Up and Under

Up and Under is an Americas Rugby News exclusive. It identifies the best and the tops and the flops involving the Americas during the course of the past seven days.

UP

Brazil to face fellow World Cup Hopefuls Hong Kong and Belgium in July
Brazil, Hong Kong and Belgium are three Men’s test rugby teams with aspirations of making their Rugby World Cup debuts. With the tournament expanding from 20 to 24 participants for Australia 2027 the possibility is stronger now than ever. Brazil will host Hong Kong on July 20 and Belgium on July 27. Chile is set to also face both with an announcement just around the corner.

Houston remains unbeaten after fiery contest in Seattle
Houston emerged as the winner over Seattle in a fiery contest between two unbeaten sides on Friday night. When the whistle blew for full time the score read 42-40 in favor of the SaberCats, the first time they have bested the Seawolves on their home turf. In doing so the visitors have extended their lead at the top of the Western Conference table.

Miami Sharks Up and Running
The Miami Sharks made history. The Floridians were 50-21 winners over Anthem. The win marked the first win in franchise history for the rookie MLR team. Uruguayan Manuel Ardao ran in two tries with additional South American flavor seeing Felipe Etcheverry and Chilean Santiago Videla both scoring. Teros 2023 starting outside Tomás Inciarte reverted to scrum-half in the subsense of Puma Tomás Cubelli.

San Diego takes bonus point road win over DC
San Diego earned a bonus point 27-11 win over DC at Maryland SoccerPlex on Saturday afternoon. Old Glory led after 40 minutes, but a slew of handling errors and the windy conditions saw them completely shut out in the second half. Instead the legion capitalised and secured the four-try bonus on the last play of the game.

Lucio Sordoni Scores Match-Winner for Glasgow Warriors against Cardiff
Lucio Sordoni touched down for a 54th minute try on Friday. The Puma scored the final try of the match. The Glasgow Warriors were 17-13 winners at home in Scotland against Cardiff. The try gave Glasgow the lead for the first, and only, time of the match. Sordoni started the match at tight head prop. 2024 looms as a year wherein Sordoni receives regular game-time for Argentina.

Santiago Carreras Kicks Gloucester to first Premiership win at Leicester in 16 years
After sixteen years of losing away to the Leicester Tigers, Gloucester conquered Welford Road on Friday. The winning goal was one of five from Carreras in the match. Playing in his regular test match position of fly half, Carreras landed two penalties and three conversions for the Cherry and white’s. New Argentine Head Coach Felipe Contepomi is on record as intending to continue with Carreras at fly half.

Cinti and González Tries as Saracens Slaughter Harlequins in London Derby
Saracens easily won the London derby on Saturday. It was not a classic encounter; rather, it was a slaughter with Saracens downing the Harlequins 52-7. Two Pumas scored for Saracens. Center Lucio Cinti went over early on in the final quarter and flanker Juan Martín González followed shortly thereafter. Both Cinti and González played at the World Cup and were in the recent Argentina training camp in London.

Raptors Shock Yacare in Slobberknocker in Denver
The Americans Raptors have back-to-back wins in Super Rugby Americas. The victims have been Os Cobras and now Yacare who lost 35-33 on Sunday. Infinity Park has given the Raptors an unbeaten home venue thus far in 2024. Tommy Clark scored the match-winner late on or the Raptors. With it the U.S team moves up to 5th spot in the standings.

Pampas See Off Champions Peñarol in Style
Los Pampas completed a commanding 38-20 home victory over Peñarol on Friday. The result gave the Buenos Aires team back-to-back Super Rugby Americas 2024 wins after downing Selknam in Chile one week earlier. Given how Los Dogos and Yacare performed this weekend, this was an outcome to give Juan Manuel Leguizamón’s team plenty of reason to believe they can go all the way.

 

UNDER

Peñarol Have Plenty to Think About Following Back-to-Back Big Losses
Peñarol have plenty to think about with two wins and three losses thus far in 2024. It was an 18 point defeat in Buenos Aires against Los Pampas. The team has suffered from injuries but there is a clear issue in the tight-five. The props have been shoved backwards while there were two flankers in the second-row against Los Pampas.

Dogos Perfect SRA 2024 Record is Over
Los Dogos perfect record in Super Rugby Americas 2024 is no more. Selknam scored well beyond the regulation time of 80 minutes for a 23-23 draw. However, this was not a match that Selknam were fortunate to snatch away with a draw; rather, the Chilean side was the better team on the day and Los Dogos were a shadow of the side from all prior matches in 2024.

Peñarol and Uruguay Monitor Injuries
Mateo Viñals left early on Friday. It was feared that he had suffered ligament damage. Fortunately, the severity was not such to require surgery. However, Viñals is a player who will be involved in Uruguay’s Olympic Games team. In addition, Koba Brazionis underwent surgery following a fracture. Based on the usual recovery time he is out of the Olympics.

Utah Warriors Go From Bad to Worse
A 36-22 road defeat against Los Angeles sees the Utah Warriors now joining the relocated franchise at the bottom of the Western Conference. Both teams have one win and three losses thus far for 8 competition points. As bad as the start has been in the East the Anthem are winless and Miami also have the one win. However, Utah not a new franchise.

Red Controversy for Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz 
Old Glory lost captain Jamason Fa’anana-Schultzto suspension for five weeks following his red card received  against Chicago. ‘JFS’ was sent off following a collision with Billy Meakes that saw the Hounds captain toppling over head-first. While the incident looked bad, the circumstances show that the collision was entirely accidental.

Lousy November for Uruguay
The home November Internationals are being finalized for the Six Nations. Los Teros are not in the plans. Thus far it is known that none of France, Ireland, Italy or Scotland will face Uruguay in November 2024. That leaves England and Wales, two teams with zero interest in staging a match against a South American team other than Argentina. Yet again a strong World Cup cycle and tournament has not seen rugby progress from an administration standpoint.