Up and Under – RWC Special Edition

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 expanded the scope to incorporate all not only the Americas but also from RWC 2019.

 

UP

Japan
RWC 2019 began on Friday with Japan completing a 30-10 win over Russia. While the final margin was convincing it was not smooth sailing to get there. A blunder gifted Russia the first try and it took well over a quarter for Japan to get going. The hero was winger Kotaro Matsushima who scored a hat-trick.

Australia
Game two of the tournament saw the Wallabies winning by 18 points. They would score six tries to two to be deserved winners and send a warning to their higher ranked pool opponents, Wales. Center Samu Kerevi was a stand-out performer for Australia as was hooker Tolu Latu who scored a double.

England
Also crossing for two tries was Manu Tuilagi. He was the best player on the park in England’s bonus point win over Tonga. It took England until the final minutes to complete the bonus point win. Head Coach Eddie Jones would demonstrate his frustration at the performance repeatedly. While it was not the best from England it was a dream start where it matters – five competition points.

France
Trailing England by one point in Pool C is France. Les Bleus were 23-21 winners over Argentina in a match which went down to the wire. It was decided in the final play of the match though the final points came several minutes earlier via a Camille Lopez drop-goal. He and winger Damien Penaud were the heroes.

Ireland
France won their Tier 1 vs Tier 1 match by 2 points and New Zealand did so by 10 in theirs. Ireland won their encounter against Scotland by 24. It was a massive statement and a warning sign for others to take note of. Ireland’s quest to make it beyond the Quarter Finals for the first time is certainly within their reach.

Italy
A solid start for Italy saw them completing a bonus point win over Namibia on Sunday. The 47-22 win equaled the winning margin from RWC 2007 against Portugal and is the second overall behind only the RWC 2011 win over Russia. All told this was a very satisfactory start for Italy in the rain of Osaka.

New Zealand
On Saturday the RWC 2011 and 2015 champions, New Zealand showed why they are the best team in the world. A 10 point win over the next best saw the All Blacks demonstrating that they are the benchmark. Whoever wins the RWC will likely need to beat New Zealand.

Bermuda
In a test match outside of RWC 2019 Bermuda played host to Guadeloupe. It was no ordinary fixture but, rather, the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Final. Bermuda enjoyed the better of play as they completed a convincing 33-10 victory.

Paraguay
Also winning this weekend was Los Yákares. Paraguay completed a 109-0 win over Bolivia in what was the first international between the neighboring countries. Paraguay fielded a formidable line-up, one packed with players from the Americas Rugby Challenge (ARCh).

 

UNDER

Argentina
A nail-biting loss against France sees Argentina in trouble in Pool C. They must now win their remaining matches or face elimination in the pool stage. The first half was a disaster for Los Pumas but the second was the opposite. Their narrow loss came with controversy with referee Angus Gardner missing two undisputed French penalty offenses, both of which were well within goal-kicking range.

Fiji
The Flying Fijians had the better of Australia for a period of play in their Pool D match in Sapporo. They would hold a 21-14 second half lead before being caught and defeated. The Wallabies would comeback to score 25 unanswered points, too many for aniseed up against Australia.

Namibia
It was a solid start for Namibia against Italy. They would score the first try and also finish with a respectable defeat. The loss, however, sees Namibia extending their world record of defeats at Rugby World Cups. With 20 matches played the Africans have 0 wins. Their focus will be to end the losing streak against Canada in their final pool match in Kamaishi.

Russia
The Bears did notably well against Japan. The 20 point loss was half of that which had been predicted and their performance kept Japan quiet for lengthily periods. Russia, though, will be disappointed to have missed out on a bonus point after they had done so well for more than half the match.

Scotland
In the most disappointing performance from a power since the England vs South Africa pool match from RWC 2007, Scotland were humbled by Ireland. The Scots barely fired a shot as they were outperformed categorically. Their defeat was not only massive but they lost star flanker Hamish Watson from the tournament.

South Africa
A ten point loss against New Zealand saw South Africa missing out on a bonus point against New Zealand. In the grand scheme of things this may not matter as the remaining matches are not to be against comparable sides but instead Canada, Italy, and Namibia. A Quarter Final now looms against Ireland, a far tougher prospect that another Pool A side.

Tonga
The teams who lost by the largest margin was Tonga. The Pacific Islanders were beaten 35-3 by England yet deserved to have lost by less. Tonga’s resilient defense performed so well that England had to dig deep to seal a bonus point win. In the first half flanker Zane Kapeli put in a perfect tackle on England’s leading ball-carrier, Billy Vunipola

World Cup Refereeing Controversies
This comes in the plural form for a reason – the performances of rugby’s best referees was not good enough. On the opening night Nigel Owens and the team missed a late and dangerous no-arms tackle to the head from Japan’s James Moore; the next game saw Ben O’Keefe missing a similar incident from Australia’s Reece Hodge; while Angus Gardner missed a blatant offside from Louis Picamoles that was a game-changing moment with the Pumas trailing by only two points. Mario Ledesma was especially disappointed in Gardner’s performance and made it known in his post match interview.

Matías Moroni
Argentina’s Matías Moroni breached Law 9.27 in his team’s defeat against France. The citing commissioner gave him an official warning for foul play. Due to the threshold of the incident being below that of a red card Moroni will be free to play against Tonga on Saturday if selected.

Reece Hodge
Australian winger Reece Hodge faces a ban for foul play against Fiji. He was cited by John Montgomery (Scotland) for an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.13 (dangerous tackle) in the 25th minute of Australia’s RWC 2019 Pool D match against Fiji. Hodge now needs good luck to avoid being sent home through suspension.

Bolivia
In their first ever test match Los Colorados were held pointless by Paraguay. The 109-0 defeat does not read well though it must be noted that Bolivia were just 5-0 down after 20 minutes. They were not helped by traveling to Asunción with 20, rather than 23, players.