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

Chile u20
With a 25-11 win over Paraguay on Saturday Chile were crowned Americas Rugby Challenge u20s champions for 2019. The Four Nations tournament in Asunción featured Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Paraguay. Chile’s 14 point victory saw them going through the ARCh undefeated. Their win over Paraguay followed convincing victories over both Colombia, and Mexico.

Jaguares XV
Los Jaguares XV have finished the regular season with a perfect record. In their inaugural season of the Currie Cup First Division the Argentine side not only won every match but also claimed a bonus point from every victory. In their final regular season match Los Jaguares XV were 42-10 winners against the Leopards. The impressive win was by seven tries to two and saw center Tomás Cubilla scoring a hat-trick.

Lucas Mensa, Benjamín Urdapilleta
Remarkably yet to play a single minute of Super Rugby is Mensa. Without opportunities he has been a regular for the Argentina XV for whom he has demonstrated his abilities. His test debut came on Saturday with him impressing against South Africa, arguably the world’s No2. Playing 26 minutes was Benjamín Urdapilleta who put in the best showing of a Pumas fly half this year. His non-selection under the Hourcade regime was political and unnecessary. The Castres No10 and Mensa have now booked their places in the squad for RWC 2019.

Nick Civetta, AJ MacGinty
Civetta and MacGinty are also likely to be on the plane to Japan. Both players suffered ankle injuries in recent international duty for the USA. Civetta’s was more serious and he is being monitored but the Eagles camp is very positive on his chances for a recovery. MacGinty, thankfully, has been cleared of serious damage and barring further incidents is assured to be in the traveling group. Both are critical to any success the USA may enjoy in the World Cup.

Sergio Parisse
Earning his 139th test cap on Saturday was Parisse. The Italian No8 and captain would lead the Azzurri to an 85-15 thumping win over Russia. The following day he was named as captain for RWC 2019. The tournament will be his 5th RWC and it will thereby see him equalizing Samoa’s Brian Lima for the appearance record. Parisse moved to Italy aged 17 from his native Argentina.

 

UNDER

Argentina
Los Pumas fell to a 24-18 defeat against South Africa on Saturday. With it Argentina is yet to win a game in four test matches this year and last won a match last September. To suggest that the preparation could have been better for the RWC is an understatement. Yet there is no reason to panic as there is reason to believe that the tactics and players are both there for a successful campaign in Japan. Saturday’s loss against South Africa may well have been a win had there been a different referee. More on that below.

Sebastián Cancelliere
The winger was already on the fringes and his performance on Saturday looks to have sealed his fate. Cancelliere was badly stepped by Sibusiso Nkosi for a try and he knocked on to blow a guaranteed try after Marcos Kremer had offloaded to him. Santiago Carreras replaced him and impressed, in doing so earning a spot on the plane to Japan at Cancelliere’s expense.

European Pumas
Mario Ledesma has named his 31 for Rugby World Cup 2019 and star trio Juan Imhoff, Santiago Cordero, and Facundo Isa are nowhere to be seen. Imhoff was less of a surprise given he had already been omitted from the Rugby Championship squad but the absence of Cordero and Isa is inexplicable. After announcing his intention to consider overseas players, Ledesma has picked only three outside of the domestic group. Time well tell if the explicit bias towards Jaguares players will pay off but it seems a big gamble to leave out players of that caliber based on where they play their club rugby.

Canada’s hopes for an Italian upset
As Italy rolled over Russia on the weekend, one couldn’t help but think that Canada’s hopes of upsetting the Azzurri in Japan are rapidly dissipating, if there is any left at all. Recall just a year ago that the Bears smashed Canada in Ottawa. While many of those on that day will not travel to Japan, it is difficult to believe that the team can turn around their form in such a short span of time to beat an Italian side suddenly flowing with confidence. There must be enormous improvement from the Canadian team that played in the Pacific Nations Cup just to compete with Italy. At the moment a win over Namibia looks to be the best case scenario for the Maple Leafs.

World Cup Officials
‘Team 21’ has some work to do before the flagship tournament kicks off in Japan. The red card given to Scott Barrett by Jerome Garces was correct under the new framework, but we have already seen similar incidents go unpunished in matches including a citing to Paul Gabrillagues from the game in France on Saturday. Had the score not been so lopsided, Nigel Owens might be under greater scrutiny for several non-calls. Meanwhile Argentina was on the wrong side of three controversial decisions from Luke Pearce against South Africa. It will never be possible to get it perfect but greater consistency is required in the coming weeks.