Up and Under

Up and Under is a weekly exclusive on Americas Rugby News. It reviews the best and worst from games involving the Americas teams over the previous week.

 

UP

Uruguay
Talks are underway for Spain to tour Uruguay in November. Negotiations between the Uruguayan and Spanish rugby unions are pointing towards a two test match series in Montevideo this coming November. The talks are for Spain to play twice in Montevideo. The Uruguayan capital is thus bing prepared for five plenty of rugby with Los Teros having five home matches.

USA and RWC 2031
The process is underway for the USA’s bid to host RWC 2031. The national governing body, USA Rugby, announced the formation of a speciality group of American rugby stakeholders to conduct a feasibility study. It will investigate the capability of hosting a Rugby World Cup in the USA. The feasibility study will engage with USA Rugby in addition to stadium venues, sports commissions, city government objective criteria, technical requirements, financial considerations and commercial analysis. The findings of the feasibility study will be presented to the USA Rugby Board ahead of a possible host bid.

South American Championship
The South American Championship is set for October. The competition will exclusively take place in Montevideo. It is to be a Four Nations tournament, in effect a 2020 version of Americas Rugby Championship without North Americans Canada and the USA. The Argentina XV will join the test sides from Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The teams will take-on each other  once. Match dates are confirmed for Saturday, October 17; Wednesday October 21; and Sunday, October 24.

Juan Imhoff
Argentina’s all-time top try scorer in Europe, Juan Imhoff added further to his tally. On Friday the RWC 2011 and 2015 winger crossed for Racing 92 who were handsome winners over Montpellier. Imhoff scored what was his 80th try for the Top 14 club. He was overlooked for RWC 2019 due to politics, a clear error in judgment on behalf of Argentina’s authorities. In his two outings in the 2020-2021 season thus far he has underlined his excellence.

Santiago Cordero
Bordeaux had their season’s opening round match postponed. For this reason the team’s Week 2 match was their first of the season. Bordeaux were 25-20 winners over Brive. Pumas Guido Petti and Santiago Cordero both started. The latter was a try scorer. Both men are on Argentina’s long-list for the Rugby Championship and expected to feature throughout the competition. For Cordero it represents redemption following his non-inclusion for RWC 2019. Like Imhoff, politics saw him miss out.

Facundo Isa
Facundo Isa scored in a dominant win from Toulon over Lyon. Isa’s score was the final try of the match. His score demonstrated his ball-carrying abilities. He bumped off a tackler before retaining his feet and getting over for the try. Two other Lyon defenders could only watch as the Puma went over.

Debuts in Europe 
Two 2020 Jaguares made their debuts in Europe this past weekend – Guido Petti and Marcos Kremer. Both were winners in tight contests. Debuting today was another Jaguares forward – Matías Alemanno. He did so from the bench for Gloucester and scored on debut. The trio all played in RWC 2019 and are certainties for the Rugby Championship. Eagle Joe Taufete’e made his debut for Lyon.

Facundo Cordero
Also debuting this past weekend in Europe was Facundo Cordero. The younger brother of Santiago Cordero played for the first time for the Exeter Chiefs. The team were beaten 40-17 by Saracens, though Cordero had  memorable debut; he was a try scorer. Facundo Cordero is yet to be capped by Argentina and has also not played Super Rugby. His move to the English Premiership came following time with the Argentina XV and Los Ceibos.

Sánchez vs Urdapilleta
The head-to-head match between Argentina’s two World Cup flyhalves did not disappoint. Benjamin Urdapilleta scored all 16 points for Castres, but it wasn’t enough as Nicolás Sánchez went one better, scoring 17 of the 22 points accumulated by Stade Français. The win by the Parisians was remarkable given they spent a quarter of the match short-handed after Giorgi Melikidze saw yellow and then captain Paul Alo-Emile was sent off.

Peter Nelson
Some good news at last for the Canadian international. The pandemic wiped out his short-term deal with the Seawolves and he has been otherwise spinning his wheels playing for Dungannon in the All-Ireland League. Nelson has been handed a professional lifeline with Bressane in the new French Nationale division. It remains to be seen if this will affect his Canada selection chances with Shane O’Leary set to be a regular starter with Rouen Normandie in the Pro D2.

MLR in the Mitre 10 Cup
An impressive number of players with Major League Rugby connections will turn out in this year’s Mitre 10 Cup. Most pleasing is that many of them will return for the 2021 season, with others yet undecided. Among those who started over the weekend were Free Jacks and Otago center Aleki Morris-Lome, RUNY and Bay of Plenty winger Fa’asiu Fuatai, and ATL and Southland fullback Rory van Vugt.

Ohio Aviators
Welcome back! The best-supported team from now-defunct PRO Rugby will take to the field again at the upcoming World Tens Series in Bermuda. Featuring are a large number of MLR talent and five who suited up for the original Aviators in 2016. Count us among those who would love to see the team revived in a more permanent fashion in Major League Rugby.

 

UNDER

Colombia, Paraguay
The 2020 South American Championship will not feature Colombia or Paraguay. Both opted out of competing in the competition due to the situation in their respective countries. As such 2020 will not have a Sudamérica Rugby 6 Naciones A tournament. Instead the 2020 South American Championship is to be the Sudamericano 4 Naciones.

Pumas and COVID-19
Coaches Mario Ledesma, Nicolás Fernández Miranda, and Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe tested positive for COVID-19. Marcelo Loffreda and Martín Mackey also tested positive. More alarming are the players. Tomás Cubelli, Felipe Ezcurra, Matías Moroni, Matías Orlando, Mateo Carreras, Rodrigo Fernández Criado, Lucas Bur, Bautista Pedemonte, Juan Cruz Mallía, Emiliano Boffelli, Bautista Delguy, Javier Ortega Desio, Federico Wegrzyn, José Luis González, Tomás Lezana, and Santiago Carreras all tested positive.

Rugby Championship in New Zealand
For months the speculation was that New Zealand would host the Rugby Championship. Instead, the government’s stance on COVID-19 saw Australia allocated the tournament. This is a major blow for New Zealand and a massive gain for Australia. The competition will be played in November and December. All four teams will have the chance at boosting their rankings ahead of December’s RWC 2023 draw.

Major League Rugby signings
Heading into September there should be more signing announcements yet this past week was relatively quiet. Only one new name was announced in Free Jacks flanker Joe Johnston while Mike Brown moved from New York to Dallas. Otherwise it was only extensions for returning players. LA, Utah, and Seattle remain deathly silent. Consider us unimpressed with their communications strategies.

RWC 2023
Th draw for RWC 2023 is almost here. It will take place in December. This is remarkable in itself considering that World Rugby went out of their way to favor Tier 1 unions looking to nationalize players before the residency rule is extended by two years. Indeed, the draw for RWC 2023 will not be delayed by 12 months. Thus, a problem cannot be overcome as Japan will miss out on playing at a all in the period from RWC 2019 until December 2019. For this reason the seeding is all but assured of being based on the final rankings for RWC 2019.