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

Canada
Canada named a healthy roster for November’s RWC Repechage tournament. Including are returning overseas professional players Matt Tierney, Brett Beukeboom, Tyler Ardron, Ciaran Hearn, Conor Trainor, Taylor Paris, and Matt Evans. Tierney, Hearn, Trainor, and Evans return from long-term injuries that saw them miss out on the Americas 2 qualifier series against Uruguay. With the influx of top talent Canada are well positioned to fight for the final place at RWC 2019.

Evan Olmstead, Mike Sosene-Feagai
Two North American internationals helped Auckland complete a stunning come-from-behind victory to win New Zealand’s Mitre 10 Cup competition by 40-33 over Canterbury on Saturday in extra time. Canadian lock Evan Olmstead played all 100 minutes in a superb man-of-the-match performance that saw him win two turnovers in the closing moments to secure the win. US Eagles hooker Mike Sosene-Feagai also played a key role, coming on as a replacement in the 57th minute and scoring in the first period of extra time to make the scores level through 90 minutes.

Sergio de la Fuente
Also in New Zealand Chilean prop Sergio de la Fuente scored the match-winning try to claim the Heartland or Meads Cup. The try saw Thames Valley winning the 2018 Heartland Meads Championship Final. The 17-12 victory came with de la Fuente scoring in the away victory over South Canterbury in Timaru. de la Fuente last played for Chile in the 2016 Americas Rugby Championship (ARC). He has plenty of left to offer for Los Cóndores.

MLR Signings
New Orleans continued to set the pace in the Major League Rugby signings race with the addition of four Collegiate All-Americans to their roster. Nick Feakes, Matt Harmon, Kevin Sullivan, and Malcolm May will all play for the Gold in 2019. Meanwhile Santiago Arata was finally confirmed by the Houston SaberCats. Austin, among others, have been slow to announce their signings but ARN has confirmed that Canadian brothers Josh and Travis Larsen will team up for the Elite in the upcoming season.

Rodrigo Capó Ortega
History was made in France on Saturday. Playing for Castres against Clermont Uruguay’s Rodrigo Capó Ortega tied the official Top 14 appearance record. In his 342nd Top 14 match he equalled the record held by Thibault Privat. This coming weekend will see the Uruguayan breaking Privat’s record. With it an Uruguayan hold the appearance record in the France Premiership.

Samu Manoa
Making his Pro 14 debut on Saturday was the California powerhouse. Manoa was a replacement for the Cardiff Blues who faced the Cheetahs in South Africa. The Welsh region lost the match, doing so by only scoring one try. The scorer of the try was Manoa. The match was his second for the team after joining Toulon in the off-season. Manoa is in the USA roster for the upcoming November Internationals.

Juan Imhoff
Making his 150th appearance for Racing 92 on Saturday was Juan Imhoff. The Rosario speedster captained the club to a notable home win in Paris and impressed in scoring two tries. The veteran of RWC 2011 and 2015 would be unquestionably starting for Los Pumas if he were in the roster. With Mario Ledesma’s changes it is only a matter of time before he is back playing for Argentina. Ramiro Moyano has noted that he thinks the best should play for Argentina and if that means Imhoff over him then so be it.

Shane O’Leary
Recently there has been some surprising debate among the Canadian pundits-at-large over who should start in the pivotal No10 shirt in the upcoming Repechage. Given that he is the only option regularly playing at a professional level, O’Leary stands as an obvious selection. He has started every match for Nottingham this season and is currently the RFU Championship’s leading points scorer. On Saturday O’Leary kicked 17 points to lead Nottingham to a win over second-place Ealing. We will soon find out if Kingsley Jones remains unconvinced.

Jamie Mackenzie
Coming in from the cold after two years in the international wilderness is the Canadian scrumhalf. With Andrew Ferguson ruled out after bicep surgery, Mackenzie gets the call for Canada’s World Cup Qualifier preparations despite playing only a handful of rugby games since his last cap in June 2016. The 29-year-old’s recall means that all three of Canada’s 2015 World Cup halfbacks are back in the squad, only this time Phil Mack is the captain and clear first choice.

Perry Baker
Once again nominated for World Rugby’s Men’s Sevens Player of the Year is Baker, the winner of one year ago. There is no doubt of his class but the nomination does come as something of a surprise given that he missed three tournament’s on this year’s circuit and was not as prominent as the previous season. Two Americas players who might feel somewhat aggrieved are Canada’s Nathan Hirayama and Baker’s teammate Carlin Isles. The former finished as top points scorer for the 2017-18 season with the latter outpacing Baker as the top try scorer.

 

UNDER

World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year
On the topic of World Rugby Awards, the latest nominees are for Breakthrough Player of the Year. Up for the newcomer’s award this year are South Africa’s Aphiwe Dyantyi, New Zealand’s Karl Tu’inukuafe, and Ireland’s Jordan Larmour. The first two have compelling arguments. The third, however, is a bizarre decision given a far more deserving name wearing Argentine colors. Despite his outstanding domestic form, Larmour has yet to start or score a single test try for Ireland. Bautista Delguy meanwhile started eight tests and scored four tries for Los Pumas. Was this simply an oversight by World Rugby or part of their agenda?

Agustín Creevy
Just one match after setting the Pumas record for most matches as captain, Agustín Creevy has been dethroned. While the 80-test hooker is expected to remain in the squad through to the World Cup, it’s a clear turning of the page from Mario Ledesma with his Jaguares general Pablo Matera taking the armband. Lineout coach Pablo Bouza has also been dumped, and there are indications that Julián Montoya will be given a chance to start in the upcoming November tests, something he managed only four times under Daniel Hourcade and has not done since 2015.

Samoa
Complaining this past week ahead of the November Internationals was Samoa’s Head Coach. Steve Jackson said “We don’t want to be playing tier two teams, but that’s just the reality of the situation we’re in at the moment.” Samoa face Georgia, Spain, and the USA – two of whom are ranked higher than Samoa in the World Rankings. Moreover Samoa has not beaten Georgia since their first outing back in 2003. Make no mistake winning the three tests will require improvement from Samoa. The Pacific Islanders have struggled since RWC 2019 to the extent that Germany gave them a run for their money.

Overdue Test Matches
There is no shortage of international rugby played. In November this will continue with all RWC 2019 teams, and more, set to be involved in test match rugby. Most of the matches are familiar fixtures which adds to the continued wait for a rematch of some fixtures and a first ever match in the case of others. Italy vs Georgia is the notable fixture in November with this in mind. Not happening will be Japan vs South Africa which remarkably has not happened since the RWC 2015 classic

Glendale Raptors
It hasn’t been all smiles and chocolates for the Raptors since they fell to the Seattle Seawolves in the inaugural MLR Final. Their fall exhibition campaign has seen them drop three of four, with sizable defeats to the Collegiate All-Americans, the Ontario Arrows, and this past weekend the Rugby Americas Selects. They have also said farewell to some key players in the off-season. While there’s plenty of time for them to pull up their socks ahead of the 2019 season, they may look to expedite confirmation of new signings to get the hype-train moving in the right direction again. Meanwhile loud static continues to be broadcast from San Diego and Salt Lake City…

Horacio Agulla
The long-time Pumas winger has announced his retirement from rugby. A three-time World Cup selection, Agulla hangs up the boots at the age of 34. His test career stretched from 2005 to 2015 and saw him earn 63 caps. He scored six tries for Los Pumas, the most important against Ireland at RWC 2007. After a decade of professional rugby with Dax, Brive, Leicester, Bath, and Castres, Agulla closed out his rugby career at his home club Hindú.