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

Uruguay
In RWC 2015 Australia ran in eleven tries to defeat Uruguay 65-3. This past Saturday the same fixture saw the Wallabies winning 45-10 as they scored four fewer tries. The result was a strong indication of the progress from Los Teros. Their domestic High Performance Center has genuinely made them among the biggest improvers during the RWC 2015-2019 cycle.

Japan
Tournament hosts Japan remain undefeated. On Saturday the Asians defeated Samoa to now have 14 competition points. Ireland are second with 11 while Scotland have 5 though are expected to double this on Wednesday against Russia. With all eyes on this coming Sunday’s match in Yokohama the Japanese are on verge of writing history.

Australia
With 11 competition points Australia are leading Pool D. A win over Georgia on Friday will see them qualifying for the Quarter Finals. Once there anything could happen. Indeed in 2019 the Wallabies defeated New Zealand.

England
Having been eliminated in the group stage at home at RWC 2015 the team has turned around their fortunes. On Saturday England became the first team to secure a spot in the Quarter Finals. They await the runner-up of Pool D which looms as most likely being Australia.

Fiji
The Flying Fijians rebounded well from their loss against Uruguay to hammer Georgia in their third fixture. The result places the team in third position, making them likely to be direct qualifiers for RWC 2023. Fiji can also still make the Quarter Finals. To do so they must defeat Wales on Wednesday and also require other favorable results.

France
Les Blues had two games this past week and came away with two victories. The results see France already secured of a place in the Quarter Finals. Of note is that France are yet to really play well. Should they deliver a strong performance against a Tier 1 rival then the opposition will be in grave danger of being defeated.

Ireland
The Emerald Isle recovered from the loss against Japan to defeat Russia in their third match. With it the Irish have 11 competition points, placing them in second position of Pool A. A win over Samoa will see them reach the Quarter Finals and they can still win the pool.

New Zealand
The All Blacks had an eventful past week. They played against both Canada and Namibia and won both games easily. Having earlier claimed a win over South Africa the reigning RWC champions are set for a Quarter Final and will be very hard to stop.

South Africa
The Springboks enjoyed a massive 46 point win over Italy on Friday. The result sees them now needing to beat Canada to book a place in the Quarter Finals. The match against Italy saw South Africa dominating the scrum and having a field day in general play. This is a serious title contender.

 

UNDER

Argentina
Los Pumas crashed out of Quarter Finals contention with a bang. Their humbling defeat at the hands of England was a brutal reality check that the Jaguares project has failed. Argentina were outmatched with only Guido Petti realistically being up to the standard of England. Sure the refereeing against France was substandard but Argentina would not have gotten beyond the Quarter Finals regardless. This Pumas team is not a good one by past RWC standards.

Canada
Yet to fire a real shot after two appearances are the Canadians. They were far short of meeting their expectations against Italy and then went scoreless against New Zealand. Of grave concern for Canada now is their selected side to face South Africa. It means that there will be key players un-rested ahead of the final match vs Namibia. The form of Namibia also means that Canada should not be considered favorites.

USA
The Eagles played very well against France before ultimately conceding a late rush of tries. The performance was solid overall though the French defense was able to stop the USA from crossing the line. In the end the USA missed out on a bonus point which sees the Eagles bottom of Pool C. They must now defeat Argentina or Tonga to move up and finish the campaign on a high.

Georgia
Having played so well against Uruguay the Georgians went into their match against Fiji looking for their second win. It was not to be as they fell apart in the second half. They can be excused for doing so as the lack of preparation time was their achilles heel. It means that direct qualification for RWC 2023 is now very unlikely.

Italy
RWC 2019 continued Italy’s inability to reach the knock-out stages of a Rugby World Cup. They had their backs against the wall with both New Zealand and South Africa being in the pool. Yet given how well they played against Namibia and Canada it was a severe disappointment to see such a capitulation against South Africa on Friday.

Argentina Selection Policy Failure
Matías Moroni is not a winger and Argentina never needed him there. Santiago Cordero and Juan Imhoff are both better finishes as is Bautista Delguy. The same is true of Javier Ortega Desio who seems to play better on the flank than at No8. Both Moroni and Ortega Desio failed to impress during the tournament. The non-selection of Cordero, Imhoff, and Facundo Isa was an appalling display of politics.

Facundo Gattas
This was not a good week for South American discipline. Uruguay’s Facundo Gattas was red carded against Georgia and had his appeal denied. The disciplinary committee decided to take no quarter despite Gattas’ red having been far from being as dangerous as earlier hits from other players. As such his RWC was cut short.

Tomás Lavanini
On Saturday Tomás Lavanini became the first Puma to receive two career red cards. He was sent off for a high tackle with direct shoulder to head contact on England captain Owen Farrell. By law it was a straight red card and no valid argument can be made to the contrary. With Lavanini joining the Leicester Tigers he may have also done serious damage to continuing his test career.

Three Rest Days
It has been a recurring problem during the RWC and this past week was no exception. There were teams forced to play twice with just three rest days in between. A potential classic match between Fiji and Georgia was ruined due to the Lelos lacking recovery time following their match vs Uruguay. Consider also that Russia vs Ireland was the third game in ten days for Russia. The four pools of five format has well and truly run its course.