Up and Under

Up and Under is a weekly feature on Americas Rugby News which reviews the best and worst from games involving the Americas teams over the previous week.

 

UP

Bolivia
Rugby’s growth saw Bolivia playing international rugby for the first time this past week. In their official debut appearance, Los Colorados had a home match against Argentine province Salta. They would fall to a 40-0 defeat though the result was second in importance. The game in Yacuiba opens the way for future involvement, in Sudamérica Rugby competitions.

USA
The USA got the Pacific Nations Cup off to the best possible start as they put Canada to the sword by a score of 47-19 at Infinity Park on Saturday. In a six tries to three victory the Eagles underlined themselves as the best country from North America. Should they play this way at RWC 2019 they will be well placed to claim a win over Tonga.

Argentina Men’s Sevens
Argentina ended Canada’s hegemony in the Pan American Games to claim Gold. Los Pumas 7’s 33-10 victory saw Canada missing out on Gold for the first time since Rugby 7’s was first played in the Pan American Games. In what was a vastly improved preparation to that from Guadalajara 2011, and Toronto 2015 Los Pumas 7’s were clearly the best performers of all the men’s competitors.

Canada Women’s Sevens
Successfully defending their Gold Medals from Toronto 2015 were Canada. A dominant tournament from the Canadian women saw them powering their way to the final and making quick work of the USA to secure the medal. Their 24-5 victory was a deserved reward for their performances throughout the tournament in Lima, Peru.

Colombia Women’s Sevens
It was shades of Japan beating South Africa as Colombia defied all the odds to defeat Brazil and win Bronze at the Pan American Games. Sunday’s win was the first ever by Colombia against Brazil and was one of the biggest upsets ever in women’s rugby history in the Americas.

Kamaishi
The Japanese city of Kamaishi will play host to two RWC 2019 matches, both of which involve competitors from the Americas. The games are to be Fiji vs Uruguay, and Namibia vs Canada. The venue itself had its first taste of international rugby this past weekend with Japan demonstrating their level in beating Fiji 34-21. The occasion was tremendous and the venue world class.

Jaguares XV
On Saturday Los Jaguares XV continued their perfect campaign in the Currie Cup First Division. Their 54-15 win over the Eastern Province Elephants sees them 4-0 with bonus point wins from every match. Domingo Miotti was again instrumental, his performance pressing the case further for him to go to RWC 2019.

Facundo Isa
Argentina did not play well against Australia though there were certain performances of note. This was especially clear in the back-row where Facundo Isa, and Tomás Lezana both impressed. The former plays in France and the latter has been regarded as a replacement rather than a starter. Isa led the way in offloads, making four and was the leading ball-carrier and only try-scorer. Santiago Cordero was less prominent though did make 3 offloads, more than all other backs in the match.

 

UNDER

Argentina
Appalling ball-control saw Argentina knocking-on continuously against Australia. The performance was ugly and the 16-10 scoreless was quite generous. Argentina could have scored two first half tries only for poor ball-handling to see them denied. The silver lining is that it was a performance that needed to come now rather than in Japan.

Canada
The Canadians were no match for the USA Eagles. In a fixture to underline the extent of (a) the USA’s progress, and (b) Canada’s stagnation, the men in red were unable to put together any semblance of competitive rugby. Two late scores against a 13-man USA side padded what was otherwise a thoroughly disappointing performance. They now face the might of Fiji on Saturday, a team reeling from their own letdown against Japan.

Brazil at Pan American Games
It was a double heart-break for Brazil at Lima 2019. Both the Men’s and Women’s teams lost their Semi Finals and then lost their Bronze Finals. With it Brazil failed to win a Medal at the Pan American Games. The men were seeded to miss out but the women were not. Their loss against Colombia marked their first ever defeat against them and ended a long standing dominance against South american opposition.

Nick Civetta
The USA’s win over Canada came at a cost for the Eagles with key second-rower Nick Civetta suffering a serious ankle injury that puts his World Cup participation in considerable doubt. Having emerged not only as the cornerstone of the lineout but a consistent contributor around the pitch, it’s potentially a massive blow to Gary Gold’s plans with Civetta among the first names on the team sheet headed towards Japan.

USA u20 Women
The USA u20s women were hammered by England first up and then fell to a 24-7 defeat to Canada in their second assignment. With it they completed their Women’s u20 Tri-Nations Cup in Loughborough winless. Easily the weakest of the three competitors, the USA u20 women were far behind the level of both England and Canada.

Apia Park
Cries for Samoa to receive more home internationals may well struggle to receive attention in the coming years. This is not due to the level of other Tier 2 sides or their location, instead it is the lack of facilities in Samoa. Saturday’s Pacific Nations Cup match between Samoa and Tonga at Apia Park was a mud bath. The venue lacked a proper drainage system leaving the pitch almost unplayable. A new playing surface in Apia is required before Samoa will receive any hosting opportunities in the future.