Up and Under

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

 

UP

Canada Outplay Romania
Canada turned the tables on the form guide to earn a 35-22 win over Romania in Ottawa on Friday night. Played in stifling humidity, fans were nonetheless treated to a surprisingly entertaining contest with both teams using the width of the field to attack. It was a welcome and overdue result for the Maple Leafs, who hadn’t beaten the Oaks in a test match since the 1995 World Cup.

Chile Win Big Over Belgium
Chile put on their best performance in a number of years in completing a comfortable win over Belgium. Played at the Estadio Sausalito in Viña del Mar, Chile were 33-5 winners on Saturday. Los Cóndores celebrated the commanding win which came a week after Chile defeated Hong Kong.

Enterprising Argentina Come Good Against France
An enterprising Argentina came good against France in Buenos Aires on Saturday. A week after an underwhelming showing against Les Bleus in Mendoza, Los Pumas played impressive and aggressive rugby to run out 33-25 winners. The win meant France were denied a first test series win in Argentina since 1998.

Double Glory Week for Argentina at World Rugby u20 Championship
Los Pumitas had a week to remember. Argentina’s u20 side defeated Fiji 52-12 midweek and defeated hosts South Africa 34-24 on Sunday. The latter result sees Argentina booking a spot in the 5th Place Final.

USA defeat Kenya to qualify for u20 Trophy Final
The USA secured a 30-17 victory over Kenya in World Rugby u20 trophy action on Friday. It completes a clean sweep of the pool stage and qualifies the Junior Eagles for the tournament finale that will take place on Wednesday in Edinburgh against Scotland.

Uruguay Notch Up Win Over Netherlands in World Rugby U20 Trophy
Uruguay notched up a 32-16 win over the Netherlands on Friday, outscoring the Europeans by four tries to one. The result of the match sees Los Teritos into the Bronze Final of the World Rugby U20 Trophy. Uruguay face Japan to decide who joins Scotland and the USA on the podium.

Top college prospects on display at MLR Rising
Collegiate rugby standouts from across North American had a shot at impressing Major League Rugby scouts when they took part in the MLR Rising prospects match on Friday. A list of 50 players was announced by the league with three ruled out due to injury and another nine players unavailable. The five-day camp, hosted by Mary Washington University, is an evolution of the Collegiate Rugby Shield that took place prior to the Draft in each of the past two years.

Pablo Matera Reaches Milestone of 100 Test Caps
Pablo Matera is the third Puma in history to reach the milestone of 100 test caps. Matera earned his 100th cap for his country on Saturday, July 13 against France in Buenos Aires. Matera had the honor of playing in his 100th test match at home. He took over the captaincy from Julián Montoya early as the hooker was injured inside the opening quarter.

Santiago Arata reaches 50 Caps for Uruguay
Wednesday’s test match in Montevideo saw Santiago Arata earning his 50th test cap. Arata started at scrum-half for Uruguay against France. Santiago Arata made his test debut for Uruguay against Canada in 2016. He scored his fist try in his second test match which was against Brazil. Arata has World Cup tire in wins over Fiji and Namibia. He is an established name in the Top 14 of Castres.

 

UNDER

USA Fall Far Short of Repeating 2018 Win over Scotland
Scotland completed the North American leg of their summer tour with a comfortable if sluggish 42-7 victory over the USA in front of 17,00 fans at the nation’s capital. While the Eagles showed improvement in some aspects from the loss to Romania, poor discipline contributed to four first half tries for the Scots, including three from Canadian-born hooker Ewan Ashman.

Uruguay Beaten at Home by France
Uruguay’s first home match against a Tier 1 opponent in many years went well but was a defeat. Uruguay matched France with four tries. Los Teros proved to be competitive in a number of areas but lacked the class of France who were 43-28 winners.

Paraguay Sink like the Titanic against Hong Kong
The Asia No 2 were 80-12 winners over South American No 5 Paraguay on Saturday. Played at the Estadio Héroes de Curupayty, it was one-way traffic as Hong Kong converted a 47-07 half-time score into an 80-12 victory. Hong Kong face Brazil this coming weekend while Paraguay must improve a lot for their home match against Belgium.

Julián Montoya Injury Scare
Argentine captain Julián Montoya had a very early exit against France. The skipper was replaced by Ignacio Ruiz on 19 minutes. He knew he had to leave but was visibly upset. He watched on from the sidelines and celebrated the win, doing so happily in seeing Pablo Matera lead the side to victory in hist 100th cap.

Uruguay Lose Star Scrum-Half Early
Rodolfo Ambrosio’s debut as Uruguayan Head Coach started unfavorably; star scrum-has Santiago Arata was forced off injured in the opening quarter. Arata did not what to lead but had to as he was clearly not able to run adequately. He was replaced by Tomás Inciarte of the Miami Sharks.

World Rugby u20 Championship Format
Argentina’s win over South Africa on Sunday was the second match in ten days between the teams. Los Pumitas defeated the Junior Springboks in the pool stage only to face them again in a match that was neither a Quarter Final nor a semi Final. In addition, tournament results and points were also affected by match cancelations. With 12 teams in three pool the format is flawed. The u20 Championship is screaming for 16-team format.