Up and Under

Up and Under is a weekly exclusive on Americas Rugby News which reviews the best and worst from games involving the Americas teams over the previous week.

 

UP

USA
A 45-13 win by the Eagles over Chile on Saturday keeps the USA’s Grand Slam hopes alive. The North Americans started slowly before producing an impressive second half showing to defeat Los Cóndores by a convincing seven tries to two. The USA won the match despite taking on Chile without many front-line players. Opportunities were given to the likes of Ben Landry, Huluholo Mo’ungaloa, and Psalm Wooching. If the USA can win both remaining ARC matches it will successfully defend the ARC title and become the first country to win the Grand Slam. Doing so will require away wins over Brazil and Uruguay.

Canada
The losing streak has come to an end for Canada. After starting 2018 with two defeats against Uruguay and one against the USA a win over Brazil on Saturday was simply mandatory. Not only did Canada win but they thoroughly outplayed Os Tupis, dominating them for the first hour of the match. Classy tries were scored by Doug Fraser, Djustice Sears-Duru, and DTH van der Merwe. Additional scorers were made by Canada delivering in core rugby areas. The win was just what Canada needed after recent negatives.

Argentina XV
The Argentina XV moved into second spot in the ARC with an away win over Uruguay on Saturday. The 34-17 victory was by five tries to three. The third, fourth and fifth tries all occurred after Uruguay had scored for the final time. Juan Cruz González and Francisco Ferronato crossed in the opening half with fliers Germán Schulz, Rodrigo Etchart, and Lucas Mensa completing the victory with second half tries. The Argentina XV are now on 11 points, three fewer than the ARC leading USA who have 14. The Argentina XV play host to Canada this coming Saturday while the USA face Uruguay away.

Major League Rugby
New York officially has its first professional rugby team. Major League Rugby confirmed on Tuesday that Rugby United New York will enter the new competition for the 2019 season. Heavily rumored for several months, the confirmation of New York as the first expansion franchise for the second season comes as no surprise but is a strong indicator that MLR could succeed where previous efforts to bring professional rugby to the USA have failed. Former US Eagles head honcho Mike Tolkin will be first Head Coach of the newly re-branded RUNY. Assisting him will be prominent New York rugby personality Bruce McLane, Andrew Britt of the Village Lions, and Lansdowne (NY) RFC coach Vili Vakasisikakala.

Nacional de Clubes Final
The 2018 Nacional de Clubes Final is to be played at Vélez Sarsfield. The stadium is the regular home of Los Jaguares and is also where Argentina plays home matches in Buenos Aires. It has, however, not previously been considered for hosting a club match. This year Vélez Sarsfield will host the Nacional de Clubes Final on June 30. It is to take place immediately after Los Jaguares’ home Super Rugby match against the Stormers. The double header is to be historic as never before as such a grouping of fixtures been made, bringing together professional and amateur rugby in Argentina.

 

UNDER

Canada’s RWC 2019 Qualifying Task
Spain is on the verge of making history. Los Leones have beaten Russia and Romania over the past two weekends to go top of the European Rugby Championship. The winner qualifies directly for RWC 2019. Canada is waiting to see who is Europe 1. Indeed Canada is the first of four repechage finalists. In November the repechage qualifier will be confirmed. Canada will face Africa 2, the Europe / Oceania play-off loser and the winner of the Asia/Oceania play-off. Spain’s downing of Romania means that Canada must now prepare for the worst – a repechage series against four teams one of which looms as being the loser of Romania vs Samoa. Canada’s proud record of playing in all RWCs is now indeed under serious threat. The same is true of Romania’s. Both have played in all previous World Cups with Samoa having played in all but for the inaugural tournament in 1987.

Brazil
Canada won by playing rugby while Brazil lost without playing much at all. Whether it was the cold, the rain or the distance from São Paulo to the Vancouver region the Brazilians simply failed to turn up for the match. They were badly organized and struggled to control possession or territory. It was their worst showing of the season. With a return to host the USA and the Argentina XV in São José dos Campos any competition point gained would be a positive.

Chile
Chile’s task of avoiding the wooden spoon in the ARC appears out of reach. Los Cóndores have lost all three matches thus far, with the defeat against Brazil being the one winnable match. They must now regroup to face Uruguay and Canada at home. Winning either would be a monumental achievement. While Chile is outmatched Los Cóndores certainly do have some notable players. Professional futures would not be out of the question for a number of them. Tomás Ianiszewski continues to shine at fullback, while Tomás Dussaillant and Ítalo Zunino both scored well-taken tries in California.

Uruguay
On Saturday evening Los Teros lost for the first time in the 2018 ARC. They did so after having powered out to a 12-0 early lead, doing so with a try scoring double from Juan Manuel Cat. Wayward goal-kicking from Germán Albanell and a deteriorating scrum saw the Argentina XV complete a comeback to eventually overtake Uruguay. Their only points after the 15th minute was a 48th minute try to Nicolás Freitas. It meant that the Argentina XV came back from being 12-0 down to win the remainder of the match by 34-5.

Gabriel Paganini
Brazilian second-rower Gabriel Paganini was sent-off against Canada. Referee Kurt Weaver spotted Paganini’s no-arms ruck clearance on Dustin Dobravsky and checked with the TMO prior to determining the sanction. The replays showed that Paganini had clearly entered a ruck dangerously and recklessly. His red carding was therefore not surprising. Such incidents are being rooted out of the game as World Rugby is taking a progressive stance on player safety. Paganini is now set to face a suspension.

Jaguares
The 2018 Super Rugby season did not start well for Los Jaguares. The Argentine franchise dropped their opening match to the Stormers on Saturday, losing 28-20. The team had the better of play in the second half but were poor for large stretchers of the opening half. Center Bautista Ezcurra was beaten on two occasions with the Stormers punishing his defense to score tries. Emiliano Boffelli was the best Jaguar but will need better performances from many of his teammates if the Argentine side is to return home from South Africa with a win against the Lions.