Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
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
From 12 to 16 for Women’s World Cup
The Women’s Rugby World Cup will expand from 12 to 16 teams for RWC 2025. The change is the leading component of what will be different for that tournament when compared to RWC 2021 which will be played in 2022 in New Zealand. The host country of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup will automatically qualify for the tournament. Additional automatic qualifiers will be the four RWC 2021 semi-finals.
Pumas Sevens extend podium streak
Argentina won Bronze at the Sevilla Sevens. The tournament marked the fourth consecutive podium finish for Argentina this season. The South Americans were 3rd in both Dubai tournaments, 2nd in Málaga and 3rd in Sevilla. The team rebounded from a disappointing performance against Australia in the Semi Finals on Sunday to defeat Ireland in the Bronze Final. Los Pumas are second in the overall season standings behind South Africa.
Century mark for Naya Tapper and Stephen Tomasin
Two Eagles reached historic career milestones in Seville this past weekend. Naya Tapper became the first USA women’s player to reach 100 career tries on the World Sevens Series. She is the third from the Americas following Bianca Farella and Ghislaine Landry, and the 12th across all nations. Tomasin becomes the fourth USA men’s player to hit the mark, following in the footsteps of Carlin Isles, Perry Baker, and Zack Test.
Uruguay export Nicolás Freitas
Nicolás Freitas is departing Uruguay to play professional rugby in France. The star back of Los Teros is joining Pro D2 side Vannes. The move will be his first taste of professional rugby outside of South America and his third overall. He had previously trained with the Jaguares but was never given an opportunity to take the field in Super Rugby.
Raining tries for Argentines in Europe
There was no shortage of Argentines touching down in the try zone this past weekend. Rodrigo Bruni scored in Vannes’ win in the Pro D2, Mateo Carreras and Santiago Carreras scored for opposition teams in the English Premiership, Julián Montoya scored two for Leicester against Sale Sharks and Juan Cruz Mallía and Santiago Chocobares both scored for Toulouse against Racing 92.
Colombia also invading try zone
Andrés Zafra was also a try scorer. The Colombian scored for Brive in the 33-10 win over Biarritz. He was one half of an all-South American second-row in the win. Zafra and Lucas Paulos both started. Bruni will join them next season at the club. Zafra is Colombia’s first player to play professional rugby at the elite level.
El try de Andrés Zafra ayer con @CABCLRUGBY, en la victoria ante Biarritz (33-10), importantísima en la lucha por la permanencia en el Top 14. ¡Crack, Andrés! 🇨🇴 pic.twitter.com/6fzhvqGHQi
— Bitácora Rugby (@bitacorarugby) January 30, 2022
UNDER
Red Head for Lucas Paulos
Brive’s win was bittersweet for Lucas Paulos. The Puma started in what was a notable victory; yet, he was red carded for foul play. In a tense moment the second-rower crossed the limit by leading with his head against an opponent. Fellow Argentine Axel Muller was nearby but unable to prevent the incident.
Il n’y a peut-être pas la vitesse, mais il y a le geste ! Carton rouge pour Lucas Paulos 🟥 #CABBO pic.twitter.com/6t6I7VI3sS
— Canal Rugby Club (@CanalRugbyClub) January 29, 2022
Major League Rugby Communications
This past weekend saw six games played in the last weekend of Major League Rugby preseason action. Not one was streamed for fans. Team lists were unavailable for many sides, and in fact one game went ahead with no public announcement that it was even taking place until after it was completed. Some teams have yet to confirm their playing roster for the regular season that is now less than a week away. MLR might call itself professional, but at the moment its communications standards say otherwise.
The Fiasco that was and is Spain’s RWC 2019 Qualifying Disqualification
In a remarkable turn of events, Spain are set to select Mathieu Bélie. Los Leones were disqualified from the RWC 2019 qualifiers for fielding Bélie and Bastien Fuster, who were deemed ineligible players after representing France u20 in capture matches. Under the new Union Transfer regulation, Bélie is now considered eligible for Spain through ancestry. Furthermore teams are no longer able to nominate their u20 sides as capture teams. The absurdity of World Rugby’s management of eligibility is once again on full display.
