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

Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands defeated Mexico on Saturday, winning 39-17 at the ruman Bodden Complex in Georgetown. Despite the historical results being dead even between the sides, the outcome was a significant upset. This is also the case despite the Cayman Islands having had home advantage. Mexico won the 2016 fixture 34-24. Moreover, in this year’s competition Mexico entered with wins over both the USA South Panthers and Bermuda. The Caymans, by way of comparison, defeated Bermuda but fell in their match against the Panthers. Compared to the Caymans, Mexico has a far larger list of players to select from for international duty.

Uruguay
Los Teros are Nations Cup Champions. Uruguay’s 24-14 win over Spain on Sunday came with two well-taken tries. Scoring were Santiago Arata and Leandro Leivas. Both backs had impressive campaigns as did the roster as a whole. Uruguay’s unbeaten campaign also means that the South Americans have won their past nine matches. These include Rugby World Cup qualifiers against Brazil, Chile and Paraguay and also games from the Americas Rugby Championship. Uruguay is set to have additional matches this year and is well positioned to press for a place in Japan 2019.

Canada Women
Despite coming away with a record of one win from three matches at the Interanational Women’s Rugby Series, the result must be taken into context as Canada pushed the top two seeds in the world – England and New Zealand – in very competitive matches before blasting Australia in the finale. Canada now enter the flagship tournament as the third-ranked team in the world and a side very much capable of challenging for the biggest prize on offer and with a real possibility of becoming the first Americas nation to win a XV-a-side World Cup since the USA won the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1991.

Canada u20s
Canada officially qualified as North America’s representatives at the World Rugby u20 Trophy tournament in August. The Canadians and the Junior All-Americans both won qualifiers but it was the Canadians who finished on top based on aggregate. In securing their place Canada join Chile, Fiji, Portugal, Namibia, Hong Kong, Japan, and hosts Uruguay in vying for the u20 Trophy, World Rugby’s second tier age grade competition. The competition runs from August 29 to September 10 with the winner qualifying for the 2018 World Rugby u20 Championship.

Aaron Carpenter Sets Record
Aaron Carpenter became Canada’s most-capped player of all time on Saturday. He made his 77th senior appearance against Romania at Ellerslie Park in Edmonton. In doing so the 34-year-old No 8 overtakes the great Al Charron. The Brantford Harlequins product made his test debut against the US Eagles in 2005 and has been a mainstay for his country since. A veteran of three World Cups, only five men have captained Canada on more occasions than Carpenter in test matches and Colin McKenzie is the only other to reach even 20 caps at No 8. Carpenter’s 16 test tries are the most by a forward in Canadian history and bettered only by outside backs Winston Stanley, DTH van der Merwe, and James Pritchard among all other players.

Veteran Pumas Reunite in Paris
Manuel Carizza and Patricio Albacete are to reunite. The Pumas second-row combination from 2009-2013 will reform at Racing 92. Both players signed for the club this past week. Carizza penned a new two-year deal while Albacete is to be a medical joker. They join Juan Imhoff who signed to stay at the club until 2022.  Additional player movement in France this past week saw Rugby World Cup 2015 prop replacement Juan Pablo Orlandi joining Bayonne. Fellow veteran Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe will play one last season for Toulon.

Pumitas
A poor campaign from Los Pumitas ended happily. Losses against France, South Africa and Georgia saw the South Americans playing for their survival. Their final match at the Junior World Championship in Tbilisi ultimately saw the players delivering what was required. A 53-42 win over Samoa sent the Pacific Islanders down to the 2018 Junior World Trophy. Of those involved for Los Pumitas there were a number of players to look promising for the future. Among those are Bautista Delguy, Luciano González, Santiago Ruiz and Matías Sauze.

