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

Argentina XV crowned APC champions
The Argentina XV lifted the Americas Pacific Challenge trophy on Saturday. Doing so required a second half comeback as Uruguay ‘A’  had held a 10-7 lead at half-time. Jaguares XV utility back Gerónimo Prisciantelli ran in two tries while Martín Bogado and Mariano Muntaner also touched down in the try zone. The end of the ARC means the off-season with attention now turning to 2022 and the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR).

Lucas Spago and Brazil ‘A’ get the job done against USA Selects and Paraguay ‘A’
Brazil finished the APC with a 2-1 record. They rebounded from a first up loss against Uruguay ‘A’ to mark a memorable comeback win over the USA Selects and follow it up with a big win over Paraguay ‘A.’ The 33-20 win over the USA Selects and the 58-19 win over Paraguay ‘A’ both featured stand-out performances from Lucas Spago. The young fly half directed play brilliantly. He will be one to watch on Brazil’s upcoming tour of Africa.

Chile ‘A’ end APC on a High
The 2021 APC ended on a high for Chile ‘A.’ The Chileans were 29-14 winners over the USA Selects on Saturday. The tournament was a good one for Chile’s u23’s. They defeated Paraguay 62-0 and competed well in a 24-17 loss against Uruguay ‘A.’ Meanwhile, the test teams of Chile and the USA will square-off in July 2021 with the winner, on aggregate, qualifying for RWC 2023 as Americas 2.

Americas Gets New Blood for November Internationals
There will be uncapped players representing the Americas in the November Internationals. Uruguay’s roster contains Baltazar Amaya, Carlos Deus, Juan Manuel Tafernaberry, and Mateo Viñals. Canada also have four uncapped players. They are Foster DeWitt, Isaac Olson, Matt Oworu, and David Richard. Argentina’s roster contains two uncapped players in Facundo Cordero and Ignacio Ruiz.

 

UNDER

Missing Eagles when needed most
The USA’s overwhelming defeat at the hands of the All Blacks was played outside of the World Rugby test window. Overseas clubs were not compelled to release their American players for the match. It meant that a significant number of the USA’s best players were unavailable for the match against the world’s No2-ranked team. Missing were frontline players including David Ainu’u, Ruben de Haas, Titi Lamositele, AJ MacGinty, Greg Peterson, and Joe Taufete’e.

Canada again without top names
Canada Senior Men’s Head Coach Kingsley Jones named a squad of 28 players for their tour to Portugal and Belgium in Brussels. Despite, the matches falling within World Rugby’s designated test window, only one European-based professional is on the squad. Aurillac flyhalf Peter Nelson is retained while Castres pair Matt Tierney and Tyler Ardron, who both appeared in Canada’s most recent test, are absent. Among others listed as unavailable are Montpellier lock Tyler Duguid and Stade Français scrumhalf Will Percillier.

Paraguay ‘A’ torn apart by Argentina XV
The Argentina XV showed no mercy against Paraguay ‘A’ this past week, scoring a whopping 22 tries with the final score reading 146-7. An unbalanced result was expected but it was a red card to Paraguayan lock Alejandro Montiel in the 8th minute for a head-on-head clearout of Argentine scrumhalf Joaquín Pellandini that pushed the score into uncomfortable territory.

USA Selects not so select
While we applaud the USA for participating, questions have to be asked about the composition of the team sent to Montevideo. Mike Tolkin said he was looking for players who could play for the Eagles “sooner rather than later” but the selection was incoherent with that statement. A focus on MLR talent would have been more appropriate. Every other team will see players graduate immediately to their test sides, but it’s unlikely to be the case for the USA.

Four Pumas drop out of November Internationals
Argentina’s preparations for the November Internationals took a hit this past week. Four players were ruled out of the tour to France, Italy, and Ireland. Matías Alemanno, Rodrigo Bruni, Facundo Gigena, and Juan Cruz Mallía have all been ruled out of the tour due to injury. They have been replaced by Lucas Paulos, Joaquín Oviedo, Rodrigo Martínez, and Santiago Cordero respectively.

The Scattering of the Jaguares XV
Los Jaguares XV will be very changed in 2022. Nine of the players that started against Peñarol in the 2021 SLAR final now play in Europe. Four of the men from the replacements are now also playing abroad. In short, there has been a scattering of Jaguares XV players who were part of the 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby champions.