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. It is the final edition of Up and Under before Rugby World Cup 2023.

 

UP

Homegrown South Americans Take on the World
The ninety-nine South American players who will represent Argentina, Chile and Uruguay at the World Cup are all homegrown. Debutants Chile have taken a roster consisting entirely of products of Chile’s domestic system. The 100% homegrown Cóndores will face Samoa which is 15% homegrown and 85% products of Australia and New Zealand. Argentina and Uruguay join Chile in being entirely homegrown. World Champions South Africa has the other completely homegrown roster.

Proud Clubs to be represented by Cóndores, Pumas and Teros
The rosters of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay all have leading clubs represented. The capital cities of each is the largest contributor. In Argentina, Córdoba now has six players on the roster. Montevideo dominated Uruguay with clubs from three other cities represented. Prominent Santiago clubs COBS, Old Boys, Old Redlanders, PWCC, and Universidad Católica are heavily represented. Clubs from Antofagasta, Concepción and Viña del Mar also have World Cup Cóndores.

Argentina Spreading Home Matches
Los Pumas did not play at home in 2020 or 2021. Their first home matches came in the form of a series against Scotland in July 2022. Matches were played in the northern cities of Jujuy, Salta and Santiago del Estero. The western city of Mendoza hosted a Rugby Championship match against Australia 2022 and one against New Zealand in 2023. The Wallabies also played in San Juan in 2022 while South Africa played in Buenos Aires both years.

Chile Playing Nationwide
During the RWC 2019-2023 Chile cycle played at a variety of venues in Santiago. These included facing Brazil and Scotland ‘A’ as well as the RWC qualifier against the USA. Prior to that Chile eliminated Canada at the Estadio Elías Figueroa in Valparáiso. The southern city of Temuco also hosted Namibia in 2023. In 2022 Temuco was where Chile completed a series win over Brazil. Chile’s three home matches in 2023 were in Valparaíso, Temuco and Antofagasta. Temuco and Antofagasta hosted Chile vs Argentina XV while Valparaíso hosted Chile vs Namibia.

Joaquín Oviedo Added to Pumas World Cup Roster
Argentina have called-up Joaquín Oviedo to the Rugby World Cup roster. The Perpignan flanker replaces Santiago Grondona who has been force out of the tournament through injury. Oviedo is yet to play for Los Pumas under Michael Cheika but has been busy with the Argentina XV. The 22-year-old will have the opportunity of representing his country on the biggest stage of them all.

Vivas Completes the 33
Mayco Vivas replaced Tetaz Chaparro. The 25-year-old will play in the World Cup after featuring in Argentina’s test match against Spain in Madrid. Head Coach Michael Cheika experimented with tight head Joel Sclavi playing the match at loose head prop. Vivas and Thomas Gallo are the specialist loose head props on the roster.

Major League Rugby players at Rugby World Cup 2023
Despite the failure of both Canada and the USA to qualify, Major League Rugby will be well represented at the Rugby World Cup. Nine players who took part in the 2023 season will compete in France. Those players are spread across four nations, but that’s not the end of MLR’s influence. Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Namibia, Samoa, Tonga and Romania will have MLR players.

New Country Interested in Hosting Rugby World Cup 2035 or 2039
Federazione Italiana Rugby (Italian Rugby Federation – FIR) director Marzio Innocenti has confirmed that Italy would like to host Rugby World Cup 2035 or 2039. Italy was interested in bidding for Rugby World Cup 2023 but Italy and Argentina both cancelled their bids after determining that bidding against France would be far from financially wise.

 

UNDER

North American rugby mourns the loss of Bill Webb
North American rugby is mourning the loss of Bill Webb. The founder and President of the Toronto Arrows died at the age of 59 after an illness. He is survived by wife Agnes and his two sons, James and Stephen, both of whom are current Canadian age-grade representatives. He was the driving force and lead investor behind the Arrows as they became full members of Major League Rugby in 2019.

Uruguay Concentrating Home Matches
The Estadio Charrúa is the home of Uruguayan Rugby. Montevideo is where Uruguay mostly play and it is where all home matches took place from 2020-2023. Los Teros played home matches against Argentina XV, Brazil, Chile, Romania, Spain and the USA in between RWCs 2019 and 2023. During the prior cycle matches were played outside of the capital.

85% is not a small percentage
15% of Samoa’s roster for the World Cup are homegrown players. 85% are not. Samoa has benefitted immensely from the eligibility changes but the argument that it will Samoa to reclaim its lost players is misleading. Fritz Lee is the only example of a homegrown Samoa player that was lost to a rival. No other Samoa player that has made the allegiance change is from Samoa or a product of Samoa. Christian Leali’ifano, Ben Lam, Charlie Faumuina, Steven Luatua, and Lima Sopoaga were neither born nor raised in Samoa.

From Washington State into the Eligibility Black Hole
Titi Lamositele was omitted from the Samoa roster. He debuted for Samoa against Tonga in August 2023. Lamostiele turned-down test duty for the USA during the RWC 2019-2023 cycle. This included World Cup qualifiers. He was born and raised in Washington state and is a USA rugby product. Lamositele was a 73rd minute replacement against Tonga.His seven minutes for Samoa vs Tonga mean he can never again play for his native USA.

Out of My Way Ronan
Many have reacted to the incident involving former Puma Benjamín Urdapilleta on Saturday. Urdapilleta was unhappy with La Rochelle coach Ronan O’Gara and pushed the former Irish international twice. People have called for a range of outcomes including a lengthily suspension for Urdapilleta. Should he be suspended?

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