Up and Under

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

 

UP

Women’s WXV
World Rugby have lifted the lid on a new global women’s competition – dubbed the ‘WXV’ – that will involve 16 teams spread across three tiers beginning in 2023. It’s a welcome boost to the game following the recent decision to delay Rugby World Cup 2021 by one year. The competition will take place in a newly constructed window that runs from September to October. Each team will play three tests in that space. There will be no competition during World Cup years.

Major League Rugby Returns
After a year on the shelf MLR finally returned in full over the weekend. All six games went ahead with only a slight hitch as NOLA’s game against Old Glory had to be postponed by 24 hours due to a positive COVID test. The Utah Warriors, Rugby United New York, Rugby ATL, and the Houston SaberCats were all opening round winners. So too the LA Giltinis, who celebrated their regular season debut in impressive fashion at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The Rugby Network
MLR launched it’s own streaming service in partnership with RugbyPass just in time for the new season. It wasn’t perfect – the Arrows broadcast started well into the match and a few viewers reported having some issues with stuttering – but overall it gets a thumbs up from us. Having the games that aren’t geo-blocked immediately archived is excellent and in our view the service is vastly superior to the old Facebook Live offerings. Canadian viewers will feel somewhat aggrieved that the CBS match was blacked out given the channel is unavailable to half of the country, a policy MLR should revisit.

Súper Liga Americana de Rugby
South America’s new professional competition is also underway. Just one week in and SLAR has surpassed last year’s false start with five games played. Peñarol won twice over the course of the week, first against the Olímpia Lions and then Cobras. Selknam beat Cafeteros and then Olímpia, and the Jaguares crushed Cafeteros in their only match so far.

Nate Ebner
Ebner has made a surprise return to the USA Eagles squad ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. The professional football player has been cleared by the New York Giants to compete in rugby before returning to the NFL for the 2021-22 season. Ebner last played competitive rugby at the 2016 Rio Olympics. During the time since the 32-year-old added his second and third Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots before signing with the Giants.

Saracens
Over in the Premier 15s four Canadian internationals helped Saracens end Exeter’s seven-game winning streak. Sophie de Goede was named Player of the Match. The game featured a record 11 North American players all told with a further three Canucks and four Eagles named in the Chiefs lineup. USA captain Kate Zackary was a surprise selection at outside center.

 

UNDER

North American RWC 2023 Qualifiers
This past week saw changes confirmed for the North American regional qualifiers for RWC 2023. The outcome means that Mexico and Caribbean members of RAN nations will not have an opportunity to compete in the RWC 2023 qualifiers which begin this year. In short, Canada and the USA automatically represent RAN in the RWC 2023 qualifiers.

San Diego Legion at James Regional Sports Park
The first game of Major League Rugby’s return on Saturday after a year’s hiatus was unique to say the least. It was played at James Regional Sports Park in south Las Vegas, complete with lopsided uprights and a gale force wind unimpeded by any surrounding structures. General play was compromised by the conditions with numerous handling errors. One has to question why San Diego have shifted to Vegas at all given there were no fans in attendance there either.

Seawolves, Arrows, Gilgronis
Dropping their opening matches of the new season were the Seattle Seawolves, Toronto Arrows, and Austin Gilgronis. All could have been considered favorites to win and will be disappointed with the results. NOLA Gold might also be added this list after scrambling to salvage a draw against Old Glory DC at The Gold Mine. It was a game in which they dominated possession and territory but failed to take advantage of scoring opportunities.

MLR Trial Laws
Prior to the weekend kickoff MLR confirmed a handful of trial laws that will be use during the season, or at least for the start. Not only is the timing bad, but at least three are completely needless if not retrograde in effect. The scrum rule has already prevented some teams from exerting dominance at the set piece while the lack of conversions on tries scored under the posts has produced no tangible benefits. If we had a vote those two in particular would be dumped immediately.

MLR Broadcast Misses
There were a couple hiccups with the launch of The Rugby Network though overall it was a success. Some of the camera work, however, left a lot to be desired. Several cards dished out over the weekend were missed entirely by the production crew. With commentary teams not on location and at the mercy of their screens it was impossible for them to pick up on the oversights. Most egregious was during the Arrows game where a red card was handed out but nobody noticed. These are critical moments and the issue must be fixed ahead of this coming weekend’s games.