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

Army West Point wins National Championship
The Black Knights are national champions for the first time. Army claimed a 20-8 win over Saint Mary’s in humid Houston on Saturday to secure the D1A Championship. Sweaty conditions affected continuity and West Point handled them best. The Gaels mounted a second-half comeback but Ben Kelly’s try in the 79th minute sealed a famous victory.

Titles for Argentina and Brazil u18s
Men’s and Women’s champions were crowned over the weekend in Rosario. The Argentine city was the setting for the 2022 South American Junior Sevens. The under 18 competition involved participants from throughout the region. Argentina won the Men’s u18 competition while Brazil won the Women’s u18’s.

Best finish of the season for Canada in Langford
Canada’s Women’s 7s side achieved their best result of the season with a 5th place finish in Langford over the weekend. 18-year-old flyer Krissy Scurfield, who was a late call-up to the tournament, impressed with four tries in four games. The USA settled for 5th while Brazil celebrated a second-ever win over England to seal 9th spot.

Pacific Four fast approaching
Fixtures for the upcoming Pacific Four tournament have now been confirmed. Canada and the USA will compete in a round-robin format against New Zealand and Australia with games taking place between June 6 and 18. All games will be hosted by New Zealand in preparation for the World Cup. Canada were deemed champions of the ‘inaugural’ Pacific Four tournament in 2021, defeating the USA in back-to-back games in Denver.

Free Jacks set record against Warriors
The Free Jacks defeated the Utah Warriors 33-17 at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday. It was New England’s 8th consecutive victory, which sets a new Major League Record surpassing the previous mark set by both the Glendale Raptors in 2018 and the Toronto Arrows in 2019.

Giltinis power towards playoffs
LA looked like a championship team again on Saturday. At least for half of the contest. The Giltinis ran in four first-half tries to go into half-time with a 31-5 lead over MLR 2021 finalists, Rugby ATL. A early blitz from LA proved an insurmountable lead. Despite being outplayed in the second half the Giltinis won by 12 points.

Peñarol are favorites for SLAR 2022 title
With a home win over Los Cafeteros Pro on Friday evening, Peñarol remain on top of SLAR. In what was a high-scoring entertaining match, Peñarol scored seven tries to claim a bonus point win. The performance saw the Uruguayans putting in periods of dominance to control the flow of the game. It was another instance of the team improving during the course of the season. Peñarol are now certainly the favorites for the SLAR 2022 title.

Selknam highlight depth with big win over Cobras
Selknam enjoyed a strong performance on Friday afternoon, downing Os Cobras 37-8 at the Estadio Charrúa. The result gives the Chilean franchise five competition points and helps power the team towards the play-offs. The five tries to one performance was from a Selknam side missing many front-line players. Of note is that Brazil’s test team was regularly defeating Chile’s during the RWC 2015-2019 cycle.

Mendy Magic  Inspires Jaguares XV to Big Win
A hat-trick to Ignacio Mendy inspired Los Jaguares XV to a 41-21 victory over the Olímpia Lions on Friday in Montevideo. The international scored three of Los Jaguares XV’s six tries against the Paraguayan franchise. A yellow card to his name stood in the way from a complete performance. He will be in Micheal Cheika’s thoughts. Has he done enough to earn a spot in Los Pumas?

UNDER

World Rugby’s Long Shadow of Controversial Player Eligibility
Spain have been disqualified from competing at Rugby World Cup 2023 for breaching player eligibility laws by selecting South African prop Gavin van den Berg in two matches. The problem was he had not legitimately completed the three-year residency requirements – the player’s club Alcobendas submitted false documentation. FER president Alfonso Feijoo will resign after an appeal is heard. Change is clearly needed there, but World Rugby too are not free from criticism from their continual failure to accept responsibility for administrating their own eligibility laws. A glorious opportunity to expand the sport’s footprint in Spain at a World Cup in neighboring France now appears lost.

Full-time call from Joaquín Tuculet
Pumas great Joaquín Tuculet has retired from rugby. His playing career ends at the age of 32. He played for Los Pumas 2012-2019, earning 56 caps and played in RWCs 2015 and 2019. He played professional rugby in the English Premiership, Top 14, United Rugby Championship, Super Rugby and Major League Rugby. The product of Los Tilos scored in the Quarter Final win over Ireland at RWC 2015 and also has wins to his name against top teams including Australia, France and South Africa.

ATL’s First Half Blues
Rugby ATL were 31-5 down at half-time on Saturday. The LA Giltinis put on a strong opening half display that was enough for them to win the match despite not scoring a point in the second half. Rugby ATL were simply not marking up on defense in the first half. Raids from both the forwards and backs saw breaks and tries resulted. Had the home side not have leaked so many tries then they may well have won the match.

SaberCats duo suspended
Wynand Grassmann has been suspended for three weeks for a dangerous clearout of Mitch Voralek in the second half of Saturday’s game against Toronto. He will be free to return against the Seawolves on May 27. Outside back Gerrie Labuschagne was sent off in the same match against the Toronto Arrows, for a tip-tackle on Voralek during the first half. He has also received a three-game suspension and will be eligible to return on the same date as Grassmann. LA’s Hanco Germishuys is next in line after being sent off against ATL.

Winless Cobras and Jackals
Two teams are yet to register a win in the two professional rugby competitions based in the Americas. In MLR the expansion Dallas Jackals are the only winless side, this past weekend beaten 53-14 by San Diego. Os Cobras were well off the pace in their SLAR match on Friday. Will either side register a win this season? Regardless many questions will need to be answered in the off-season.

Biarritz Drop Back to Pro D2
Castres Olympique defeat Biarritz Olympique 48-13 on Saturday in the French Top 14. The result sees Biarritz relegated from the Top 14 to the Pro D2. Biarritz is home to Canadian second-rower Evan Olmstead and to Argentine scrum-half Tomás Cubelli. The players have the choice of staying at Biarritz to play in the second division or transferring to a rival.