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

Cobras Looking to Sting with Brazilians
Brazil’s professional rugby team, Os Cobras, have confirmed their player roster for Super Rugby Americas 2023. The team is dominated by Brazilians. Veteran Gabriel Paganini will captain the team from the second-row. Back-rower Adrio Melo will be his understudy. Four Argentines are on the roster this year.

Raptors recruit names from MLR for Super Rugby Americas
The Raptors have recruited ten players from Major League Rugby sides: Payton Telea-Ilalio, Ronan Murphy, and Christian Ostberg from Austin; Fortuny and Will Crawford from Houston; Patrick Madden and Dom Iacovino from San Diego; Ryan James from LA; Shawn Clark from Dallas; and Canadian international Siaki Vikilani from Toronto. Echeverría, Magno, Max Dacey, Ethan McVeigh, Watson Filikitonga, and Seimou Smith have previously turned out in MLR.

Super Rugby Americas Lifeline for Colombians
The American Raptors have entered into a partnership with Los Cafeteros Pro and the Federación Colombiana de Rugby (FCR). The relationship is for Super Rugby Americas 2023. The Colombians moving to Colorado are back rows Diver Ceballos and Juan Pacheco, flyhalf Santiago Gálvez, midfielder Juan David Agudelo, and winger Alain Altahona.

New Matches at the Rugby World Cup
RWC 2023 will feature new matches at the Rugby World Cup. There are to be fixtures that have never taken place before in RWC history. There are new games in each of the four pools. Three teams will be facing an entire new list of teams in their respective RWC 2023 matches – Chile, Portugal and Namibia.

Joel Sclavi the match-winner for La Rochelle in Champions Cup
In the final play of the match, Puma Joel Sclavi scored for La Rochelle beside the posts. The try was the first score of the match for the French side who were playing at home against Ulster. La Rochelle won the low-scoring encounter 7-3. Also in France, Bautista Delguy scored for Clermont in their loss against the Leicester Tigers.

Benetton win big with Ignacio Mendy touching down
Ignacio Mendy was also a try scorer over the weekend. Playing wing for Benetton, the Argentine touched down in his team’s big win over Bayonne. Mendy was unused by Michael Cheika in 2022. He was absent from all rosters for the year. His form in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and Challenge Cup may see him involved for Los Pumas in the World Cup year.

Women’s Eagles Players recruited by English Club
Darlington Mowden Park have announced the signings of five USA Eagles for the remainder of the Premier 15s campaign. Scrumhalf Olivia Ortiz and utility back Tess Feury were the first to sign on, followed by hooker Kathryn Treder, flanker Rachel Ehrecke, and another versatile back Meya Bizer.

Santi Álvarez back for Los Pumas 7s
Former Pumas sevens captain Santiago Álvarez has been recalled to Argentina’s roster for the next two rounds of the World Sevens series. The 28-year-old has been absent for the best part of a year with an ACL injury to his right knee. Álvarez is one of 14 players named to travel for the Oceania leg of the circuit, to be played in Hamilton and Sydney over the next two weekends.

UNDER

Ledesma being Jackaled from Dallas
The Dallas Jackals are in danger of losing Mario Ledesma. The MLR side announced the recruitment of Mario Ledesma on the Coaching Staff as Assistant Coach and Consultant in September. The former Pumas hooker and head coach has held advanced talks with Clermont about coaching the team that he played for from 2005-2011.

A month out for Andrés Vilaseca
Andres Vilaseca suffered a broken finger and will be out for four weeks. The Uruguayan captain is out when Vannes need him involved. The team were 16-15 losers against Agen this past week. Back-to-back Pro D2 losses see Vannes now out of the promotion zone. The team is 7th after 17 rounds of the season.

One minute for Santiago Arata
In his comeback from an injury layoff, Santiago Arata had a short-stay. The Uruguayan was a 60th minute replacement for Castres but was forced off in the 61st minute due to concussion protocol. Arata suffered a broken hand which saw him sidelined for a month. It is unknown whether his next match for Castres will be in the Top 14 or the Champions Cup.

Miotti Goes Down
Another to miss out was Domingo Miotti. The former Pumas fly half was handed a start for the Glasgow Warriors this past weekend. Miotti was forced off injured in the first half in the Challenge Cup match against Perpignan. Fellow former Pumas fly half Patricio Fernández was involved for Perpignan. He played inside center.