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

Major League Rugby in Canada
Seawolves owners Adrian Balfour and Karl Harrison have confirmed that they are in advanced talks to bring a Major League Rugby franchise to Vancouver. Temporarily named ‘Vancouver RFC’, the team is intending to launch in time for the 2019 season pending final approval of the MLR board – of which Balfour is a founding member – in late January. Canada is on course to have two teams in Major League Rugby. Toronto could have a team in 2019, the Ontario Arrows, who will see exhibition action in just a few weeks.

Jamie Cudmore
Canadian great Jamie Cudmore is taking legal action against Clermont for medical negligence. He has argued that his former club had breached the Head Injury Assessment which enabled him to return to playing in a match despite having failed a concussion test. The Canadian’s actions against his former club are against team doctors who he believes ignored his safety to boost the team’s chances. This past week Cudmore met with neurologist Dr. François Chedru, who had been appointed by the court of Clermont-Ferrand. The findings of which are to be delivered in the coming weeks.

Rodrigo Capó Ortega
Uruguay have named a full strength roster for the upcoming Rugby World Cup Qualifiers against Canada. The countries are too battle it out for the vacant Americas 2 spot at Rugby World Cup 2019. The winner, on aggregate, will join Australia, Fiji, Georgia, and Wales in Pool D. Uruguay’s best player, Rodrigo Capó Ortega, is officially coming out of international retirement for the series.

Uruguay, Chile Sevens
On Sunday Uruguay and Chile qualified for the Rugby Sevens World Cup. The two South Americans countries earned places in San Francisco 2018 through their performances at Viña del Mar. Uruguay’s 14-7 victory over Brazil in the Cup Quarter Finals was enough for Los Teros to seal a place in the Rugby Sevens World Cup. It also enabled Chile to obtain the remaining vacancy. Uruguay and Chile join Argentina to give South America three participants. North America has as many with Canada, Jamaica, and the USA all to be involved. In total there are to be 24 countries competing.

Pablo Lemoine
the German Rugby Union (DRV) confirmed the appointment of Pablo Lemoine as new Head Coach of the national senior men’s team. The 42-year-old leaves his post as Director of High Performance at the Uruguayan Rugby Union (URU) to return to the coaching ranks under the auspices of Germany’s new Director of Rugby – Paul Healy. Lemoine played in two World Cups for his country and after retiring as a player in 2012 he took over the reigns as Head Coach of Los Teros. He held that position until the appointment of Esteban Meneses in December 2015, shifting to a High Performance role to oversee all of Uruguay’s representative rugby. He now takes up his first overseas coaching role.

Benjamín Urdapilleta
Fly half Benjamín Urdapilleta scored 17 points on Sunday in the European Champions Cup. The former Puma scored a try and kicked five goals for Castres who annihilated former European club giants, the Leicester Tigers. The 39-0 win was nothing short of an utter humiliation for the Aviva Premiership club. The result keeps Castres’ chances of reaching the Quarter Finals alive.

Agustín Costa Repetto
It has been a productive week for former Pumas hooker Agustín Costa Repetto. He signed a new two-year-deal with Colomiers and then scored a try for the club. Colomiers’ 25-9 win over Narbonne included the 7th try of the season for Costa Repetto. The result of the match sees Colomiers remaining well placed for a place in the play-off’s.

 

UNDER

Enrique Pieretto
Los Jaguares have lost leading tighthead prop, Enrique Pieretto to a serious knee injury. The Córdoba front-rower suffered an injury in training with Los Jaguares and is unlikely to play any part in Los Jaguares’ 2018 campaign. Following surgery Pieretto is to be out of rugby for 6 or 7 months. This means he will miss the Super Rugby season and also Argentina’s home June Internationals against Wales and Scotland. It leaves Head Coach Mario Ledesma with a serious problem as the player roster only contains four props. Pieretto and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro are Ledesma’s two Tight Head props while Felipe Arregui and Santiago García Botta are the looseheads.

Canada Maple Leafs, USA Falcons
Underwhelming opening day performances in Viña del Mar saw the young Canada and USA teams unable to produce results. Canada lost against Chile, Germany and Argentina on Day One while the USA were defeated by France and Uruguay. Wins would come over Colombia and Paraguay though both sides ultimately fell short of required levels in the tournament.

Federico Favaro and Gastón Gibernau
Missing for Uruguay vs Canada are to be wingers Federico Favaro and Gastón Gibernau. Both started in the 2-0 series win over Namibia in November. Rodrigo Silva was fly half for that series but seems set to return to the outside backs to face Canada. Nicolás Freitas will similarly move from outside center to the wing. No doubt Uruguay can cover for the loss of Favaro and Gibernau, though their absence is of note given how they performed in Africa.

Dax
Pro D2 club Dax fell to a home 16-26 loss against Perpignan this weekend. The result means the club is only just above the relegation zone. Playing fly half for Dax was Felipe Berchesi. The Uruguayan kicked nine points in the match and had a strong performance in general. He is to be missing for the club in coming weeks as Uruguay face Canada in Rugby World Cup qualifiers in Vancouver and Montevideo.