Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
ARN Player of the week is a weekly exclusive on Americas Rugby News. It recognizes the top performers from the Americas over the past week.
This past weekend we looked far and wide to find our nominees. The search began in England where AJ MacGinty was leading Sale to victory over Northampton in the season opener. Over in the Premier 15s two other Eagles impressed for Exeter. Kate Zackary and Gabby Cantorna each found the score sheet in the dominant win over the Durham Sharks.
Across the Channel in France we found Evan Olmstead producing a try-scoring effort for Biarritz. A younger Canadian lock – Tyler Duguid – took home Man of the Match honors for the Montpellier Espoirs in their game against Castres.
Meanwhile in New Zealand fellow Canada rep Jordan Olsen led Northland to an upset win over Otago in the Mitre 10 Cup Semi Final and scoring his 5th try of the season in the process. Also worth noting was a first try in Super Rugby for the Cheetahs in their clash against Griquas.
Test rugby didn’t quite deliver us a winner. Brazil were thrashed by Portugal with André Arruda frustrated by his lackluster teammates. The draw in Australia didn’t quite have the same zip as the week before though Bautista Delguy was prominent for Los Pumas.
Our selection is a second-time winner in recent weeks. Cindy Nelles played in two matches for the NZ Barbarians against the Black Ferns and did not disappoint. The Canadian international was outstanding in the second match, prompting the official match report to make special mention of her contributions, remarking “Nelles will be at the RWC for Canada, but she showed she would not be out of place in black with another vigorous display, which included setting up Bremner for the Barbarians’ first try.”
An impressive try from the NZ Barbarians 👏🏾
Credit: @skysportnz #NZLvBAA pic.twitter.com/Pddjfpe18g
— Black Ferns (@BlackFerns) November 21, 2020
