Up and Under

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

 

UP

Rugby United New York
A busy week saw Rugby United New York confirming four significant signings. First, Giant second-rower Nick Civetta signed to home from England to join RUNY. Second, scrum-half and RWC 2011 champion Andy Ellis signed. Third, fly half Dan Hollinshead joins from New Zealand. Fourth the USA eligible N8 Benjamín Bonasso signed for Argentina.

Seattle Seawolves
Seattle also confirmed multiple roster remembers for 2021 this past week. Eagles capped scrum-half Devereaux Ferris signed for the Washington State side from the San Diego Legion. Also contracted for 2021 is Taylor Krumrei. The USA Select XV second-rower will play his fourth season of MLR for the Seattle Seawolves.

Olímpia Lions
Paraguay’s professional rugby team, the Olímpia Lions is the one SLAR entrant whose player roster is advanced. The roster contains Paraguayans and Argentine players. It can be broken down into three categories of players. First, players from Paraguay. Second, players drafted from Argentina in the SLAR draft. Third, players signed from Argentina that were not drafted. In short, there are 20 Paraguayans and 22 Argentines on the roster. It should also be noted that the final roster will be reduced from 30 players.

Germán Kessler
Uruguayan hooker Germán Kessler was a try scorer on Friday. He touched down in the 43rd minute for the 14-man Charente. His team were beaten 25-20 by Grenoble. Kessler featured as a replacement. He entered after starting hooker Avei Wayne was red carded for foul play. Wayne really let down his team. Indeed, Charente are bottom of the Pro D2. Not only did Kessler score at an important time, he had a solid match in general.

Ignacio Calles
Ignacio Calles is literally a Puma in waiting. He was on Argentina’s Tri Nations roster, yet did not receive game time.His call-up came ahead of Leicester’s Facundo Gigena with Mario Ledesma noting that his game time for Pau was a factor. Calles started on Saturday in Pau’s 23-22 away win over Bayonne. He also started in the prior weekend’s 29-27 win over Stade Français. 2021 has stated very well for the 25-year-old.

Nicolás Herreros and Augusto Sarmiento
Also winning on Saturday were Nicolás Herreros and Augusto Sarmiento. The Chileans started for Aparejadores in what was a 51-5 victory over Getxo. Scrum-half Nicolás Herreros played 66 minutes and second-rower Augusto Sarmiento 51. The result lifts the team to 4th position in Spain’s División de Honor. The players offer Pablo Lemoine options for the South American regional RWC 2021 qualifiers which begin in June.

 

UNDER

Chris Latham
Chris Latham stepped down as Head Coach of the Utah Warriors. The 45-year-old former Wallabies fullback cited personal reasons for his departure. His replacement, Shawn Pittman, takes over in an initial interim capacity. Pittman, who was Forwards Coach in the 2020 season, is a former US Eagles prop. Days after the announcement The Utah Warriors added Namibian RWC 2019 fly half Cliven Loubser.

SLAR Rosters
The Peñarol player roster was due out last week, yet no announcement was made. Other teams have also not yet made announcements. Those confirmed at Peñarol and Selknam are Argentine recruits. The same applies to Cafeteros Pro and the Brazilian franchise. Thus far only the Olímpia Lions roster has been made public. Paraguayans are the minority, though the roster does contain a number of Argentine players who are eligible to play for Paraguay.

Ceibos? or Jaguares XV?
Also unconfirmed is the identity of Argentina’s team for the 2021 SLAR season. Reports firmly point to the private investment that is Los Ceibos being replaced by the UAR’s brand property that is Los Jaguares. The end of Los Jaguares in Super Rugby comes at a massive cost for Argentine rugby. There is reason to believe that Los Ceibos will take a hiatus and return in 2022. There is also speculation of additional Argentine teams. However, for the time being the Argentine team in the 2021 SLAR remains unconfirmed as does the players roster.

Jaguares
There are officially 12 players who were connected to Los Jaguares in 2019 who remain in Argentina. Those players are: Javier Díaz, Joel Sclavi, Mayco Vivas, Juan Pablo Zeiss, Francisco Gorrissen, Javier Ortega Desio, Bautista Pedemonte, Gonzalo Bertranou, Felipe Ezcurra, Tomás Albornoz, Juan Pablo Castro, and Sebastián Cancelliere. Most of these names are to be a part of the Argentine team fo SLAR. Those who will not are players who are departing Argentina. ARN understands that Props Sclavi and Zeiss are close to finalizing deals abroad.

Corinthians?
Brazil’s entrant in 2020 was Corinthians. ARN understands that the desire is to change this in 2021; yet, time is running out. What will be the Brazilian team this year? Who will be the players? As it stands the head coach has been confirmed and the identity of four Argentine recruits is known. The yet to be confirmed nature is occurring despite the fact that (a) the league is two months away form beginning and (b) training is due to start this week.