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, Canada Women’s Sevens
New Zealand proved a step ahead, but it was a good showing for the two North American core teams on the first stop of the 2018-19 HSBC Women’s Sevens Series. The Women’s Eagles were improbable finalists, finishing second on their home turf after a tumultuous opening day. Canada took third overall, losing out to the eventual champions in the Semi Final. Both the USA and Canada hit their top-four goal right from the start and will now look to keep that form throughout the season with an automatic spot in the 2020 Olympics on the line.

Ghislaine Landry
The Canadian captain has etched her name into the history books. On Saturday Landry became the first player in the history of the HSBC Women’s Sevens Series to score 1,000 points. Her first conversion against France on Day One put her over the mark in the 150th Series match of her career. Landry would finish the tournament with 43 points, bringing her career total to 1,027.

Youth Sevens – Argentina Men, Canada Women
Argentina won Gold in the Men’s division while Canada took home Bronze in the Women’s division of the Junior Olympics in Buenos Aires. Each division contained six teams at the under-18 level. Argentina claimed the title by defeating France 24-14 in the final. They had previously won all five of their pool games in dominant fashion, conceding only 38 points while scoring 180. Canada’s final match was a nail-biting 24-19 win over Colombia in the Bronze Final. They went 3-2 in the pool stage, losing to Gold finalists New Zealand and France, the former taking the title by 15-12.

Uruguay
Uruguay will send nine players to the Major League Rugby combine in Glendale this week. Players from Brazil, Chile, and Canada will also be present for the week-long selection camp that will include a trial match for a ‘Rugby Americas XV’ against the Raptors on Saturday, October 27 at Infinity Park. Loose head prop Mateo Sanguinetti is joined by hooker Germán Kessler, second row Diego Magno, and No 8 Alejandro Nieto as forwards with World Cup experience. They are joined by outside backs Leandro Leivas, Gastón Mieres, and Rodrigo Silva. Only flanker Leandro Segredo and No8 Manuel Diana are new caps since the 2015 tournament. Four other Teros have already landed MLR contracts – tight head prop Juan Echeverría, second row Ignacio Dotti, midfielder Andrés Vilaseca, and scrumhalf Santiago Arata.

Ontario Arrows, New England Free Jacks
The Ontario Arrows played spoilers in the first ever game for the New England Free Jacks, the Toronto-based team taking a 40-14 result over their Boston counterparts. Both are soon to be Major League Rugby expansion franchises with the Arrows readying for their first season coming up in January and the Free Jacks delaying their entry to the 2020 season. New England can take pride from their debut, outscoring their Canadian hosts 14-7 in the second half thanks to a pair of tries from Anthony Parry. The future is bright for professional rugby in the Northeast.

Americas Wingers in Europe
There were impressive tries scored this weekend from Americas players in Europe. Canadian speedster DTH van der Merwe went over for the Glasgow Warriors who were big winners in Wales over the Cardiff Blues. Over in France Santiago Cordero scored a great solo try to give the Exeter Chiefs a dream start against Castres while up in Paris Juan Imhoff was on hand to score an assist try for Racing 92.

Facundo Gigena
In their best performance of the season thus far the Leicester Tigers humbled the Scarlets on Friday. The 45-27 victory saw Facundo Gigena making his debut for the English club. A former fringe player at Los Jaguares, Gigena moved to England to join the Leicester academy and is now working his way up towards being considered for regular duty for the East Midlands side. With Argentina short of loose head props he may yet be in consideration for international duty.

Patricio Fernández
An impressive performance from Patricio Fernández this weekend saw the Argentine fly half scoring 20 points for Clermont. The French club were at home against Romanian side Timisoara Saracens in a round two match of the Challenge Cup. The club scored ten tries with Fernández converting every one of them. It comes at the ideal moment as his name has been floated for inclusion in the November Internationals. Moreover second choice within Argentina, Santiago González Iglesias is being released from the training roster to play for a ‘World XV’ against Japan this coming Friday.

Evan Olmstead, Mike Sosene-Feagai
Canadian forward Evan Olmstead, and USA Eagle Mike Sosene-Feagai and Auckland are into the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership Final. The two North American internationals helped the New Zealand province to victory over the Wellington Lions this past weekend. Olmstead started the match on the flank for Auckland while Sosene-Feagai was on the bench. Both players can now look to become New Zealand champions. Meanwhile Josh Larsen won a Championship Semi Final against Hawke’s Bay.

 

UNDER

Kenya
One of Canada’s RWC 2019 Repechage qualifying opponents are in trouble. This past Monday saw the players sitting out training in protest to the Kenyan Rugby Union (KRU) struggling to pay them promised salary allowances. Each player was to receive 40,000 Kenya Shillings, roughly $400 USD, per month for September, October, and November as compensation for the increased training regime. The KRU meanwhile has placed the blame on the Kenyan Government, claiming their initial request for $600,000 USD funding was reduced to $360,000 USD but that none at all has been transferred to the Union. Plans for three proposed warm-up matches have now been scrapped.

AJ MacGinty
AJ MacGinty will play no part in the USA’s November international series. The Eagles flyhalf has been ruled out of the next 12 weeks of action after undergoing shoulder surgery. According to Sale Sharks the injury was originally suffered while playing for Eagles in June. Head Coach Gary Gold make switch Will Hooley from fullback to replace MacGinty. Another alternative could be to start Glendale’s Will Magie at flyhalf in a like-for-like change and leave Hooley at fullback.

Leonardo Senatore, Santiago González Iglesias
The naming of veteran Pumas Leonardo Senatore and Santiago González Iglesias in the World XV was a strong indication of where they stand heading into the November Internationals. They will fly to Osaka, Japan to play in the Friday match, missing out on plenty of training with Los Pumas in Buenos Aires this week and next. Neither player has been able to play with regularity under Mario Ledesma this year and there are more reputable options from Europe with an eye to RWC 2019.

Manuel Carizza
Lyon second-rower Manuel Carizza was suspended for a dangerous tackle in the Champions Cup. The Argentine was ruled out of facing Saracens in round two of the tournament this past weekend and faces a further two weeks out of rugby. Contracted as a medical joker it is a massive blow to blow club and player. Carizza is an outside chance at playing in RWC 2019 and is also a name which could yet be included on Los Jaguares roster for the 2019 season.

Cardiff Blues vs Glasgow Warriors
There was a big away win from DTH van der Merwe and the Glasgow Warriors on Sunday. In an all-Pro 14 fixture in the Champions Cup the Scottish side downed the Welsh capital region, the Cardiff Blues. There was some very good rugby played through viewing was appealing. The uniforms from both teams was blue. With the sun pounding down at the Arms Park it made for tough viewing. Totally avoidable and a needless problem which was allowed to happen from the organizers.