Up and Under

Up and Under is a weekly exclusive on Americas Rugby News which reviews the best and worst from games involving the Americas teams over the previous week.

 

UP

Guatemala
An 18-12 victory sees Guatemala beginning their home tournament in style. Los Jaguares overcame Costa Rica in a tight contest but held the lead throughout. Both teams are to play Peru this week. Los Ticos have their backs against the wall as their game against Peru will be on Wednesday, allowing them an unacceptable two rest days. Guatemala will face Peru in the final match of the tournament on Saturday.

Canada into Major League Rugby
The wait is over, the deal is done. Canada has its first professional rugby union team. Following months of negotiations the Ontario Arrows were officially welcomed to Major League Rugby by league commissioner Dean Howes at a meeting in New York. Ontario will be one of nine teams on the 2019 schedule, joining the previously-confirmed Rugby United New York as expansion franchises. It is a landmark achievement for the startup league – the first domestic professional competition to reach the east coast and the first to reach across the border into Canada.

Uruguayans in Major League Rugby
Around 15 Uruguayans are to play in the 2019 Major League Rugby season. Three of these players are known with Santiago Vilaseca (center) to play for Austin Elite and Santiago Arata (Scrum Half) to join the Houston SaberCats. Americas Rugby News can confirm that Ignacio Dotti (second-row) is extremely close to being announced as also playing in the competition. Additional players are to be drafted with Brazil and Chile set to have players involved via the same path.

Urdapilleta and Castres
A world class performance from Benjamín Urdapilleta saw the Rodrigo Capó Ortega captained Castres come back to defeat Toulouse on Saturday. It was another reminder of the kind of talent Argentina has outside of Los Pumas. It is only a matter of time before the Castres no 10 is wearing a Pumas shirt and Americas Rugby News has projected that Benjamín Urdapilleta will play at RWC 2019.

Lucas Caneda
In the Pro D2 Argentine winger Lucas Caneda had a strong match. His 49th minute try was the first score of the match for Charente who downed Mont de Marsan on Friday. The 20-16 win over the league leaders was a manor boost for the club. Canada was joined by Joel Sclavi (Argentina) and Pablo Huete (Chile) in celebrating the home victory. Leading Mont de Marsan in the match was Uruguayan Agustín Ormaechea.

 

UNDER

Argentina
In the worst performance under Mario Ledesma, Los Pumas fell to a 35-17 defeat on Saturday. The margin of defeat was actually a positive considering the history between the sides though Argentina’s performance was flawed and far from being near their best. A woeful scrum and lineout saw Gonzalo Bertranou having poor ball to play with. Meanwhile the backs were erratic with ball in hand, regularly losing control of the ball. It was a 3 out of 10 performance.

Venezuela
In a tragic week for Sudamérica Rugby Venezuela were forced out of the Sudamérica 4 Naciones B tournament. Their non-involvement saw the tournament reduced from four to three competing countries. Venezuela’s players were not able to travel after having had their visas denied making them unable to enter Guatemala. 2018 will be a year with no test rugby for Venezuela. In the same year the Americas is breaking new ground with neighbors Colombia at an all-time high.

Canada ‘A’
No players from this year’s HSBC Sevens Series squad have been named in the Canada ‘A’ roster for the Americas Pacific Challenge. Instead the group is largely that which traveled to France in August, with three uncapped players selected for the trip to Montevideo. A disagreement between the national governing body and the Sevens team regarding the recent Rugby Canada decision to prioritise the XV-a-side game appears to have cost Kingsley Jones access to a number of players he had hoped to bring into consideration ahead of the World Cup Qualifiers in November. Drastic changes to player pay and sevens-specific training time have driven a rift between the two parties with the players now seeking legal representation. In the meantime Jones will have to proceed a largely domestic roster.

Pumas Replacement Props
Argentina’s scrum was outplayed by New Zealand. Ofa Tuungafasi, Codie Taylor, and Karl Tu’inukuafe had the better of Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Agustín Creevy, and Ramiro Herrera in the front-rows. But when the replacement Pumas were on the difference was astronomical. Juan Pablo Zeiss, Julián Montoya, and Santiago Medrano were destroyed. The depth does not exist within Los Jaguares. Argentina simply must have more props from European clubs to compete against the best teams.

Bautista Delguy
Argentina’s rookie of the year is without question Bautista Delguy. The speedster from Pucará was forced off in the first half against New Zealand after a knock to the head from Codie Taylor. It was a major blow for Los Pumas in the match and, based on protocol, he will have to sit out this coming weekend’s match against Australia in Salta. Fellow starting winger Ramiro Moyano is also yet to be cleared.

AJ MacGinty
USA Eagels ace goal-kicker AJ MacGinty had been named to start for the Sale Sharks on Sunday. The northern English club faced the Leicester Tigers with MacGinty forced to withdraw through illness. His non-involvement was painful for the Sale Sharks who scored 3 tries to on but lost 19-15. Without MacGinty Sale were poor at goal-kicking with a missed penalty and all three conversions off the mark. With it the club are bottom of the English Premiership.