Up and Under

Up and Under is an Americas Rugby News exclusive. It identifies the best and the worst involving the Americas from the past seven days.

 

UP

Rugby World Cup 2023 – Top Americas Players
Americas Rugby News crunched the data to confirm the Top Americas Players at Rugby World Cup 2023. Eleven categories were looked at with Argentine, Chilean and Uruguayan players all analyzed. Emiliano Boffelli scored the most points while Baltazar Amaya and Mateo Carreras were tied for most tries.

Marcos Kremer Smashes His Way to World Cup Tackle Record
The name Marcos Kremer can now appear in the book of Guinness World Records. Rugby World Cup 2023 saw Kremer making more tackles than any other player at any other Rugby World Cup. The Pumas flanker smashed the world record for most tackles, setting a new mark of nine more than the previous record. Kremer made 92 tackles for Argentina at Rugby World Cup 2023. Thus surpassed the previous record held by Welsh N8 Toby Faletau who made 83 tackles at Rugby World Cup 2011.

Americas to gain from 24-team Rugby World Cup Expansion
The change from 20 to 24 teams comes after North America missed out on Rugby World Cup 2023. Chile eliminated Canada while, after losses to Uruguay and Chile, the USA was forced into repechage. Portugal eliminated the USA. Changes mean there will be four additional places at Rugby World Cup 2027. The qualifying model for Rugby World Cup 2027 remains unconfirmed. The Americas is expected to be split into South America and North America.

Rookie Opportunities for Canadians
Canada’s roster for the tour to Spain includes five uncapped players. Dewald Kotze is set to debut, one of two specialist hookers included with the versatile Foster DeWitt a third option. Welsh-based duo Zephyr Melnyk and Jamin Hodgkins get the call, as do Seattle scrumhalf Reid Watkins and Arrows outside back Ciaran Breen.

Brazil Get a Taste of Caffera
Emiliano Caffera is the new Head Coach of Brazil. The appointment is a double as the Uruguayan will be in charge of Brazil’s Men’s and Women’s test teams: Os Tupis and As Yaras. The appointment comes with Brazil looking to be an expansion team. The new four places at the Men’s Rugby World Cup means that Brazil is closer than ever at realizing the dream of playing at a Rugby World Cup. Caffera was on Chile’s coaching staff for their debut World Cup this year in France.

Full-Strength Brazil Eye USA Eagles 
Brazil are locked and loaded for their upcoming two test matches in Spain. Os Tupis will join Canada, the USA and hosts Spain in competing in the International Rugby Cup in November. Brazil’s first Super Rugby player Wilton Rebolo is included as is Italian Semi Finalist Matteo Dell’Acqua plus Matheus Rocha, Caique Silva, New Zealander Ben Donald and Argentine Leonel Moreno. Super Rugby Americas 2023 players otherwise dominate the roster.

Rodrigo Isgró Named World’s Best Rugby 7’s Player
Rodrigo Isgró has been named the world’s best Rugby 7’s player for the year 2023. The Argentine won the award at the World Rugby Awards in Paris, France on Sunday. Isgró is the second Argentine to win the award following Marcos Moneta in 2021. Isgró started in 66 of Los Pumas 7’s 73 matches and scored 33 tries for the year on the World Sevens Circuit. He subsequently made his test debut and played three tests in 2023.

Domingo Miotti alongside Lucas Mensa
Former Pumas Domingo Miotti and Lucas Mensa started for Oyonnax against Toulon over the weekend. The all-Argentine 10-12 combination was not on a winning team but it is highly encouraging for Argentina nonetheless. In the United Rugby Championship (URC) a 9-10 Argentine combination has looked good so far this season. Gonzalo Garcia looks like being a Puma again in 2014 while Gerónimo Prisciantelli will certainly be in the conversations.

Ardron and Arata turn it on for Castres
Canadian Tyler Ardron and Uruguayan Santiago Arata were try scorers for Castres on Sunday. Castres were 27-24 away winners over European Champions La Rochelle. The win lifts Castres up to second position in the Top 14 after four rounds of the 2023-2024 season. Ardon was nominated for Top 14 Player of the Week.

Old Christians Club Claim Uruguayan Glory
There were scenes of dancing in blue on Saturday night as Old Christians won the Uruguayan Championship. After a four year wait, Old Christians lifted the trophy at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo. Old Christians downed Trébol 17-14.

Argentina Rugby Fixtures 2024
Argentina will play twelve rugby test matches in 2024. This is the same number as in 2021, 2022 and in 2023. As in the tears outside of Rugby World Cups the fixtures will come in three varieties: (i) July Internationals, (ii) Rugby Championship and (iii) November Internationals. What is new is that Los Pumas will face a Tier 2 team in Argentina in July.

Vittorio Lastra from Chile to World Cup to now playing in Italy
Rovigo signed Vittorio Lastra from Chile for the 2023-2024 season. Lastra played at the World Cup against England in Lille. He was a leading player for Los Cóndores during the Rugby World Cup Qualifiers. Lastra started at tight head prop in the history-making win over the USA in Denver to qualify for France 2023.

