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

Toronto Arrows
Toronto’s first home game at their temporary base in Atlanta was a winning one and then some. An early kickoff time and the coast-to-coast travel seemed to leave Seattle devoid of energy as they were beaten from start to finish with the final score reading 52-7 in favor of their hosts. The 45-point winning margin set a new record in Major League Rugby.

Austin Gilgronis
Mack Mason kicked a penalty goal with time expired to give the AG’s a 17-15 win over Rugby ATL at Bold Stadium on Saturday evening. The result is an historic occasion for one of Major League Rugby’s founding members, the first time they have won three matches consecutively. They will try to make it four against the struggling Seawolves on Sunday.

LA Giltinis vs Houston SaberCats
Credit goes to the SaberCats for reviving their season first with the inspired win over San Diego, and then for hanging with the league’s best team for 65 minutes on Saturday. In the end LA were winners but they will leave knowing that the win had to be earned. It’s unfortunate that the production and commentary team somehow had the wrong score for nearly the entire game, at one point incorrectly stating that the Cats were in front when they were, in fact, behind by a single point.

Jaguares XV, Peñarol, Selknam
Three of the four spots in the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby have been claimed. Los Jaguares XV, Peñarol, and Selknam will be three of the four Semi Finalists. The Argentine side was the first to qualify and the team did not slow down in their following match; a record-setting scoreless against Los Cafeteros Pro. Peñarol qualified with their win over Os Cobras while Selknam made it despite losing against the Olímpia Lions on Friday.

Olímpia Lions
The Olímpia Lions made history on Friday. The Paraguayan side defeated Selknam in a major upset. ‘El Tucumano’ Máximo Ledesma was the man of the match, kicking all 24 points for the Olímpia Lions. The 24-21 win propels Olímpia to a probable place in the Semi Finals. They are highly likely to be the fourth Semi Finalists and are favorite to win upcoming matches against Os Cobras and Los Cafeteros Pro.

Domingo Miotti
Miotti kicked the Western Force to a 31-30 victory on Friday. He landed a penalty in the final play of the match to give the Western Force a last-gasp victory over the Waratahs. It was a repeat of seven days earlier when the Argentine flyhalf secured a win for the Western Force over the Melbourne Rebels. Both Tomás Cubelli and Santiago Medrano joined Miotti in the starting line-up on Friday.

Tyler Ardron, Benjamín Urdapilleta
The Can-Arg connection impressed on Saturday. Canada captain Tyler Ardron was a try scorer and Argentine flyhalf Benjamín Urdapilleta kicked 11 points for Castres in their home win over Toulouse. The derby victory was the 8th-place team beating No1 in the Top 14. Castres are now just one point outside of the play-off zone.

Facundo Cordero, Santiago Carreras, Matías Moroni
Cordero, Carreras, and Moroni each scored tries in the English Premiership this past weekend. Exeter were 43-13 winners over Wasps, with Cordero scoring once in the bonus point win. The uncapped speedster might be playing himself into a Pumas jersey. The Carreras try was not enough for Gloucester who were beaten by Sale. Moroni scored for Leicester in a narrow loss against Bath on Sunday.

Saracens & Sophie de Goede
The Canadian international starred for Saracens in their exciting win over Loughborough on Saturday. Playing at No8, de Goede contributed 18 points including two tries and four conversions. Emma Taylor and Alysha Corrigan also started the match. Sarries maintained their six-point lead over Harlequins at the top of the Premier 15s table. Canuck winger Paige Farries scored her fifth try of the season in a losing cause for Worcester.

 

UNDER

Peñarol Uruguayan flyhalves
Peñarol are competing without any specialist Uruguayan flyhalves. The Uruguayan team is enjoying a strong season. After seven rounds Peñarol are in second position and have qualified for the Semi Finals. The team’s starting flyhalf in all matches has been Martín Roger. Felipe Etcheverry is injured. With Juan Manuel Cat pulling out of professional rugby, Uruguay has no ready replacement at No10 for Felipe Berchesi. This is a serious concern ahead of the RWC 2023 qualifiers in July.

Pumas Forwards Injury Count
The status of Argentina’s home July internationals against Wales and Georgia is unknown. Mario Ledesma will have worries over a number of players. Loosehead props Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro and Mayco Vivas are both in doubt as is starting hooker Julián Montoya and hulking flanker Marcos Kremer. Another flanker, Santiago Grondona, will not play following surgery.

Seattle Seawolves
The Seawolves hit rock bottom on Saturday. Seattle fell to a record defeat against the Arrows in Atlanta. The result restricts the team to one win thus far in the 2021 MLR season. The team is bottom of the Western Conference and has the worst point differential of all teams in the league. It has not been the best of starts for the two-time MLR champions.

Gold Mine Mud
The playing surface was not the best at the Gold Mine; yet the rugby played made up for the challenging conditions. In addition to the match going down to the wire there were some quality runs made and nine tries scored in all. Argentine Julián Domínguez went over for a fine indivudual score, fending and stepping off both feet to beat three defenders.

Julian Dominguez Widmer – I hereby declare you KING OF MUD RUGBY! 👑https://t.co/yKaETnh82C @NEFreeJacks @nolagoldrugby @usmlr #MLR2021 pic.twitter.com/VIuYH8oV1R

— The Rugby Network (@therugbynetwork) April 17, 2021

Cafeteros Pro
It has been a tough debut season for Colombia’s SLAR franchise. The team remains winless, though, the goal of elevating the level of players has undoubtedly occurred. This took on an unthinkable dimension on Friday. Los Cafeteros Pro faced the unbeaten Jaguares XV with 14 starting Colombians. This was partly to cover for injuries, though the leading factor was rotation; Los Cafeteros Pro want fresh players for matches that they have a greater means of competing in.

Cobras
Os Cobras played some good rugby on Friday. The Brazilian side were nonetheless comfortably beaten by Peñarol. The 40-12 defeat further complicated chances of reaching the Semi Finals. The team is very close to the genuine Brazilian test team. It has not been able to perform to a level that will be needed for the RWC qualifiers which start in June.

Dylan Audsley
San Diego were winners over Utah on Saturday but the result came at great cost. Having already lost Chris Robshaw for in indefinite period with a dislocated shoulder, the Legion saw standout back Audsley fall with a serious ankle injury in the second half. It’s a real shame for the 27-year-old who missed out on RWC 2019 after knee surgery ended his season early.