 

UNDER

Canada Senior Men
While Canada’s women and juniors might be stepping up, the senior men’s woes continued on Saturday as Romania came away 25-9 winners at Ellerslie Park. It stretches Canada’s losing streak to five games ahead of the World Cup Qualifiers against the USA. Adding to their misery was that Canada spent nearly half the match with a one-man advantage after Romanian hooker Otar Turashvili was sent off in the 23rd minute for a blatant punch on Tyler Ardron. To say Canadian confidence is low right now would be an understatement. They must now find a way to defeat the Eagles first in Hamilton this coming weekend and then hold on in San Diego on July 1. An increasingly challenging series with Uruguay awaits should they fall short.

USA Eagles
The Eagles very nearly overcame a 21-3 deficit to fall to an agonizing 21-17 defeat to Georgia at Fifth Third Bank Stadium on Saturday. After going into the break 18-3 down and conceding an early penalty in the second half, the USA had the better of the Lelos, scoring two tries and very nearly clawing their way back to an unlikely victory. While the Eagles will take credit from a positive second half that saw them mitigate the Georgian scrum and achieve dominance in loose play, the opening 50-odd minutes were substandard and they, too, enter the World Cup Qualifiers on the back of two largely disappointing performances that undo some of the momentum from the winning ARC campaign.

Bermuda
A forfeit from Bermuda handed the USA South Panthers victory on Saturday. The non-capped international was to be one of two Rugby Americas North matches this past weekend. The result means Bermuda is winless in 2017. In earlier matches Bermuda few to both the Cayman Islands and Mexico. The USA South Panthers lost their match against Mexico but defeated the Caymans. International competition is not yet over for 2017 but fore most the focus now turns to Rugby Sevens.

Argentina
England completed a 2-0 series win in Argentina, doing so without starting players in 10 positions. The 38-34 win in San Juan was bettered in Santa Fé as England won 35-25. The series loss leaves the team winless from the past five test matches. This last happened in the 2014 Rugby Championship. Back then Argentina won their final match, vs Australia. Achieving wins in this year’s competition will require notable improvement from that vs England. Argentina gave England two tries in each match. Regardless of whether Argentina does play great rugby points cannot be gifted to the opposition.

Daniel Hourcade, Mark Anscombe
The players have failed but the head coaches of Argentina and Canada simply have not had them playing to game plans which work. Argentina’s 0-2 series defeat to an under-strength England has supporters less than happy. The signs of dissatisfaction in Hourcade has also now extended into the Argentine media. Questions about the style of play are now emerging. This was not true in November. In the deep north of Canada Mark Anscombe is also 0-2 down this month. Canada was scoreless against Georgia and also try-less against Romania. Pressure is on both Hourcade and Anscombe to turn their losses around. If not expect new coaches by November for both Argentina and Canada. USA coach John Mitchell might be in the same category were it not for his pre-determined exit to join the Bulls after the San Diego match.

Felipe Ezcurra
In theory Felipe Ezcurra is the next in line for the Pumas scrumhalf position, but his service was highly inconsistent against Russia and Emerging Italy, the matches he started in the Nations Cup. Lautaro Bázan was scrumhalf against Spain. Not involved was Sebastián Cancelliere, the scrumhalf from the Americas Rugby Championship. He was named in the 2017 ARC Dream Team. Cancelliere may well be above Ezcurra now. Officially Martín Landajo and Gonzalo Bertranou are the top two available. Tomás Cubelli is yet to play Super Rugby this year. A case could be made for Uruguay’s Santiago Arata to play for Los Jaguares.

Pumas Hookers
The position of hooker is again under scrutiny. Argentina does not have the quality of quality players in the position that is required. Gaspar Baldunciel was injured playing for the Argentina against Russia. His replacement was the uncapped Agustín Gómez Di Nardo. The 32-year-old even started against Emerging Italy, doing so ahead of Jaguar, Roberto Tejerizo. Marcelo Brandi left the system by choice while Axel Zapata also played in the Americas Rugby Championship. Should Agustin Creevy or Julián Montoya get injured Argentina are in deep trouble.