Diego Arbelo Playing in Italy
Diego Arbelo is now playing his rugby in Italy. The Uruguay tight head prop now plays for Colorno in the Italian Serie A Elite. He was a 19-15 winner on debut for Colorno. The club defeated Reggio Emilia on the road. The move came shortly after Germán Kessler returned to Charente in the French Pro D2.

 

UNDER

England Narrowly Past Argentina to to Win World Cup Bronze Medal
England narrowly got past Argentina on Friday in Paris, France. The outcome of the match saw England finishing their Rugby World Cup 2023 campaign on a high. England won Bronze Medal with Argentina finishing fourth. Argentina was playing much better than the English in the second-half and will feel unlucky to have lost the match.

World Cup Send Off for Long-Serving Pumas
Argentina vs England marked the end of an era. It was a World Cup send off for players on the roster. Some at the end of their test careers will be appearing in the Bronze Final while others will be watching on inside the stadium. Veterans Agustín Creevy, Tomás Cubelli, Juan Imhoff, Francisco Gómez Kodela and Nicolás Sánchez have earned their final Pumas caps.

Eagles close out WXV campaign with loss to Italy
The USA closed out their inaugural WXV campaign with a 30-8 loss to the Azzurre in Cape Town on Saturday. After a victory over Samoa to start the tourney, the Eagles fell to Scotland before Italy. Both teams were ranked below the USA prior to the tourney, with the Eagles dropping from No7 to No9 in the World Rankings.

Tucanes winless in WXV third division
Colombia’s last opportunity to find victory at the inaugural WXV came up short as Kenya took the spoils by 21-5 in Dubai on Friday. With three consecutive defeats Las Tucanes drop from 25th to 28th in the world. They will have appreciated the opportunity but now look abroad for more challenges with South America not up to speed on women’s rugby.

Another loss to England for Canada
For a third time in the span of a month, Canada have been beaten by England in decisive fashion. This time the match was at the neutral venue of Dunedin, but the result was similar with the Red Roses securing a 45-12 victory in their WXV second round collision on Friday. The game was competitive until early in the second half when the World Cup finalists pulled away. Canada now faces France on Saturday to close out their year.

Split Ends Return to Americas Rugby Championship
Hopes of the Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) returning have ended. There is officially a split with North America aligning itself with the Home Unions instead of South America. Connected to this is that Canada and the USA will return to the Pacific Nations Cup in 2024. South America will not be involved. World Rugby sought an Americas-Pacific competition wherein Chile and Uruguay would feature alongside Canada, the USA, Japan, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. South America declined.

Canada and USA to Miss Stars in Pacific Nations Cup
Part of the reason why South America said no to the Pacific Nations Cup is when the competition will be played. It will fall outside of an international window. This makes the tournament a non-starter as teams will not have complete access to their players. Uruguay, for instance, would be without a host of players such as Diego Arbelo, Germán Kessler, Manuel Leindekar, Santiago Arata, Felipe Berchesi and Andrés Vilaseca.

Pacific Nations Cup Set-Up to Fail?
The 2024 Pacific Nations Cup is slated to be a competition involving six teams. Canada, USA and Japan will be the north while Fiji, Samoa and Tonga will be the south. This is the structure for 2024. What about beyond that? Are there guarantees that this tournament will continue? If Japan and Fiji join the Rugby Championship in 2026 it will be yet another short-sighted solution.

World Rugby Green-Light Nations Cup and lock out Tier 2
The build up to the Rugby World Cup 2023 Final was controversial. Off the field the sport’s administrators voted in a new biennial World League. Set to be the ‘Nations Cup’, the competition will see 12 teams, all Tier 1, play each other. Georgia, Portugal, Uruguay, Samoa, Tonga all excluded. This is the opposite of innovation. It means Los Pumas will not play a test match in Tbilisi, Wales will not play in Uruguay while touring Argentina and the USA will be very undercooked as the hosts of RWC 2031.

Canada Still Missing Tylers
The Canadian roster for the November test matches in Spain notably comes without first choice scrumhalf Ross Braude. The reasons were not included in the media release. There remains no sign of any of Canada’s France-based professionals, among them Castres pair Matt Tierney and Tyler Ardron and uncapped Montpellier lock Tyler Duguid.

Rugby World Cup Champions on Repeat
South Africa won Rugby World Cup 2023. This marked a successful title defense from 2019. New Zealand won in 2011 and 2015. Add to this that South Africa won in 2007 and it is the same two countries winning five consecutive Rugby World Cups. The hype for France 2023 was that Ireland and France were serious contenders. Neither made the Semi Finals. Hopefully, a 24-team model will shake things up more for Australia 2027.

Rugby World Cup 2027 Draw Date to Remain Too Early
The draw for Rugby World Cup 2027 will take place in January 2026. This will mean that it happens with two full years of international competition remaining. This marks an early draw with World Rankings from the end of November 2025 to be used for seedings.