Up and Under

Up and Under is a weekly exclusive on Americas Rugby News. It takes a dive into the best and worst involving Americas Rugby from the past week.

 

UP

MVCC turns 162
The oldest rugby club in the Americas turned 162 this past week. Established on July 18, 1861 Montevideo Cricket Club (MVCC) was the first rugby club in Uruguay. It is recognized at the Twickenham Museum of Rugby has being the 8th oldest club in the World. The club has a tradition of producing World Cup players. Diego Magno, Diego Arbelo, Juan Andrés Zuccarino and Juan Manuel Alonso are all likely to play in this year’s Rugby World Cup in France.

Chile’s North, Central and the South get to see Los Cóndores
Los Cóndores will play four warm-up matches before Rugby World Cup 2023. The World Cup will be Chile’s first. The South American team will prepare with home matches in the North, South and in central Chile. All three matches will be played outside of the capital. The matches will be against the Argentina XV and Chile.

Uruguay Run Wild Against Zimbabwe
Uruguay ran wild against Zimbabwe on Thursday. The South Americans defeated the Africans 51-14 at the World Rugby u20 Trophy. Los Teritos scored six tries against the Junior Sables.  Zimbabwe actually scored two early tries and looked good. Uruguay regathered to dominate and win by an impressive margin. The South Americans are now preparing to face tournament favorites Scotland.

Stars to play for Argentina XV against Namibia
Stars will take to the field for the Argentina XV. A 26-man roster has been named for the first of four upcoming internationals. Rugby World Cup 2019 winger Bautista Delguy is on the roster. So too are Lucio Sordoni, Santiago Medrano, Facundo Bosch, and Martín Bogado. Make no mistake, they are all names who are worthy of spots on the World Cup roster. Argentina’s depth runs deep.

MLR flavor for Namibia in South America
Five players from Major League Rugby will tour South American over the coming weeks. Wian Conradie and Le Roux Malan are selected from the title-winning New England Free Jacks, Herman Agenbag and Adriaan Booysen from the Dallas Jackals, and Damian Stevens from the NOLA Gold are also included. Utah Warriors flyhalf or fullback Cliven Loubser has been ruled out of the tour with a minor injury but could rejoin the squad ahead of the World Cup.

Chile at Full-Strength to take on Uruguay in World Cup Warm-Up
Chile have gone for a full-strength roster to take on Uruguay. Los Cóndores travel across the Andes to face Los Teros in Montevideo on Saturday, July 29. The fixture is the first of four Rugby World Cup warm-up matches for the Chileans. The three subsequent matches will all be home matches. Martín Sigren is fit again to lead his country.

South American Beauty, but which is best?
The uniforms of all three South American countries have now been finalized. While the Chilean uniforms are all about tradition they will be new to many viewers from around the world. Both Argentina and Uruguay will play in their traditional colors but they both also have an entirely new look for their alternate jerseys.

History Awaits Juan Martín González
Juan Martín González is a rising star in rugby. At just 22 years of age, the back-rower from Mendoza tied record for most Rugby Championship tries by an Argentine forward. González scored the match-winner for Los Pumas against the Wallabies in Sydney. The try was his fifth in the Rugby Championship. This saw him equal the mark set by Juan Manuel Leguizamón who scored 5 Rugby Championship tries from 28 appearances. González has scored 5 Rugby Championship tries from 13 appearances.

Boffelli is More than One to Watch
Emiliano Boffelli has moved up to 6th place in the all-time point-scorers list for Los Pumas. He scored 14 points against Australia in Sydney. This saw him overtaking Federico ‘Ninja’ Todeschini. Both Todeschini and Boffelli are from Rosario. The 28-year-old Boffelli now has 265 points for Argentina. They have come in 52 test matches. He has always been a capable goal-kicker, though it is only in the recent stages of his test career that he has been Argentina’s regular goal-kicker.

 

UNDER

USA Fall to heavy defeat against Scotland in u20 Trophy
Scotland were 40-13 winners over the USA. The outcome is that Tuesday’s matches of Scotland vs Uruguay and Samoa vs Spain are, in realty, Semi Finals. The USA looked to play enterprising rugby against Scotland. They were rewarded as having the better of play early-on in the contest. They succeeded in breaking the line to put pressure on Scotland. However, the North Americans were not able to capitalize sufficiently.

Toronto Arrows part ways with Head Coach Pete Smith
Pete Smith is no longer Head Coach of the Toronto Arrows. The Australian’s tenure has come to a close after two tumultuous seasons in charge and five all told with the Arrows. His first year in charge saw the club finishing with an 8-8 record, which saw them finishing 4th in the Eastern Conference but 15 points out of a playoff spot. This past year marked a considerable drop in fortunes, however, as the Arrows finished at the bottom of the overall table with just one victory and two draws in 16 games.

Southern Powers form u20 Rugby Championship
A new competition is coming to the Southern Hemisphere. The four members of SANZAAR, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa have formed a u20 Rugby Championship. The same four from the Rugby Championship will compete in the new competition. This sees Fiji out in the cold without a competition. Such is rugby so often; a sport operated so badly by the few for the few.

Unthinkable Outcome in Brazil
Niterói were 212-0 winners over Carioca on Saturday. Yes, that is not a typo; one team defeated another by a scoreline of 212 points to zero. The match was a round three fixture in Brazil’s Super 12 promotion division. Both teams are from Rio de Janeiro state. Niterói scored 32 tries in the match. It is not a Brazilian record; indeed, São José were 222-0 winners over Rio de Janeiro Union in 2006.

Rodrigo Isgró Joins Los Pumas Hair Club for Men
Some say it is a good thing, others say it is a bad thing. We will put it here in under declaring that it could go in either category. Rodrigo Isgró made his Pumas debut in the win over Australia in Sydney. He put on an excellent performance; it will have consequences for other World Cup wing contenders. Post match, as is the norm, he had his head shaved. Isgró thus continued the long tradition.