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.

USA Outplay Canada in LA
It won’t go down as one of the classic matches in Pacific Nations Cup history, but the USA did enough to earn a comfortable 28-15 win over Canada in southern California on Saturday. Three first half tries put the Eagles head by 10 points at the break and some committed defense in the second half saw them home.

2024 MLR College Draft
The fifth edition of Major League Rugby’s College Draft is now complete. A total of 36 players were selected across three rounds with all 12 teams from the 2024 season participating. As widely expected, the first overall selection by Anthem was US Eagles training squad member Erich Storti. Leading the way in numbers called this year was Saint Mary’s College, the Gaels contributing six players including the first overall selection. Life University and Lindenwood University had three players each chosen. Players came from 23 different schools, including three from Canada.

Colorno Lands Two World Cup Chileans
Italian club Colorno signed two Chileans this past week. Fly half Rodrigo Fernández joins from Petraca and prop Vittorio Lastra joins from FMI-CZ Rugby Rovigo Delta. Both men were regulars for Chile in the Rugby World Cup 2023 Qualifiers. They also both represented Los Cóndores at the World Cup in France. Fernández and Lastra are now targeting a second Rugby World Cup. Their time in Italy will be beneficial ahead of the qualifiers.

Sordoni Secures Top 14 Contract
Lucio Sordoni has returned to Europe. Following his recent test start against New Zealand, the Rosario tight head prop has signed for Racing 92 as a medical joker for Demba Bamba. Sordoni previously played two seasons in the United Rugby Championship (URC) for the Glasgow Warriors and Super Rugby in Argentina for Los Jaguares and in Australia for the Melbourne Rebels.

Road Win in Pro D2 
Joaquín de la Vega Mendía made his Pro D2 debut. The former Pampas fly half scored eight points in Colomiers’ 18-16 away win over Mont de Marsan. Fellow Argentine Pablo Dimcheff was involved in the win as a replacement. Patricio Fernández featured for the beaten Mont de Marsan. Fellow Argentine hooker José Luis González also won on the road; Beziers defeated Facundo Gigena’s Nice 13-09.

Reggiardo’s Provence Open With a Win Despite Red Card
Provence were 21-18 winners over Agen on Friday. The result gave the Mauricio Reggiardo coached side an opening round Pro D2 victory. It came despite losing Guillaume Piazzoli to a 54th minute red card. Argentine Nicolás Toth was a replacement for Provence.

Argentina Flop At Home
Argentina fell to Australia in the final play of the match on Saturday. Played in rainy La Plata, Australia were 20-19 winners. The Wallabies won with time up via a Ben Donaldson penalty. Referee James Doleman had penalized Mayco Vivas for jumping over a ruck. The decision appeared questionable as the Puma caught the ball in the air, but Doleman did not deem it to be in open pla

Canada Fall Short against USA Eagles
The battle of North America was not pretty but Canada were clearly second best. Next Saturday will see the Eagles arriving in Kumagaya to face Japan in the final match of the pool stage. Regardless of the result both sides will advance to the Semi Finals. Canada’s fate has already been determined with a 5th-place play-off in Tokyo on September 14.

Felipe Contepomi’s Quest for Consistency 
Upon taking over as Head Coach of Argentina, Hall of Fame Dr. Felipe Contepomi spoke about the ned to string-together performances on a regular basis. It is no crew that Argentina can play well; Los Pumas have bean every Tier 1 side. 2024 starts with a poor showing against France. It was followed by impressive wins over France and Uruguay and a road win over New Zealand. Since then, it has been two bad matches with losses against New Zealand in Auckland and Australia in La Plata.

La Plata and the Curse of Benetton
Three Benetton players were named in the Pumas 23 to face Australia. All have reasons to be personally disappointed beyond the team’s defeat. Thomas Gallo knocked-on a try which seemed, for all money, to be the match-winner. With 90 seconds left, Tomás Albornoz put in a kick for himself which bounced in favor of the Wallabies. Had Argentina remained possession then a win was certain. Lautaro Bazán Vélez was forced out before kick-off and replace by Zebre’s Gonzalo García who put in a strong showing. Coincidentally, Sergio Parisse is a native of La Plata and a former Benetton player.

Agustín Creevy Retires from Los Pumas
Agustín Creevy has hung up his boots. The Argentine hooker played for Los Pumas for the final time on Saturday, August 31. He did so in his 110th cap for Argentina and in his home town in La Plata at the age of 39. The end of Creevy’s career is almost two decades after it began. Creevy’s final time entering the field to sing sean eternos los laureles in a test match was in an entirely different playing position to where it all began. Creevy debuted as a flanker and converted to hooker in 2009.

Litoral Postpones Joining Super Rugby Americas Until 2026
Super Rugby Americas expansion is coming but reduced compared to that previously expected. Tucumán are set to join in 2025 and Litoral in 2026. Litoral had been on the way to be a new team in 2026; however, this has now been delayed by one year. Be that a it may, the reports out of Rosario indicate that a success story is well and truly in the works.

On the losing End in Pro D2
There were Americas players on doing efforts intel one of the Pro D2. Former Canadian international Evan Olmstead and former Puma Santiago Socino started at lock and hooker in Agen’s defeat to Provence. Facundo Pomponio started at tight head for Montauban who fell 24-12 to Dax. Former Puma Facundo Gigena was a replacement for Nice who lost 13-09 against Béziers.