Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
The 2017-2018 season is just around the corner. Teams from the Aviva Premiership, Top 14, Guinness Pro 14 and lower divisions have all begun their activities. This has included game time for Americas players in pre-season matches.
A rematch between last season’s Top 14 Final saw Toulon facing Clermont on Friday. Played at the Stade Mayol, Toulon won a thriller 29-26. Samu Manoa and Facundo Isa started in the back row for Toulon while Patricio Fernández played fly half for the visitors.
Not so successful was Racing 92. The suburban Parisian side fell to last season’s bottom-placed side, Bayonne. The 35-28 defeat at the Stade Jean Dauger included a try to former Puma Juan Imhoff. He was not joined by fellow former Patricio Albacete or Manuel Carizza.
Involved for Bayonne were additional former Argentine test players. Martín Bustos Moyano played fullback with Juan Pablo Orlandi starting at tighthead prop. Chileans Pablo Huete and Ramón Ayarza were both involved, the former starting second row and the latter featuring from the bench. Bustos Moyano converted three tries.
Brive took on Lyon in a match between two Top 14 sides. The win went to Brive who did so by a commanding 38-10. Among the try-scorers was former Eagle Taku Ngwenya. Starting for Lyon was Piero Dominguez at flyhalf. The son of former Argentine and Italian test flyhalf Diego Dominguez kicked one penalty and a conversion.
Also involved for Lyon were Colombian Andrés Zafra and former Puma Francisco Gómez Kodela. Both players were Lyon replacements.
A French vs English club match saw Castres hosting the Sale Sharks. The visitors had the better of play, winning 31-14. USA fly half, AJ MacGinty converted three tries for Sale. His opponent, Benjamín Urdapilleta converted both of Castres’ tries.
