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

South America’s wait finally over?
World Rugby is at last set to end the policy which gives all regions except South America with a direct qualifying spot for RWCs. Due primarily to Uruguay’s progress, the governing body is to have the Americas separated for qualifiers with both ‘South America 1’ and ‘North America 1’ heading directly to RWC 2023.

Uruguayan Professionals
This past weekend saw a record number of Uruguay’s professionals take to the field. France-based trio Felipe Berchesi, Agustín Ormaechea, and Manuel Leindekar started for their clubs while in the Ignacio Dotti, Juan Echeverría, Rodrigo Silva, and Andrés Vilaseca all played in the USA. Expect even more this coming weekend with Houston vs Toronto likely to split supporters from Uruguay.

Rugby United New York vs NOLA Gold
The newcomers made a splash in New Orleans on Saturday as Rugby United New York handed the NOLA Gold their first loss of the Major League Rugby season. It was an exciting back-and-forth contest that tied 24-all in the 65th minute… when the lights went dark. The technical meltdown should not overshadow New York’s performance on the road. Both teams lived up to their billing as post-season contenders.

Seattle Seawolves vs Toronto Arrows
The Seawolves came from well behind to defeat the Toronto Arrows in an exhilarating match in front of a sold-out crowd at Starfire Stadium. It brings an end to Seattle’s two-game losing streak and restores some confidence in the defending champions. While the Arrows faded in the final quarter, the expansion side gave a good account of themselves and it should be noted that nine players were unavailable. Their best is certainly yet to come.

San Diego Legion
We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt as the Legion’s second half performance did not quite reach that of the first half. San Diego held on to an 18-3 halftime lead to ultimately beat Utah 21-10. It gives the Legion three wins in a row and rockets them to second place on the table, though tougher tests await as they hit the road for the first time this weekend.

Tyler Ardron
Canada’s leading export started his second Super Rugby season well. Playing No8 he scored a try from the back of the scrum in the Chiefs’ home match against the Highlanders. While it was not a win for Ardron’s side it was a personal performance to underline his abilities as a potentially world class player.

Juan Imhoff
The Argentine speedster continued his magnificent season with another try on Sunday. Imhoff was a first half scorer for Racing 92 in the team’s home match against Toulouse. Unfortunately for Racing 92 they were beaten 34-29. Imhoff last played for Argentina at RWC 2015 but is a certainty to play later this year in the Rugby Championship and ultimately Japan.

Benjamín Urdapilleta
Calls for Benjamín Urdapilleta to play in RWC 2019 continue to gain momentum. The Castres fly half scored nine points in Saturday’s 14-9 away victory over Pau. He was up against RWC 2011 winner Colin Slade. In Paris Stade Français were defeated 24-13 by Lyon

Tomás Baravalle
A solid performance from Tomás Baravalle helped Benetton Treviso to an unlikely home win over the Scarlets. The victory adds to the tremendous season that the Italians are having in the Celtic-Italian-South African league. A first-ever place in the play-off’s is within sight. With Agustín Creevy below form vs the Lions Baravalle is a player to keep an eye on.

David Tameilau
In Wales. Tameilau was a try scorer on Saturday. He crossed in a winning effort for the Glasgow Warriors against the Cardiff Blues. The 38-34 victory was part of an 0-4 weekend for the Welsh regions in the Pro 14. Tameilau’s performance will have pleased Eagles coach Gary Gold.

UNDER

Jaguares
It was not a memorable start to the season for Los Jaguares. Many unforced errors cost the team throughout the match against the Lions. The visitors ran in three tries while Los Jaguares only managed one. There will likely be changes for this coming weekend’s match against the Bulls with established players needing to up there game or Gonzalo Quesada will have no choice but to not pick them.

Austin Elite
It was another rough day for Austin, who have now dropped all four of their matches this season and all of them at home. Only four weeks in and they are facing an uphill battle of mammoth proportions as eight of their remaining games are on the road and they have yet to face any of the top 4 teams. There is hope reinforcements could yet be on the way. Otherwise Elite fans could be in for a long season.

MLR Production
Suffice to say it was not a good weekend for MLR on the production side of things. The final 15 minutes of Saturday’s game were watched only by those in attendance as the hub lost power and had insufficient backup on hand. Meanwhile in Seattle an inexperienced director and unusual camera angles, not to mention a timekeeper asleep at the wheel distracted from an otherwise excellent contest. The on-field product has been a clear improvement from last year and the CBS shows have also stepped up a notch, but if MLR wants to be taken seriously it needs to get a handle on overall production standards.

Matías Orlando, Matías Moroni
Against the Lions, Orlando was outperformed. He did not appear to be a player of the level required to play against England, France, Tonga, and the USA at the RWC. He and Moroni are the options for the tournament, a clear drop from that of Marcelo Bosch from the past two World Cups. Time is running out to try who we believe is an ideal candidate to fill the unclaimed position – Emiliano Boffelli.

World Rugby Judiciary
Once again we are left to question the consistency of judicial decisions, this time those regarding the Americas Rugby Championship. Santiago Arata was suspended three weeks for a dangerous tackle in Round 1. In the second round we saw Santiago Carreras given three weeks for a reckless challenge, while Paul Lasike was given four weeks for a stamp. The latter’s sentence has been inexplicably reduced to one week based on a successful appeal, meaning he will effectively miss only minutes served during the match in which he was sent off. How a player can deliberately stamp on another’s back and be allowed to play the next game in the competition defies belief and sets a bad precedent for the sport.

Lucas Noguera Paz
This past weekend marked another round of English Premiership rugby and another non-appearance by Lucas Noguera Paz. The Argentine loosehead prop departed Jaguares for England as the starting player in his position but is now in no-man’s land and has virtually zero chance of selection for RWC 2019.

Benjamín Espinal
27-year-old Espinal will play no rugby this year. Due to personal and work reasons he will miss the entire year. He is a not only a former Argentina XV player but also a fringe player for the Jaguares and a former medical joker with Stade Français in the French Top 14.