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

Turks & Caicos
This weekend’s one and only test match in the Americas was won by the Turks & Caicos Islands. Played at Meridian Field in Grace Bay Village, the Turks & Caicos Islands completed a 24-15 win. It was the opening match of the year for the home side and ensured points a rise in the Americas Rankings for Turks & Caicos. On May 20 Turks & Caicos will have the opportunity to gain additional rankings points when they play away to the Bahamas.

Panama
Panama has been elected a member of Sudamérica Rugby. The Central American Republic becomes the 13th country to have Full Membership. In doing so it joins Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Panama previously had associate member status. In obtaining full status Sudamérica Rugby is recognizing the hard work and progress made by the Unión Panameña de Rugby.

Major League Rugby
Nine cities have been confirmed for the inaugural Major League Rugby season. MLR will launch with members in: Glendale, CO; Kansas City, MO; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Austin, TX; New Orleans, LA; Seattle, WA; Minneapolis, MN; and Salt Lake City, UT. It marks a broad spread of teams with seven states involved and teams based north, south, and west. Unlike PRO Rugby its members will act both as individual entities and also as partners in the league itself. With several other cities interested – including at least two based north of the border – fans can get excited again after spending a year in professional purgatory.

Jaguares Replacements
Los Jaguares well and truly cashed in a get out of jail free card on Saturday. The Argentine Super Rugby franchise defended poorly against the Sunwolves and for extended periods looked unlikely to win. This changed with the injection of replacements. The likes of Matías Alemanno, Martín Landajo, Juan Manuel Leguizamón, Matías Moroni and Joaquín Díaz Bonilla were critical to sealing the 46-39 win. Without them on the result would likely have been a Japanese win. Landajo and Díaz Bonilla were particularly important, the former improving the distribution and decision making with immediate effect.

Americas Representations in European League Playoffs
The Aviva Premiership, Guinness Pro 12 and Top 14 are the elite competitions in Europe. All have players from the world over, including from the Americas. The playoffs in all three competitions are to involve players from the Americas. In England’s premiership Marcelo Bosch, Juan Figallo, Titi Lamositele, and Chris Wyles are all likely to play. In the Celtic-Italian League Tyler Ardron and DTH van der Merwe loom as likely to be involved. In France the clubs of Horacio Agulla, Rodrigo Capó Ortega, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, Axel Müller, and Benjamín Urdapilleta are to be involved. In other words it is probable that Argentina, Canada, Uruguay, and the USA will all be represented.

UBC Thunderbirds
The UBC Thunderbirds have achieved the mythical ‘three-peat’, defeating Burnaby Lake in the CDI Premier League final by a score of 29-17 to lift the Rounsefell Cup for a third consecutive year on Saturday. Three tries from fullback Andrew Coe led the way with the speed of the UBC attack simply too much to handle for Burnaby. After building up a 26-0 lead things got a bit interesting with a few substitutes firing up the Burnaby side, but UBC held out to take the spoils. With Canada senior men’s head coach Mark Anscombe in attendance there might well be a couple Thunderbirds invited for trials in the coming weeks.

 

UNDER

Jamaica
May means test match rugby in the Caribbean. The evolving Rugby Americas North Championship has divisions to better represent the needs of the different competitors. With this in mind the Dominican Republic faced the Turks & Caicos Islands on Saturday. Neither side will play against stronger opposition such as Mexico or the Cayman Islands. The Dominican Republic and Turks & Caicos join the Bahamas and Jamaica was reportedly set to be the fourth side. Instead Jamaica is missing. In 2016 Jamaica pulled out of Rugby World Cup qualifiers.

Californian Professional Rugby
From three teams in PRO Rugby in 2016 to none in Major League Rugby in 2018. The San Diego Breakers, San Francisco Rush, and Sacramento Express accounted for three of the five teams and saw California as the prime market but this will not be replicated in MLR. All is not lost for the west coast, however, as Seattle is involved, but the seeming lack of interest from California is disappointing. The Bay Area and San Diego are ideal locations for teams. If 2018 doesn’t happen hopefully there will be new teams there in 2019.

PRO Rugby
Despite any wild claims to the contrary, MLR’s announcement is the final nail in the coffin of PRO. With kickoff targeted for the spring, presumably after the April cutoff for PRO’s exclusivity deal, there is no contractual impediment to a new professional league starting and it’s now full speed ahead for the next great hope for American rugby. While the writing has been on the wall for some time, it’s still a shame that PRO did not work out in the end with so much promise shown on the field in 2016.

Cubelli, Lavanini, Montero, Ortega Desio, Tetaz Chaparro
The June Internationals are just around the corner. This time next month teams will be training for their opening matches. In the case of Argentina there is cause for concern based on the number of players yet to play regularly. Martín Landajo, Juan Manuel Leguizamón, and Matías Moroni all returned this past weekend though Tomás Cubelli, Tomás Lavanini, Manuel Montero, Javier Ortega Desio, and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro are yet to play at all. With these players being Pumas regulars preparation for facing England and Georgia is far from ideal.

Nicolás Freitas
The signature of Nicolás Freitas for Los Jaguares was big news. An Uruguayan player contracted to Super Rugby was truly groundbreaking. Yet having this translate into game time is proving to be an altogether different story. He is yet to play in Super Rugby and looks unlikely to do so in May or June. Not that this is a bad thing. Indeed he will play for Uruguay against Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay this month in Rugby World Cup qualifiers.

Santiago Fernández
Any player who lasts seven years in the Top 14 is doing very well. This is the story of Santiago Fernández. The 32-times capped Puma though is now on his way home to Buenos Aires. He played his final match on Saturday, playing as a replacement for Pau against Toulon. Still aged 31 he is by no means at the end of the road. A slot in the Jaguars midfield would not be altogether out of the question. Fernández going home is tremendous for Hindú and potentially higher up too.