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

Colombia
Colombia is now ranked just below Paraguay in the Americas Rankings. Saturday’s win over Mexico saw Colombia close the gap to just 0.11 points. The rankings, though, are elementary compared to the big picture. What Colombia achieved was a Rugby World Cup qualifying win over Mexico. It saw Mexico eliminated while Colombia set up a repechage play-off against Paraguay in November. The winner of that will play in the final round of South American qualification against Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. For Los Tucanes the dream remains alive.

Eagles in Chicago
The USA’s final home match of 2016 is heading towards a sell-out. The Eagles play host to the Maori All Blacks in Chicago on Friday. It is to be a non-capped match which will deprive the home side of many a European-based player. Notwithstanding, the news is not all negative as Titi Lamositele and Nick Civetta have both been freed from their English clubs for the fixture. A strong crowd at Toyota Park underlines the progress in expanding the market within the USA in recent years.

Brantford Harlequins
The Brantford Harlequins are the McCormick Cup champions for 2016. A 37-17 victory over Toronto Scottish at Fletcher’s Fields in Markham on Saturday saw the Marshall Premiership table-toppers make it a double, winning both the league and the playoffs to claim Ontario’s biggest prize. It was their fourth provincial title since 1950 and first in 13 years. Harlequins are captained by Canada ‘A’ fullback Rory McDonell and also the home of current international hooker Eric Howard. It is also the home club of long-time Canada no8 Aaron Carpenter, currently a professional with London Welsh in the Greene King IPA Championship. Harlequins are worthy champions, finishing with an impressive run of 16 consecutive wins after opening the season with two losses.

Juan Imhoff
The outstanding season continued for Imhoff on Saturday. True to form he kept up his impressive streak with eight tries in seven Top 14 matches this season. The left winger also scored against Leicester Tigers in Racing’s only Champions Cup match so far this season. Unfortunately those in Europe are off-limits for Pumas duty. He will not play in November. Nor will Axel Müller who also scored. The winger, signed on an academy deal, is fitting in well with the senior side at Toulon.

Patricio Fernández
A 30-point haul from Pato Fernández saw Clermont win away against Brive on Sunday. The Puma put in a world class performance which included two tries and eight goals. For now one can only dream of seeing him playing for Los Pumas. An interesting fact: 26 of the 30 Pumas from Rugby World Cup 2007 were from Buenos Aires. Yet Imhoff and Fernández are from Rosario while Müller is from Mendoza.

Cam Dolan
The Naples Bears alumni got his first start of the Guinness Pro 12 season on Friday. He did so for Cardiff Blues who played at home against the Scarlets in a Welsh derby. The match was Dolan’s first ever Pro 12 run-out at his preferred no8 position. Also playing for the Welsh region was Blaine Scully. The Californian had a strong performance, scoring a try. His try in the right corner featured a neat Superman dive to just touch the ball down.

Two More Eagles Sign to Play in France
This past week saw David Tameilau and Eric Fry sign to play in France. Both Eagles players agreed to terms to play in the second division, the Pro D2. Tameilau has joined Narbonne, doing so shortly after having been released from the Newcastle Falcons. Fry makes the move up from the Fédérale 1. The Californian left Saint-Nazaire to join Vannes, a club to have made a strong start in their debut season in the Pro D2. Both players have joined as medical jokers.

UNDER

Canadian Injuries
Tyler Ardron, Jamie Cudmore, Jeff Hassler, and Jebb Sinclair are arguably Canada’s most famous players today. All have been playing in Europe for a lengthy period of time. None of them, though, will play for Canada in November. Also sidelined are a number of experienced players such as Hubert Buydens, Kyle Gilmour, and Nanyak Dala. No help fill the void James Bay halfback duo Phil Mack and Connor Braid have been recalled. Neither have played test rugby since the World Cup. Canada have a tough road ahead with a difficult set of matches against Ireland, Romania, and Samoa and will have to hope that their younger players make the step up.

Static Rugby Championship Draw
The Rugby Championship’s schedule has seen the same order of matches every year. Since it began in 2012 the identical order of fixtures have been played. The only exception was 2015 when, due to the World Cup, fewer fixtures were played. It turns out the reason for this is a deal struck between Australia and New Zealand before Argentina joined the competition. Their decision, or stupidity, now has Sydney opening the competition until at least 2022. With that fixture locked in other teams and supporters simply have to accept it.

Langi Haupeakui Pro 12 debut
USA no8 Langi Haupeakui was on the wrong side of referee David Wilkinson on Friday. Making his debut for the Glasgow Warriors the Californian received two yellow cards, the second earning him a red card. Haupeakui had not been on the pitch for 10 minutes when he was binned for what was deemed a shoulder charge, and was called out for the same offence only minutes after returning to the field. Fans and Glasgow’s coaches alike defended the Eagle claiming the decisions had been unfair. The Eagles staff now face a nervous wait to see if their wrecking ball will be available for their upcoming test matches with a suspension possible.

Edinburgh Hit Rock Bottom
Edinburgh had home advantage against Zebre on Friday and yet lost. The result marked just the second time that an Italian side had won in Scotland. The prior occasion was back in 2011 with Treviso defeating Glasgow. Edinburgh’s loss was thus the first in the team’s history at home against an Italian side. Felipe Arregui played his second match since arriving from Argentina, earning his first start.

Diego Domínguez
Just hours after it was reported in last week’s Up and Under that Domínguez was set to face the axe, he was indeed fired by Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal. The former Argentine and Italian international flyhalf was unable to deliver for the highly demanding Mediterranean club. This saw him replaced by former Bath coach Mike Ford. It was a disappointing end for the man who had been groomed for months to take over from Bernard Laporte. Americas stars Samu Manoa, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe and Axel Müller all remain at the club.

Three Year Player Eligibility
The case to change player eligibility laws for international duty was again raised this past week. This time around it was not from a country with no foreigners in the test team nor was it from a forum. Rather the criticism came from an Irish player who slammed his own country’s policies of recruiting uncapped foreign players and nationalizing them. Luke Fitzgerald argued that “it really dilutes it for me – I mean what’s the point? It’s like a Barbarians side against Barbarians, why do that? I don’t understand that. It diminishes it for me, now I’m a supporter / spectator, I can say that. I much rather see the Irish team against the New Zealand team, or whoever it may be.”