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

Joe Biden offers support for USA World Cup Bid
U.S. President Joe Biden has officially declared his support for the USA’s Rugby World Cup Bid. Final documents have now been submitted to World Rugby with USAR seeking to host both the 2031 Men’s and 2033 Women’s events. World Rugby Council will formally determine the hosting rights on May 12. The Bid notably has identified 24 cities as potential hosting sites for matches at either or both of the events.

Canada and Jamaica earn spots spots at Sevens World Cup
The Canadians were double-winners at the Rugby Americas North Sevens this past weekend. That result was expected, so it’s the Jamaican Men we turn our attention to. The Reggae Crocs are also headed to the Commonwealth Games after seeing off a determined Cayman Islands side in the Quarter Finals and finishing runners-up. A special mention to Oshane Edie, who became the first Jamaica 7s player to represent his country in 100 games.

Eagles Inspire Exeter Chiefs to Title
The Exeter Chiefs claimed their first ever women’s title as they thrashed Harlequins 57-12 on Saturday to lift the Allianz Cup. Five USA Eagles featured for the winners, four of them starters, with four Canadian internationals featuring as replacements. Co-captain Kate Zackary led by example with two tries, a mark matched by Hope Rogers. Gabby Cantorna landed four conversions and Megan Foster added two.

Bautista Delguy Gets a Double
Pumas winger Bautista Delguy scored two tries on Saturday. He did so for Perpignan who were beaten 32-16 away by La Rochelle. Delguy’s tries were a bright spark in what was a well-beaten team. He was joined in the team by fellow Puma Joaquín Oviedo while Facundo Bosch started for La Rochelle and Ramiro Herrera was a replacement. Uncapped Argentine prop Joel Sclavi started ahead of Herrera.

Rodrigo Capó Ortega Honored as Benjamín Urdapilleta Shines in Dour Match
Castres were 12-0 winners on Saturday. The Tarns defeated the out-of-sorts Clermont in a Top 14 match in which Benjamín Urdapilleta scored all the points. The former Puma was joined by Santiago Arata in the winning effort. The team paid tribute to Rodrigo Capó Ortega, the greatest Uruguayan player of all time. He played for Castres for 18 years and was a two-time Top 14 champion with the club.

Nicolás Freitas Keeps Delivering for Vannes
Uruguayan center Nicolás Freitas scored an excellent try for Vannes this past week. He went over in the second half in what was a 22-17 loss against Bayonne. Freitas and Puma Francisco Gorrissen both started the match. Elsewhere in the Pro D2, former Pumas center Bautista Ezcurra was a try-scorer for Grenoble who defeated Carcassonne 28-23.

Awesome Austin win at NOLA
Austin made it four wins in a row as they coasted to a 32-10 result over NOLA at The Gold Mine on Saturday. The Gilgronis maintain their first overall position while the Gold suffer their seventh consecutive home defeat dating back to last season. The AG’s lead the Western Conference and are the outright leaders in MLR 2022.

New England in Control of the MLR East
The Free Jacks survived a second half surge from Rugby New York to take a narrow 29-26 win at JFK Stadium on Sunday. It stretches New England’s lead at the top of the Eastern Conference table and also extends their winning streak to seven games.

Seattle Seawolves down Warriors in Utah
The Seattle Seawolves claimed a handsome 20-14 victory over the Utah Warriors at Zions Bank Stadium on Saturday evening. There was controversy five minutes in as Riekert Hattingh was sent to sin bin after the assistant referee spotted something in what appeared to be an innocuous collision with Chad Gough. The Seawolves captain looked perplexed as he strolled to the sideline.

Old Glory DC Make History
Old Glory DC made it back-to-back wins as they romped to a 50-10 victory over the Dallas Jackals at Segra Field on Saturday. It set a new franchise mark for most points scored, least points conceded, margin of victory, and tries scored with eight different players touching down. They’ve earned a week off before facing the Free Jacks on May 7.

ATL pack overwhelm their Legionary opponents
Rugby ATL earned a dominant 30-17 road win over the San Diego Legion at the Sports Deck on Sunday. The Ratlers overwhelmed their opposites at the set piece and used their suffocating defense to frustrate the high-flying offense of their hosts.

Pablo Matera Best of the Best
Puma Pablo Matera was Man of the Match for the Crusaders in their win over the Melbourne Rebels on Sunday. He was preferred to the aforementioned list of All Blacks. The numbers support him winning the award. Matera carried for 99 meters from a total of 13 carries and defeated 5 defenders with ball in hand.

