position.

USA Eagles Men’s Sevens
There were no medals for the Americas in the men’s competition in Rio de Janeiro. Argentina came extremely close only to lose in overtime to Great Britain in the Quarter Finals. A missed kick would have seen them in the final four, a match they would have been expected to win given the opposition. Also missing out were Brazil and the USA. The home side finished 12th (bottom) and the USA finished 9th. The Eagles had the firepower to do notably better.

Colombia Women’s Sevens
Nobody likes finishing last but Las Tucanes did so in the women’s sevens. Colombia was outplayed at Rio. Losing 53-0 against Australia, 48-0 to the USA, 36-0 against Fiji, and 24-0 against Brazil underlined the current gap that needs to be closed. In their final match Las Tucanes played their best rugby, losing 22-10 against Kenya. The scores went to Khaterinne Medina and Sharon Acevedo.

Not Enough Teams at Olympics 7s
So competitive was the men’s sevens in Rio that it was a travesty that there were only 12 places. Canada and Samoa were notable absentees and identifying two others to make it a sixteen team side is a simple exercise. The problem facing World Rugby and the Olympic Committee is the women’s game. While the men’s sevens proved to be extremely competitive the women’s game clearly needs greater investment.