Up and Under

Up and Under is a weekly exclusive on Americas Rugby News. It identifies the tops and the flops from the past seven days of everything involving Americas Rugby.

 

UP

Eagles start year with strong win over South Africa
The USA Women’s Eagles started their 2024 season with a dominant 38-17 victory over South Africa on Saturday. Played at a neutral venue in London, a hat-trick from openside flanker Georgie Perris-Redding led the away as the USA opened Sione Fukofuka’s tenure as Head Coach in style.

Argentina to Build National High Performance Rugby Center
The Centro Nacional de Rugby (CNR)  is a project that has been on the table in recent decades. Now it is official and will be opened in late 2026. The main purpose of the CNR is to centralize all the activities of the UAR, to have a structure to optimize the human resources and organizational capacity of our sport, with the focus on the excellence of the players and the game. The commitment is to make available a cutting-edge space for all sectors of the Union to interact.

u20 Rugby Championship is a Realty
The inaugural u20 Rugby Championship is official. The 2024 u20 Rugby Championship will be played in May 2024 on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. The competition will feature the best u20 players from Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa. Located in Bokarina, the Sunshine Coast Stadium will play host to a round-robin format in which all teams will play each other once.

Tapadh leibh, Scotland
The upcoming July Internationals will see history made; Scotland will play four test matches in the Americas. The tour will see test matches against Canada, USA, Chile and Uruguay. This is truly historic and hopefully others will follow. Thank you for agreeing to this tour; Tapadh leibh, Scotland.

Strong second half sees Old Glory past improved Anthem
Old Glory needed a four-try second half to overcome Anthem in Charlotte on Saturday with the final score reading 46-32 in favor of the visitors. The upstart Carolina side held a halftime lead for the first time and would earn a bonus point but couldn’t quite come up with enough to topple DC.

Seattle completes remarkable comeback win over Chicago
Seattle completed a sensational comeback win over Chicago on Saturday, overturning a 26-point deficit to leave SeatGeek Stadium with a 34-26 result. The Hounds came out flying with four tries inside the first half-hour but then watched as the Seawolves dominated the rest of the game.

San Diego do just enough in come-from-behind win over Miami
San Diego made it four wins in a row with a nail-biting 22-21 result over Miami on Sunday. The Sharks ran out to a big lead by early in the second half but a late surge by the Legion saw the 2023 Finalists stealing a hard-won victory from the jaws of defeat.

The Great Early Exit for Evan Olstead
Sanctioned with a yellow card after half an hour of play, Evan Olmstead did not return for Agen against Rouen on Friday. The Canadian left for good reason; his wife was in labor. Olmstead’s good news was furthered as Agen were 24-23 winners over Rouen. The club is now in 10th position and is just 4 points outside of the play-off’s zone.

Puma in Waiting Ignacio Mendy Scores in Benetton win over Connacht
Benetton were 18-14 winners over Connacht on Saturday in Treviso, Italy. The win came late with a try in the right corner. Earlier on in the match, Ignacio Mendy scored for Benetton, also doing so in the right corner. Mendy’s performances throughout the 2023-2024 URC season have him well-placed for a test call-up.

Julián Montoya Leads the way for Leicester Tigers
The most successful team of all-time from the Americas and from the English Premiership are captained by the same man: Julián Montoya. The Argentine hooker scored the only try for the Leicester Tigers on Good Friday. Leicester were 19-13 winners over the Newcastle Falcons in northern England.

Ignacio Ruiz Proves that Hooker is Well Covered 
An impressive display from Ignacio Ruiz helped Perpignan to a commanding win. The Catalans’ blasted past Castres on Saturday. The 43-12 win is the third in-a-row. It lifts the side to 9th position and to currently be comfortably safe from relegation. Ruiz’s solid season comes as welcome news for Felipe Contepomi and Argentina. The Perpignan hooker was Argentina’s third choice hooker at Rugby World Cup 2023 behind Julián Montoya and Agustín Creevy who is now 39.

Santiago Chocobares is Back with a Bang for Toulouse
After a lengthily injury lay-off, Santiago Chocobares made his return for Toulouse on Saturday. The Puma played inside center for Toulouse against Pau in the French south-western Top 14 clash. Toulouse won the derby-thriller 31-29. Argentina will be looking to Chocobares for a big and busy 2024.

Juan Imhoff Scores for Racing 92 in Emotional Final Match at La Défense Arena
Juan Imhoff scored for Racing 92 against Clermont in Paris on Saturday. Racing 92 were 26-10 winners as the team marches on towards the Top 14 play-off’s. The 35-year-old Imhoff scored a try in the second-half. Imhoff played opposite fellow Puma Bautista Delguy. The match was the final fixture of the 2023-2024 season for Racing 92 at the Paris-La Défense-Arena. The club’s home venue will be unavailable to the club due to its involvement in the 2024 Olympic Games.

New Deals for Argentines at Zebre Parma
When it comes to depth there is no country in the Americas that can match Argentina. Moreover, it would be conservative to suggest that Argentine depth in many positions is as good as it has ever been. However, scrum-half and fly half remain on the light side. Hence, the new deals signed by Gonzalo García and Gerónimo Prisciantelli with Zebre Parma are very positive.

 

UNDER

Victims of u20 Rugby Championship
Not everybody is happy with the new u20 Rugby Championship. It comes with winners and major losers. Fiji, for instance, continues to be a key player at the World Rugby u20 Championship but with the new competition the Oceania u20 competition with Australia, New Zealand and others, such as Fiji, is no more.

Miami Sharks Erratic Tactics and Goal-Kicking
Felipe Etcheverry’s goal-kicking success was 3/8 on Sunday. This was evidently substandard. There were some difficult attempts and also some unnecessary ones. Part of it could come down to being a rookie season mistake. Knowing when to kick for an attacking lineout and when to take the simple three-points is part of it. Though, a Etcheverry missed some that he should not have. He is a World Cup goal-kicker.

Unthinkable Collapse from Chicago Hounds
Four early tries from the Chicago Hounds had the Midwest team off to a bumper start against Seattle. What was a bonus point win all but secured turned out to be an unthinkable defeat. The Hounds collapsed from 26-0 to fall to a 34-26 defeat.

Los Teros sidelined in France
Agustín Ormaechea has not played for over four months. The Uruguayan no 2 scrum-half did not recover well from an injury. He has only played 80 minutes all season for Nice. Center and captain Andrés Vilaseca has a herniated disc. He last played for Vannes on January 25. Both should be back within two weeks for their clubs. Uruguay will need both for their historic home series in July.

Facundo Isa Out of Action
Argentine N8 Facundo Isa is out of action. Isa suffered a ruptured bicep injury playing for Toulon against Racing 92 in round 18 of the Top 14. He is now officially sidelined for a lengthily period of eight weeks. The club aims to have Isa back to face Clermont and Stade Français in May.

AJ MacGinty Pass Snatched by Santiago Carreras
The USA Eagles expect to have AJ MacGinty back for the July Internationals. On Saturday, he was part of a winning effort in the English Premiership. Playing for the Bristol Bears against Gloucester, MacGinty’s side came through with a win. During the match the Eagle through an interception pass with Puma Santiago Carreras running 90+ meters for the try.

The Winless Newcastle Falcons
The Newcastle Falcons are winless this season. With 14 losses and no wins the club is easily the worst team in the English Premiership. On the plus side, Argentina will have early access to the club’s Pumas for the July Internationals. Eduardo Bello featured against Leicester Tigers on Good Friday. Matías Moroni also trained with Los Pumas recently while Mateo Carreras has transferred to Bayonne in France.