Selknam Back with a bang
A stunning second-half showing took Selknam to a 41-19 victory over the Olímpia Lions on Saturday in Montevideo. The Chileans rebounded from a half-time deficit to end the contest with an impressive bonus point win. Cóndores players Tomás  Dussaillant, Matías Dittus, Domingo Saavedra, Vittorio Lastra, and Nicolás Garafulic all scored tries.

Felipe Etcheverry and Manuel Ardao Inspire Peñarol to big win
It was performance with purpose; Peñarol were 26-3 ahead at half-time against Os Cobras on Saturday in Montevideo. The Uruguayans had the bonus point win secured with over half the contest left to play. They went on to win 40-3. Felipe Etcheverry delivered the best performance from a fly half in SLAR 2022 while Manuel Ardao looks to be a player destined for the Top 14 or English Premiership.

UNDER

Canadians Left in the Test Match Dark
Rugby Canada does not yet have a CEO – and the Senior Men’s XVs have no confirmed fixtures for the July Internationals. ARN has received no shortage of queries regarding what is in store for the Maple Leafs in the upcoming test window. The answer at the moment is nothing at all. Could the French Barbarians make a stop after playing the Eagles? Is there a place in the Pacific Nations Cup, or perhaps the return of the Americas Rugby Championship? We remain waiting patiently in the dark.

Referees for Chile’s RWC Qualifiers No hablan Español
Australia’s Damon Murphy and the UK’s Luke Pearce have been appointed for the RWC 2023 Qualifiers between Chile and the USA. The first to take place in Santiago on July 9 and the second at Glendale on July 16. The appointments mean that the matches will be called in English as neither referee has prior experience officiating in Spanish. Neutral officials in SLAR could have been called-upon for these vital matches to ensure fairness for both teams. Instead, World Rugby continues the long-standing policy of favoring officials from founding unions.

No Appointments for the Americas Yet Again
World Rugby overlooked the Americas for the mid-year internationals. That is to say that there are no senior referee appointments for match officials from the Americas, though a handful will have other roles. Argentina quartet Damián Schneider, Nehuén Jauri Rivero, Tomás Bertazza, and Gonzalo de Achaval have been handed assistant referee positions. Canada will have Moe Chaudhry as assistant referee for the first Qualifier in Chile and Chris Assmus as the TMO for the French Barbarians match.

Pumas Fly Half Outlook
Benjamín Urdapilleta landed 4/4 for Castres on Saturday. Nicolás Sánchez kicked 2/5 for Stade Français. Both Pumas were involved in winning efforts. Tomás Albornoz started in the  URC for Benetton against the Bulls but was not the goal kicker while Santiago Carreras played fullback for Gloucester. Of them, and others Urdapilleta is the form fly half. The problem is that he is 36-years-old. Argentina are going in to a new international season with a big unknown being the fly half position.

Toronto were Woeful Arrows in Houston
The Houston SaberCats dealt a savage beating to the Toronto Arrows at AVEVA Stadium on Saturday evening. While the final score read 29-17 to the home side, three late tries masked what was an otherwise woeful performance from the visitors who trailed 29-0 well into the final quarter. Missed tackles, a non-functioning lineout, and a litany of handling errors plagued the Canadian side who now have to regroup before their must-win game against New York on May 8.

Another TMO debacle for Major League Rugby
It’s getting a bit old now, but there’s no way to overlook yet another miscue on Saturday. Louritz van der Schyff had a legitimate try called back because the TMO somehow confused the two teams on the field. Play continued, the game went to a break, and when the broadcast returned suddenly the points were back up on the board. This is the first time we have seen a TMO rescind their own decision, with protocol thrown right out the window.

No Sting in Os Cobras
Os Cobras were on the wrong side of a 40-3 scoreline on Saturday. The Brazilians fell to their sixth loss from as many matches in SLAR 2022. The performance was notably inferior to that of the same fixture in round one of the season. Os Cobras never looked like scoring against Peñarol. They were badly outplayed in the set-piece and beaten with regularity in contact.

Pedrie Wannenburg Tragedy
Former Springbok and Austin Elite player-coach Pedrie Wannenburg passed away on Friday. The 41-year-old was tragically struck while driving his vehicle by a speeding car involved in a police chase. His wife and two children were also in the vehicle, with his 8-year-old son hospitalized. Wannenburg won 20 caps for South Africa and was a Super Rugby centurion. He moved to the USA in 2016 and made huge contributions to American rugby, both at the professional and amateur level.