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
After months of stress Canada are on the verge of retaining their record of qualifying for every World Cup. The win over Germany on Saturday was more than clearing an obstacle, it was arguably their best performance of this World Cup cycle. There remain issues – that Germany were still in the match despite a 75% territorial advantage in the first half is concerning but this time the team did not let the result slip away. A single bonus point against Hong Kong on Friday – or denying them four tries – will see Canada officially book their trip to Japan, but a convincing win is the order of the day.

USA Eagles
The Eagles played well against Romania winning 31-5 on Saturday. Bryce Campbell scored a double while Ruben de Haas, Tim Maupin and Ryan Matyas crossed the line. Following on from last weekend’s win over Samoa the Eagles are on the top of their game. 2018 will go down in history as the best of the modern era for the Eagles. It will come to a close this coming weekend against a red-hot Ireland team who defeated World Cup champions New Zealand on Saturday.

USA Women
The USA Women’s Eagles ended their overseas tour in a high with a 19-10 over Ireland at Donnybrook on Sunday. Kimber Rozier, Kaitlyn Broughton, and Meya Bizer all crossed for tries with Rozier converting two of them. The win sees the USA Eagles Women’s side finishing their tour with two wins including their mid-week victory over England Academy. Prior matches saw two heavy defeats to World Cup champions New Zealand and finalists England.

Canada Women
England used brute force to overcome the Canadian challenge at Doncaster on Sunday, the final score 27-19 in favor of the hosts. While the result didn’t go their way, the Canadian staff will be very pleased with the effort having suffered three lopsided defeats (79-5, 49-12, 69-19) to England just a year ago. Canada have three matches left on their tour. They will play a select side against England Academy on Wednesday, followed by tests against Wales and Scotland.

24 Team Rugby World Cup
Germany have never played in a Rugby World Cup but certainly merit their spot in RWC repechage. Their path to the Repechage required Russia to qualify for RWC 2019 with Romania and Spain both disqualified. On Saturday Germany gave Canada a tough match while Spain defeated Namibia, a team to have played at all RWC tournaments since 1999. The time is now to expand the World Cup’s reach.

Santiago Arata
Uruguay were no match for Fiji though Santiago Arata again lived up to his growing reputation. The livewire scrumhalf scored a solo try, breaking from the base of a scrum. He was also aggressive in defense winning a turn over and tackling with great technique. Without question he is a Tier 1 level player and would fit in well into a top side in an elite league such as the Top 14 or English Premiership. Fortunately for Major League Rugby he will suit up for the Houston SaberCats in 2019.

Chris Wyles
An SOS call from Saracens saw Chris Wyles coming out of retirement this weekend. The former USA captain would play an English Premiership match, starting on the wing. It was a memorable return with Saracens winning 31-25 against the Sale Sharks. Wyles played well contributing several strong carries.

Dartmouth Women
For the first time in their history Dartmouth are NIRA (NCAA) National Women’s Rugby Champions. Their achievement came after a 19-14 win over Harvard at Scully-Fahey Field on Sunday. The Big Green ran up a 19-0 lead with tries from captain Camille Johnson and freshman backs Ariana Ramsey and Emily Henrich. Harvard tried valiantly to overcome the deficit but ran out of time. Johnson added two conversions and was named Most Valuable Player of the Championship.

 

UNDER

Argentina
France were easily the better of the two teams in Lille on Saturday. The 28-13 win over Argentina came despite there being a single point between them at halftime. Argentina would be leading early in the second half only to fail to score again. It was a repeat of prior meetings this year. Of grave concern was the tackling rate of 71%, which enabled France to quickly and easily gain ground time after time. The scrum was even worse with an abomination of 42% winning of own scrums in the opening half. Los Jaguares’ props are not good enough.

Chile
A 73-0 home defeat ends Chile’s fixture for 2018. The Māori All Blacks were always going to win the match but they did so by an inflated scoreline after they ran in four tries in the final six minutes. The performance was a measuring stick for Chile moving forward while off the field the occasion was a tremendous success as the Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo was sold out. Of note is that while Brazil had their strongest possible side against the Māori with only injured captain Yan Rosetti missing, the Cóndores were absent numerous top players such as France-based professionals Ramón Ayarza, Pablo Huete, and Francisco de la Fuente.

Paraguay
The Sudamérica XV completed a 75-22 win over Paraguay on Saturday. It was the second match for the composite side this month while for Paraguay it was their only match. The gulf in level between the teams was clear though Paraguay did score four tries. Playing against superior sides is required for Paraguay to move forward.

Uruguay
A humiliating 68-7 defeat against Fiji has Uruguay’s World Cup plans up in the air. Los Teros will face Fiji first up followed by Georgia on a three-day turnaround. In order to get through this Uruguay has tough questions to address, some of which are at the fore right now during Uruguay’s European tour. The loss against Fiji on Saturday underlined that Fiji cannot be categorized as Tier 2. The level of play was and size of the players caused Uruguay massive problems. Los Teros also have injury concerns especially at hooker with first choice Germán Kessler already out and new cap Manuel Ardao being carried off the field early in the second half.

Kenya
Two losses from two in the Repechage and it is hard to see a win coming in game three. Both Canada and Hong Kong were vastly superior and Germany is unlikely to be much different. Kenya’s defeats have been clean and by big scores. At their best they play an exhilarating brand of rugby, but they have major deficiencies in the set piece, defense, and fitness. All of these things can be addressed with better preparation and questions must be asked of the team’s administration who have clearly failed the team in the build-up to the World Cup qualifiers.

Pumas Centers
French midfielders Gaël Fickou and Mathieu Bastareaud had a field day on Saturday. Their dominance over Jerónimo de la Fuente and Matías Orlando was extraordinary. Both were Man of the Match contenders with aggressive and skilled play, regularly breaking the advantage line and causing havoc. Fickou set up a marvelous try for Teddy Thomas while Bastareaud sent defenders flying throughout. Argentina’s midfield was a massive failure and now there will be consideration given to change both with Bautista Ezcurra and Matías Moroni options against Scotland.

RWC 2019 Date Clashes
Those from the Americas fortunate to be able to attend RWC 2019 in Japan will have headaches. IF one seeks to watch just his or her own country play then it will be business as usual. If, however, there is a desire to take in the games of a neighbor then there are problems. Assuming Canada qualify then seeing both Canada and the USA is not plausible. This is based on the scheduling having the teams playing three of their four matches on the same dates in different locations. The one different date is separated by one day. Those looking to see both Argentina and Uruguay will have to make a similar decision.