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

Mexico
History was made in the Americas Rugby Challenge (ARCh) on Sunday. In the opening fixture of the 2019 edition of the tournament Mexico defeated Paraguay 35-27 in a historic upset victory. Las Serpientes were deserved winners and put everything into completing the result. Winger Fharid Samano was a stand-out with two tries.

Colombia Los Tucanes
A comprehensive 83-6 victory by Colombia over the Cayman Islands sees the defending champions well placed in the ARCh. Both Mexico, and Paraguay will be nervous about taking on the rapidly improving Colombian national men’s team. Should Colombia come away with two more wins they will seal their place in the Promotion – Relegation with the Americas Rugby Championship (ARC). With this in mind Chileans should be paying close attention.

Colombia Las Tucanes
Also winning on Sunday was Las Tucanes. Colombia’s national Women’s side were convincing winners against Brazil. The match was the first test match between the countries who are familiar in both Men’s Rugby and in Women’s Rugby Sevens. As Yaras were outperformed by a motivated, and impressive performance from the Colombians.

Uruguay
Uruguay overcame the Sudamérica XV on Saturday afternoon in a RWC warm-up match. Los Teros were 24-20 winners in a highly competitive encounter in which they had their ups and downs before ultimately playing the better rugby late in the match. Toronto Arrows winger Leandro Leivas ran in two tries while German Kessler, and Nicolás Freitas both scored one each.

Brazilians in Sudamérica XV
All points scored by the Sudamérica XV against Uruguay were scored by Brazilian players. N8 André Arruda scored from a maul; fly half Joshua Reeves touched down while in support; and Luiz Vieira brome off a maul to charge over. Reeves landed one conversion and a penalty to complete the scoring for the visitors.

Jaguares XV
Los Jaguares XV remain unbeaten in the Currie Cup First Division. On Saturday morning the Argentine side won their Semi Final against Valke to book a place in the Final against the Griffons. The stand-out performer in the Semi Final was fly half Domingo Miotti. He not only slotted goals but also went over for a try. The team’s three remaining tries were all scored by front-rowers. Touching down were Lucio Sordoni, Leonel Oviedo, and Nicolás Solveyra.

Mariano Galarza
Back in the Top 14 with a bang are Bayonne. The Basque club completed an upset victory over Racing 92 in Paris on Saturday. In doing so the club has begun extremely well and have already made the task of avoiding relegation easier. Debuting for Bayonne was Mariano Galarza who moved from Bordeaux to Bayonne this season.  Juan Imhoff started for Racing 92 and was a try scorer.

Belize
Rugby Americas North and World Rugby are set to gain a new associate member union, Belize. The Central American country is to join both entities on Saturday, remarkably doing so after just four years of existence. With it all continental areas of Central Americas are members. Attention can now turn to realizing the dream of having Belize competing in test match rugby.

Uruguay RWC Jerseys
If there were a prize for the most amazing RWC 2019 jersey it would – hands down – go to Uruguay. Los Teros will be playing in a beautiful uniform in Japan. It has already proven to be a favorite among neutrals with fans having made inquiries with Americas Rugby News about how and where to buy the shirts.

 

UNDER

Paraguay
Losing 35-27 against Mexico was not supposed to happen for Paraguay. The fact that it did underlines the serious position which the South American team is in. In recent years Paraguay has fallen well behind where it sued to be with both Brazil, and Colombia having overtaken there Paraguayans. Now having lost against Mexico it is well beyond a scenario of alarm bells ringing.

Unión De Rugby Del Paraguay URP
In July the Unión de Rugby del Paraguay (URP) announced a campaign to capture Argentine players via the eligibility laws. The motivation for this was for Paraguay to have an increased player base and, consequently a superior test side. The policy not only backfired against Mexico but the public are far from impressed. The URP decided against posting their roster or match day 23 against Mexico so as to hide the identities of the players.

Canada’s Slow Start
A slow start and inaccuracy at the set piece cost Canada dearly in their match against Leinster on Saturday afternoon. Hugo Keenan’s try in the 80th minute gave Leinster a 38-35 win. The home side had done well to recover from a poor opening half that saw them down 19-0 until the 40th minute, but it wasn’t enough against their determined visitors.

Rugby Canada
The team announcement on Thursday was accompanied by an incredible revelation – “There will be no stream for Saturday’s game but updates will be available on Twitter.” This was, of course, met with a barrage of criticism on social media by fans who could not attend in person. So negative was the reaction that Rugby Canada officials were forced into action. To their credit, the game was streamed live with peak viewership topping 2,100. The lingering question is who thought it was acceptable not to provide a broadcast in the first place? It’s yet another PR blunder from the beleaguered organization that has struggled to connect with its audience.

Women’s World Cup
There is no more Women’s Rugby World Cup. That is to say that the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup is to instead be the 2021 Rugby World Cup. World Rugby have taken the decision to remove Women from the title to thereby make it level with the Men’s Rugby World Cup for importance. While this may receive applause from the standpoint of equality, it is something which will confuse casual and new fans greatly. It also fails to address the inequality in funding for the women’s game. The fact remains the two tournaments remain separate entities. Would not adding ‘Men’s’ have been a more reasonable solution?

Aphiwe Dyantyi
South Africa will name their final World Cup roster today. Expected to be missing is 24-year-old winger Aphiwe Dyantyi, who won the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year award in 2018. Unlikely to have been included in the initial squad as it was due a hamstring injury, his chances of even being on standby have taken a hit after revealing he had tested positive for a banned substance. Dyantyi has denied any wrongdoing and he will need to act swiftly to prove his innocence.