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. In this week’s edition ARN has one final look before RWC 2019.

UP

Dominican Republic
In the final weekend before RWC 2019 the Dominican Republic played host to the British Virgin Islands in a RAN test match. The home side would score all of the points in claiming a 15-0 victory at Saint George School. The fixture had the blessing of both the British and Japanese embassies.

Major League Rugby at RWC 2019
39 players from the 2019 MLR season will play at RWC 2019. They are to do so for three different competitors – Canada, USA, and  Uruguay. A fourth country – Tonga – has ties to MLR through two players while others are certain to join the ranks for the 2020 season. All but one team – the Utah Warriors – will have players from their 2019 squads taking part in Japan. The arrival of professional rugby in North America is already making its mark at the international level.

Diego Ormaechea
In a history confirmation Diego Ormaechea has become the first Uruguayan to be inducted in the World Rugby Hall of Fame. The former captain and Head Coach of Los Teros will be inductee No.148 and is one of six players going in this year. Ormaechea had a test playing career of two decades, from 1979-1999. He would earn 54 caps with the 52nd, 53rd, and 54th being RWC matches at the 1999 tournament. At that tournament he was the oldest player and aged 40 he scored a try to complete two world records.

Argentina’s Excluded On Fire in France
Mario Ledesma did not select wingers Juan Imhoff or Santiago Cordero for RWC 2019. Both players have been in strong form so far this season in France and scored tries in the Top 14 over the weekend. Also playing well was fly half Patricio Fernández while Facundo Isa had a tremendous match in the back-row.

SIC, Belgrano, Hindú and Pucará
The regular season of the arguably world’s leading amateur competition, the URBA Top 12 was completed this past weekend. With it the Semi Finals were confirmed. They are to be SIC vs Pucará, and Belgrano vs Hindú. These clubs have had an extraordinary impact on Argentine rugby over the years. They are all responsible for players in Argentina’s RWC 2019 roster including the likes of Tomás Cubelli, Bautista Delguy, Felipe Ezcurra, Tomás Lavanini, Lucas Mensa, and Guido Petti.

UNDER

Justin Blanchet
Days before departing for Japan Canada lost the hard-hitting flanker Justin Blanchet. He was ruled-out of the tournament after sustaining an arm injury against the USA on Saturday. He is replaced by second row Josh Larsen. There are additional concerns for Canada with Kyle Baillie unlikely to face Italy in the opening match for the North Americans.

Frédéric Michalak
As if France vs Argentina in Tokyo was not big enough already a notable former French test player has come out and slammed Argentina. The RWC 2003, 2007, and 2015 player declared that only Pablo Matera is a world class player. In doing so he praised Matera as being a tremendous defender and attacker, with demonstrable abilities to break the defense. The remainder of Argentina’s 31-man roster are not of the same category with Michalak deeming none to be world class players.

Player Eligibility Rules
The flaws of eligibility rules were outlined by Americas Rugby News this past week. In the article we documented how all players born abroad qualify for their respective RWC teams. Some are clearly appropriate selections but others could be considered far more closely attached to a different country than the one they are representing.

Many have called out England for selecting grandparent-qualified New Zealander Willi Heinz instead of Dan Robson or Ben Spencer, while others have slammed Ireland for dropping Devin Toner in favor of Jean Kleyn, a South African called up just days after fulfilling his three-year residency requirement. In truth only a half-dozen countries can claim to be exempt from such criticism.

The question of consistency can also be raised. World Rugby disqualified Spain for having fielded French u20 players yet over 30 others have comparable representative duty that are considered eligible under the same regulations. With the residency rule stretching to 5 years in 2021 and u20 players no longer able to be captured, these discussions should be considerably less frequent moving towards RWC 2023.