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

USA
With back-to-back victories over Samoa and other positive results under John Mitchell and Gary Gold, there is no question whatsoever that the Eagles have never been better. There is a solid argument that the USA are the most improved team in the world since RWC 2015 and also that they may cause problems to their Tier 1 rivals in Japan.

AJ MacGinty
Kicking the USA Eagles to their 13-10 win over Samoa was AJ MacGinty. The Sale Sharks fly half scored all 13 of the USA’s points as he scored a first half converted try and landed two penalties. In 23 test matches MacGinty has amassed 276 test points. With upcoming matches against Japan, and Canada before the RWC he could go above 300 points prior to the tournament.

Japan
The Brave Blossoms were something of a question mark prior to the tournament, but with two convincing wins in two matches their performance thus far in the Pacific Nations Cup has been outstanding. Jamie Joseph has the team playing a smart blend of technically accurate but also creative attacking rugby. The only question left is can they win away from home? Given the World Cup will be in Japan that doesn’t seem as much of an issue, but a victory over the USA this weekend in Suva would mark them as a dark horse for the Quarter Finals.

Osaka Hanazono Stadium
Japan’s two home Pacific Nations Cup matches proved to be highly successful pre-RWC matches both on the field and in the stadiums. Japan defeated Fiji 34-21 and Tonga 41-7 in front of capacity crowds in Kamiashi and Osaka. Both venues more than passed the test ahead of the RWC. Both Argentina, and the USA will face Tonga at the Hanazono Rugby Stadium.

Bolivia Rugby
Bolivia continue to make strides towards full international inclusion. The South American nation is surrounded on all sides by established members of Sudamérica Rugby and having already played their first match as a team – against a development side from Argentine province Salta – the team has now set to take on a similar development side from Paraguay in September. Their next goal is to compete in the Sudamerica C tournament, the third division of the South American Championship.

Jaguares XV
Los Jaguares XV blasted their way past the SWD Eagles on Saturday to secure a spot in the Semi Finals of the Currie Cup First Division. In an obliteration the Argentine side won by 80 points as they completed an 83-3 victory. The Argentine side’s superiority was across the board as players continue to press hard for opportunities in Los Pumas and Super Rugby next year.

Bautista Delguy
In his first start since suffering an injury in March Bautista Delguy ran riot, scoring a hat-trick. His performance was not only exceptional but he has also been notified from the Mario Ledesma regime that he has excellent chances of going to the Rugby World Cup. The wealth of riches that Argentina have in his position is stronger than ever and yet he is on track for a place on the plane to Japan.

Toronto Arrows
While others like NOLA and San Diego have taken the strategy of making signing announcements individually, the Arrows continue their somewhat low-key approach of confirming their roster en bloc. A number of key returnees were confirmed this past week including PNC selects Andrew Quattrin and Lucas Rumball. Most notable are the arrival of outstanding South American loose forwards Manuel Diana and Tomás de la Vega. Rest assured the Arrows are not resting on their laurels and will enter the 2020 campaign a better team than 2019.

New England Free Jacks
Also taking the mass-reveal approach are the Free Jacks. The team confirmed 33 players for their maiden run in MLR with some quality imports among the returnees from their spring exhibition campaign. New Zealand Sevens standout Beaudein Waaka and Fijian trio Naulia Dawai, Poasa Waqanibau, and Isaac Cavu will add flair to the Boston side. Their biggest additions may be yet to come. Expansion sides will find it more challenging to be playoff contenders moving forwards, but New England certainly have the makings of being a competitive outfit right from the get-go.

Old Glory DC
There were eyebrows raised when the MLR expansion side from Washington confirmed the Scottish Rugby Union as minority investors. Some felt uneasy with the move. It has already paid dividends, however, with an exhibition match against the Scotland u20s in the spring and now an opportunity for promising front rower Jack Iscaro to spend a few months training with Glasgow Warriors ahead of the 2020 season. Don’t be surprised to see a couple high quality Scottish prospects heading in the opposite direction come the new year. Also confirmed in the past week was the signing of All-American flyhalf Mike Dabulas from Penn State.

MLR in Mitre 10 Cup
Major League Rugby will see a number of its players from the 2019 season involved in the upcoming Mitre 10 Cup, New Zealand’s provincial competition. Players from six sides will be competing for the next two months with some returning ahead of the 2020 MLR campaign, though the status of others is uncertain. The latest to be confirmed is Glendale prop Marco Fepulea’i, who will again suit up for Auckland.

 

UNDER

Canada
Fiji were well short of their best yet had the means to complete a comprehensive 38-13 win over Canada on Friday. The North Americans attack was unconvincing while the overall performance was far short of what is required a month before the RWC. There is nothing more challenging in rugby than preparing for the force of New Zealand and South Africa at the RWC.

Samoa vs USA 
It was not a pretty game. Rain sure played its part though the fixture was very much a tight match in which the USA Eagles recorded a very hard-fought victory. The messy match was not a classic and will not be one appearance on many highlights packages.

Nigel Owens
The man who refereed the RWC 2015 Final and will do so for the RWC 2019 opening match made a grave error during the test match between Samoa, and the USA. A miscommunication between Owens and his assistant referee saw Samoa almost certainly miss out on scoring a legitimate try. He whistled for a knock-on when Johnny Vaili had actually skillfully kicked it forward. Samoa would lose the match by 3 points.

Currie Cup Promotion
The magnificence of Los Jaguares XV in the Currie Cup First Division will not be sufficient to see them promoted to the Premier Division. There simply is no path from one division to that above it due to the competition’s regulations. As it stands there will be no change from the divisions until at least 2021.

Ramiro Herrera
Left out of Argentina’s roster to face South Africa in Salta was Ramiro Herrera. He was not rested or rotated, but simply dropped. It was a killer blow to his chances of being selected for RWC 2019. His place was taken by Enrique Pieretto who joins Juan Figallo, and Santiago Medrano as the tight head props. Those three are all but confirmed for Japan.

Italy
Italy have announced their squad for the upcoming World Cup warm-up series against Ireland and Russia. Not among the 38 names was Zebre captain Tommaso Castello, who has been ruled out of the World Cup having failed to sufficiently recover from a broken leg suffered during the Six Nations. Also injured in that tournament was first choice hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini, though he remains determined to be fit in time to make Japan. Among others running out of time to be fit are prop Cherif Traore and scrumhalf Marcello Violi. Both would have otherwise been in Conor O’Shea’s plans for Pool B survival.

Taulupe Faletau
The hopes of Wales have taken a hit with the news that Lions test No8 Taulupe Faletau is out of the World Cup with a broken clavicle that will require surgery. It’s a real shame for a player who many consider among the very best in the world at his position. Loose forward happens to be a position of strength for Wales though a like-for-like replacement isn’t among their options.