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

Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires are once again Argentine Provincial champions. Former international flanker Tomás de la Vega led Buenos Aires to a 9-5 victory over Córdoba on Saturday to secure the title. The competition continues to be an important part of Argentine rugby and its identity is sure to remain at the forefront of the domestic rugby scene into the future.

Rodrigo Capó Ortega
Uruguayan great Rodrigo Capó Ortega defeated Australia. Playing second row for the French Barbarians, the veteran of Rugby World Cup 2003 won 19-11 on Thursday. The result is another notable achievement to add to his resume. Others include winning the Top 14 with Castres and helping Uruguay qualify for Rugby World Cup 2015 after a 12 year absence.

Taylor Paris, Connor Braid
Capó Ortega’s beloved Castres have confirmed the signing of Taylor Paris. The Canadian flier will move from Agen to the Top 14 club next season. Castres has negotiated an early release from Agen to complete the move. He is to replace Rémy Grosso who will depart for Clermont. Meanwhile Connor Braid has joined the Worcester Warriors. The Canadian flyhalf is expected to get plenty of opportunities in the Aviva Premiership with Worcester struggling with injuries at the pivot position.

European Eagles
The Eagles might not have enjoyed a successful November as a team, but USA fans had a few other reasons to smile this past weekend. Promising second row Christian Ostberg was awarded his first Pro D2 start for Aurillac, David Tameilau achieved the same feat for Narbonne running out at no8, and Nick Civetta made his Aviva Premiership debut for Newcastle Falcons as a replacement against Northampton Saints. The trio look unlikely to see much time – if any – in the Americas Rugby Championship with European players generally not considered, but more game time will put them in with a shot at further international honors in June.

Facundo Panceyra Garrido, Sebastián Poet
The Argentine duo played starring roles in Charente’s convincing 35-6 home win over Aurillac this weekend. Winger Panceyra Garrido scored one of Charente’s four tries. Flyhalf Poet was on target with the boot, kicking six goals. The wins sees the club rising to 7th.

 

UNDER

Argentina
For the third straight match Argentina lost. It sees Los Pumas ending their international obligations for the year ranked 9th in the world. This is a staggering contrast to the top four, a position in which Argentina held in 2015 en route to the World Cup Semi Finals. What exactly went wrong in 2016 will be made official in the coming weeks from the UAR. Certainly the decision to ignore experienced European-based players contributed significantly. Additional factors include an injury-depleted roster, too much travel, but also too many basic errors. Argentina now faces a Pool of Death situation in RWC 2019. The only way to avoid it is for France, Ireland, Scotland ,or Wales to have a poor Six Nations campaign.

Canada Men
On another day Canada might well have come away with the win, and one could certainly argue that the rub of the whistle – absent a TMO – did not go their way. That said there can be no excuses for their poor play for the first hour of the match. Like it or not losing tight games has become a habit for this team and the mental toughness of some players might well be questioned by coach Mark Anscombe. His reluctance to use replacements against Samoa – he used only one – heavily suggests he did not have confidence in his bench. Look for some new players to be blooded during the upcoming Americas Rugby Championship.

Canada Women
It’s a bit harsh given their exceedingly difficult tour schedule that had them playing three tests in eight days, but by the same token it’s not as if the grueling aspect of the tour was a surprise. What’s for certain is that they are a much better team than the 39-6 result at Twickenham. A new approach to the breakdown is needed after their opponents hit double-digits in turnovers in each of the last two games. Hopefully the experience will be a valuable one with the 2017 World Cup just around the corner. For now the players must focus their frustration on physical preparation for what promises to be a very challenging few months ahead.

Brazil
A 10-point defeat last week saw Brazil fall into the Under category. This week they are back again after losing by a notably bigger margin. The 36-14 defeat means Germany the series 2-0. It also extends Germany’s record to 4-0 against Os Tupis. For the Portuguese-speaking country the tour will continue. They are now in Coimbra preparing to face Portugal on Thursday.

Uruguay
The dream come true of a three-match November tour did not go to plan for Uruguay. Los Teros return home winless and ranked lower than when they started. Uruguay were well beaten by Romania on Saturday. The management will have plenty to think about ahead of 2017 opening with the Americas Rugby Championship. The opening rounds will be in February. Planning accordingly is important as Uruguay now need wins over the higher ranked Canada and the USA to get back into the world’s top 20.

USA Women’s Eagles
The USA Women’s Eagles suffered back-to-back losses o France this past week. The tour has been an important part of building for what is to be a huge 2017. They must now regroup ahead of August’s Women’s World Cup in Ireland. Decision making and accuracy were problems but with a total of zero points scored in the second of both games, surely fitness falls under the imperative category. Their new residential program should be a big help in that regard.

Enrique Pieretto
Pieretto emerged in 2016 as a strong prospect for Argentina. The tighthead prop proved to be a quality backup option for Ramiro Herrera. With Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro moving to loosehead it was extremely valuable for Daniel Hourcade to have a look at one of his top prospects. Pieretto’s involvement in 2017 may now take some time to begin after he was shown a red card for stomping on the face of England’s Joe Marler near the end of Saturday’s match. He now faces the prospect of a lengthy ban for his senseless act which has sullied an otherwise positive campaign.