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2021 was a busy year but not a normal one for rugby in the Americas. Nine Men’s test teams competed. No team played more than Argentina; Los Pumas had 12 test matches. Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay and the USA also all played test matches.
Which individual performance was the best of the year? To answer this question performances from every test match involving the Americas have been scrutinized.
As was the case in selecting the Americas Rugby Dream Team, form for domestic or club teams is also excluded from the analysis. Consideration is based exclusively on performances in test matches involving one or two teams from the Americas.
There were strong performances in both wins and losses. Julián Montoya and Marcos Kremer were the leading Pumas in 2021. They joined Marcos Moneta in being shortlisted for Argentina’s official award of best player of the year. Olympic Bronze Medalist Moneta was the winner. He also won World Rugby’s award for the world’s best Sevens player of the year.
Moneta was clearly the best Rugby Sevens player in 2021 from the Americas. What about in Rugby XV? Which player was the best? In addition to Montoya and Kremer those that joined them in the Dream Team have all been considered.
Click here to read the Americas Rugby Dream Team 2021.
The leading two names both come from South America, but neither are Pumas. The two are Chile’s Rodrigo Fernández and Uruguay’s Gastón Mieres.
Fernández moved from fullback to fly half in the best positional move of the year. His performance at home against Canada was simply outstanding. He also played well in Chile’s other 2021 matches, including the historic victories in Russia.
The other shortlisted name is Gastón Mieres. The Uruguayan ultimately is deemed the player who had the best individual performance of the year. It was his game against Brazil. The Toronto Arrows outside back scored a hat-trick as Los Teros recovered from nearly losing to Chile to romp to victory over Os Tupis.
Mieres and Uruguay went on to seal their place at RWC 2023. He scored against the USA and was the top try scorer from the Americas in 2021.
