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

Uruguay set to advance in RWC qualifiers
Uruguay were taken down to the wire by Chile in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifier in Montevideo. The win sees the job half done for Los Teros. Uruguay are now preparing for their match this coming weekend against Brazil. A win will see Uruguay into the following round against North American opposition. With the win over Chile, Uruguay are now expected to go on to beat Os Tupis and to have a strong shot at competing to be Americas 1 for RWC 2023.

Chile send warning to Canada vs USA runner-up
Los Teros were given a fright by Los Cóndores. Chile had a shot at completing an upset victory. With the match into the final ten minutes, Alfonso Escobar charged over to score. He was deemed held up in the try zone. Chile had a further attacking scrum as a result. The under pressure home side managed to win a turn over and clear their lines. The 15-10 final scoreline underlined how far Chile has come under the High Performance Investment and with a professional rugby team competing in SLAR.

Argentina break records in win over Wales
Argentina were 33-11 winners over Wales on Saturday. The result meant that Los Pumas completed an historic away series win over Wales. The teams competed to a 20-20 draw seven days earlier. When added to Argentina’s win over Romania, July 2021 officially marks Argentina’s first unbeaten tour since 1992. Saturday’s win was also by a record margin of 22 points. Los Pumas will now prepare for the Rugby Championship with confidence.

Germán Kessler surpasses Keith Wood
Uruguayan hooker Germán Kessler scored both of Los Teros’ tries against Chile. In doing so Kessler now has 16 test tries for his country. This is one more than the former world record held by Keith Wood. The former Irish captain scored 15 test tries in a career of 63 test matches. Kessler has 16 from 54 caps. Wood’s world record was taken-over by Joe Taufete’e in 2019. In short, the Americas are responsible for the top two front-rower try scorers of all-time. They may go head-to-head in remaining RWC qualifiers later this year.

Women’s MLR Milestone Reached
History was made this past week in Major League Rugby. Kat Roche took charge as referee of Seattle Seawolves vs Houston SaberCats. In doing so, she became the first woman as lead official for an MLR match. Roche, 26, has been a regular as an Assistant Referee in MLR since 2019 and deserved her shot, which she made the most of. The door is now open for others to take on the challenge.

New York sneak into Eastern Conference Final
Rugby United New York are into the play-off’s. RUNY secured the last remaining place in the final four with a 35-32 loss against NOLA Gold. The narrow defeat was sufficient for New York to claim their place in the Eastern Conference Final against Rugby ATL. It is poised to be an interesting fixture; New York were 27-17 winners in Atlanta and 31-24 winners at home against the Ratlers this season.

UNDER

Brazil need to make history against Uruguay to avoid elimination
Brazil have their backs to the wall. They were beaten by 10 points by Chile and Los Cóndores then pushed Uruguay hard to lose by five points. In short, Chile and Uruguay are looking like advancing to the next round of the RWC 2023 qualifiers. Brazil are not eliminated but face more than an uphill challenge; Os Tupis need to beat Uruguay by 8 points this coming weekend. Brazil claimed wins over Canada and the USA during the last RWC cycle; notwithstanding, neither were at full-strength. Santiago Arata aside, Uruguay have called-up all of their players and the players are hungry for results.

Mallía faces challenge to return to Los Pumas
Pumas back Juan Cruz Mallía missed out on playing for Argentina this past Saturday. His three match suspension will also see him ruled-out of playing against South Africa in there Rugby Championship. Argentina are scheduled to face the Springboks in South Africa on August 14 and August 21. Mallía has applied for a coaching intervention which would decrease his suspension from the three test matches to the first two. Thus, Mallía may be able to play on August 21. Be that as it may, Mallía has competition in his natural position of center as well as at both fullback and wing. He faces a major challenge to earn a place on the roster.

RWC Qualifier debacle for Riekert Hattingh
USA Eagles back row Riekert Hattingh received a four-game suspension for a dangerous tackle on Ireland’s Ronan Kelleher during July’s test match in Dublin. Hattingh received a red card from referee Mathieu Raynal after the incident part-way through the second half. The Seattle Seawolves captain missed the final game of the Major League Rugby season. However, thanks to World Rugby’s liberal interpretation of sanctioning, it is likely that Hattingh will effectively miss only one meaningful game and will be free to play against Canada in September’s World Cup Qualifiers.

NOLA Gold win yet miss out on Playoffs
NOLA won away on Saturday against New York. The 35-32 victory was not enough and with it NOLA’s season ends while New York go into the Eastern Conference Final. NOLA Gold needed to overcome a five-point deficit in the MLR standings in addition to taking a bonus-point win while denying New York both the four-try and losing bonus points. The team will be kicking themselves for their loss one week earlier against the Seawolves in Seattle.

Kara Pryor, Fraser Hurst see red
There was some thrilling action in the final week of the MLR regular season, but also moments of regret. New York back row Kara Pryor was sent off by JP Doyle for throwing a clear punch, which was even more frustrating given a) his team didn’t need to win and b) Pryor was already on a yellow. Meanwhile Utah scrumhalf Fraser Hurst reacted badly to a marginally late tackle and appeared to stamp on the head of an LA player in full view of referee Mike Lash. Both teams are now likely to be without key players for their Conference Final matches as a result.