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. Due to the high volume of rugby this week’s edition is bigger than usual.

 

UP

Canada
Canada came through their opening match of the World Cup Repechage with ease as they blasted Kenya 65-19, scoring 10 tries in the process. It was Canada’s highest points total since the 69-3 win over Barbados in June 2006. A hat-trick from DTH van der Merwe led the way with doubles via Brett Beukeboom and Theo Sauder. Next up for Canada is Germany on Saturday. Kenya will play Hong Kong. The results could well decide the final spot for RWC 2019.

Germany
While Canada won big over Kenya the match between Germany and Hong Kong will have the players and management taking notice. Both countries played a vastly superior level to that of Kenya. Germany were deserved winners, coming out on top 26-9. Canada face the Central Europeans this coming weekend in a must-win match. With Hong Kong looking solid to defeat Kenya and Germany expected to do the same in the final round, Canada vs Germany is suddenly the most important game of them all.

USA
An historic win was recorded in Spain on Saturday with the USA defeating Samoa for the first time. The 30-29 victory came in thrilling fashion with Will Hooley landing a penalty with time up. It was, however, far from being a top performance from the Eagles. The North Americans had Samoa on the ropes early, leading 15-0. Yet Samoa would claim the lead with the Eagles guilty of many defensive and offensive errors. The win sees the Eagles stretching their test win streak to eight.

Brazilian Rugby
While the result of the match itself requires a separate discussion, the success of the spectacle in São Paulo can only be deemed a roaring success. A record 34,451 attended live at the Estádio do Morumbi, more than tripling the previous Brazilian rugby attendance record. Many thousands more watched live on Twitter and other broadcasts, making this a truly momentous occasion for the sport in one of World Rugby’s most desirable markets.

Mariano Galarza
Back in Los Pumas is the 31-year-old. Having last played a test match during RWC 2015 the second row joined Mario Ledesma’s roster in Paris on Sunday. Argentina will play France and Scotland over the coming two Saturday’s, doing so with Galarza on the roster. His abilities and leadership see him added instead of an Argentina XV player. This is a massive change to the selection policies of former coach Daniel Hourcade. Galarza is now very well placed to play in RWC 2019.

Toronto Arrows
The addition of the Toronto Arrows to Major League Rugby (MLR) is huge for the competition, and for Canada. Yet there are additional benefactors such as Uruguay. Gastón Mieres was unveiled as one of 12 signings for the Canadian side for the 2019 MLR season. The announcement of the 12 players came just 9 days after the team was confirmed for for MLR itself. Early signs are all good for the Toronto side.

Josh Reeves
Brazil’s New Zealander Josh Reeves is now a professional rugby player. The flyhalf from Christchurch has been a constant for Os Tupis since 2016. During this time he has established himself as a leading player for Brazil. This saw him chosen to travel to the USA for the (MLR) draft. He came through it successfully and has signed for the Utah Warriors. His week also saw him playing well against the Māori All Blacks.

Will Hooley
Nine minutes after missing a routine shot at goal USA Hooley redeemed himself to land the match winner for the USA against Samoa. It came after Hooley had slipped over upon his run-up to strike the ball on a previous attempt. The result was a wayward miss which let Samoa off lightly. Then with time up the referee awarded the USA a penalty on the 40 meter line. Hooley lined-up a kick at goal from a wide angle and this time he would find his target. The result was an historic victory over Samoa, the first in USA rugby history.

Tomás Lavanini
Argentina’s hardman was busy at work in Dublin. Lavanini got through a mountain of work in both attack and defense. His workhorse effort saw him on the ground repeatedly as he simply never stopped tackling. His bruising carrying saw Ireland lose star flanker Sean O’Brien to a broken arm. With his discipline concerns under Daniel Hourcade now firmly behind him Lavanini is back to being one of the leading locks in the game.

 

UNDER

Argentina
With a quarter left to play in Dublin Argentina was in a position to win. It was not to be as the Irish controlled the proceedings to shut out Los Pumas. The style of play from Ireland may not be the most brilliant but it is highly effective. Argentina were unable to combat it on Saturday. In the end Ireland won by three tries to one, dominating the scrum and being slightly better in the contact area.

Os Tupis
Os Tupis performed well in São Paulo on Saturday. Yet any time a team loses by 32 points it cannot be classified in the ‘Up’ category. So what exactly went wrong for Brazil? Overall little. The Māori All Blacks were simply a superior group of players who played at a pace in which Brazil is not accustomed to. The maul was a major weapon of the Māori. Meanwhile many more tries would likely have been scored had Brazil not been so committed. The players played their hearts out.

Chile
Chile were beaten by the Sudamérica XV 38-21 on Saturday. In a match in which Chile had an opportunity to win Los Cóndores had a great way of preparing for next weekend’s home international against the Maori All Blacks. Chile’s best was fullback Pedro Verschae who scored two tries. His second try put Chile ahead in the second half but Uruguayans Diego Ayala, Andrés de León and Juan Manuel Rodríguez each scored to give the Sudamérica XV a big win.

Uruguay
Two defeats for Uruguay this past week see Los Teros looking to improve their game. The losses came against Pro 14 clubs the Cardiff Blues in Wales and Ulster in Northern Ireland. Los Teros had their moments in both matches though, ultimately, the professional status of the home sides vs Uruguay’s combination of semi-professionals and some professionals meant the level of play of the home sides was superior.

USA Women’s Eagles
A controversial red card to USA prop Megan Rom early in the contest soured what was otherwise a dominant showing from England as they defeated the Women’s Eagles 57-5 at Allianz Park on Friday. The scoreline did not tell the whole story – the Women’s Eagles defended valiantly and in fact scored a try in the 75th minute, with two late scores bloating England’s tally. As with Brazil, however, a 52-point deficit simply considered a success. The USA will play their reserve side against England ‘A’ at Newbury on Tuesday, and on Saturday play a test against Ireland in Dublin.

Germán Kessler
Los Teros suffered a major blow early against Ulster. Star hooker Germán Kessler was forced to retire with injury just moments after kickoff. Manuel Ardao came on as a replacement and with only a handful of minutes in the front row under his belt as he looks to switch from flanker, the set piece struggled to gain a footing against a committed and cohesive home pack.

John Quill
Hours out from the USA facing Samoa on Saturday flanker John Quill was forced out of the match. This saw Hanco Germishuys elevated from the reserves and ‘The Terminator’ put in an impressive performance. In his 9th cap Germishuys completed his 8th victory adding Samoa to the prior scalps of Brazil, Canada, Chile, Russia, Scotland, and Uruguay. He not only won but scored a try. Retaining a starting spot in the team come the World Cup will not be easy for Quill.

Marcos Kremer
Marcos Kremer departed Ireland on Thursday to return home for personal reasons. His departure saw Guido Petti moving from second-row to flanker and Argentina playing without a replacements second-rower against the Irish. Mariano Galarza has joined the roster now for this coming Saturday’s match against France. Ledesma has used Kremer throughout 2018 and he is inline to start for Los Pumas at RWC 2019 in the position.

Africa and RWC Qualifiers
Canada’s win over Kenya was the country’s biggest scoreline since 2006. This was officially the fourth best from the Americas against the third best from Africa. One day earlier Africa’s second best, Namibia, was hammered 47-20 by Russia in Krasnodar. Russia benefitted from Spain and Romania being disqualified from the RWC qualifiers which means the win over Namibia raises serious questions over Africa 1 deserving automatic qualifying to the RWC. Africa 2, Kenya, was easily the worst of the four repechage sides on Sunday.