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

Juan Cruz Mallía and David Ainu’u win European Champions Cup 
Mallía and Ainu’u are European Champions Cup winners. The Argentine center and USA Eagles prop were a part of Toulouse’s 22-17 win over La Rochelle on Saturday. Toulouse’s win gives the French giants a record fifth European title. Mallía scored the decisive try to mark his name down on history. The try ended a deadlock from which Toulouse were able to remain in front until full-time.

Tyler Duguid and Titi Lamositele crowned Challenge Cup Champions
Duguid and Lamositele are European Challenge Cup champions. The North American forwards were part of the winning effort for Montpellier on Friday. The French Top 14 team downed English Premiership side the Leicester Tigers 18-17 in London. Argentine Matías Moroni started for the beaten finalists.

Biarritz, Oyonnax into Pro D2 Semi Finals
The Pro D2 Semi Finals have been confirmed. Oyonnax defeated Colomiers and Biarritz downed Grenoble in the barrage. This sets up Perpignan vs Oyonnax and Vannes vs Biarritz. All four teams are home to Americas’ players. Argentina has Jerónimo de la Fuente and Patricio Fernández at Perpignan; Tomás Cubelli joining Biarritz; and Rodrigo Bruni at Vannes. Canada has Evan Olmstead at Biarritz and Taylor Paris at Oyonnax. Uruguay has Manuel Leindekar at Oyonnax. The USA has Nafi Ma’afu at Perpignan.

Tomás Cubelli Reaches 50 Super Rugby Appearances
Cubelli was a try-scorer in his 50th Super Rugby appearance. The Argentine scrumhalf touched down for the Force against the Highlanders in a Trans-Tasman fixture. The New Zealand side were 25-15 winners. Cubelli is Argentina’s longest survivor in Super Rugby. He played for the Brumbies (2016-2017), Jaguares (2018-2020) and the Force (2021). He will move to France to join Biarritz next season.

Sophie de Goede
The rising star took home Player of the Match honors as Saracens defeated Loughborough 28-24 in the second Premier 15s Semi Final on Saturday. de Goede was one of five Canadians playing in the match, along with clubmates Emma Taylor and Alysha Corrigan, and Lightning forwards DaLeaka Menin and Abby Duguid. The win sets up an all-London Final next Saturday against Harlequins.

LA Giltinis hold a commanding MLR lead
A near-perfect defensive performance from LA saw them pick up a 17-3 win over Austin at Bold Stadium on Wednesday night. The Giltinis are clear favorites to lift the MLR Shield in their inaugural campaign, though there remains some obstacles on the way – not least a challenging match against Rugby ATL this coming week that could be a preview of the Final.

Rugby ATL lead in the East
The Ratlers were away winners on Sunday. ATL downed the Seawolves in Seattle, doing so by four tries to zero. It was a professional performance with their defense setting the tone and setting the stage for another huge match-up between the East Conference leaders and the best of the West at The Snake Pit on Saturday evening.

NOLA Gold move up in the East
The Gold impressed on Saturday evening, claiming a bonus point win over the Utah Warriors. It was a hard-fought victory and denied the visitors a first ever win against NOLA. There were some gaps left in defense but the offense was significantly improved from their dire showing in Chula Vista.

Old Glory DC win in Texas
DC defeated the SaberCats 21-13 under a sheet of rain in Houston on Saturday evening. The road victory lifts Old Glory above the Toronto Arrows and New England Free Jacks in the Eastern Conference standings. The end result was near identical to their first meeting at AVEVA Stadium during last year’s campaign.

Premier Rugby Sevens
A new professional seven-a-side competition is set to debut in the fall of this year. Premier Rugby Sevens will see six men’s teams and four women’s teams playing in a series of tournaments across the USA and Canada. Already signed up are Men’s Eagles stars Perry Baker, Danny Barrett, Carlin Isles, Folau Niua, and Stephen Tomasin. Women’s Eagles committed include Abby Gustaitis, Ilona Maher, and Naya Tapper. Many internationals competing at the upcoming Olympics are expected to follow.

UNDER

20-team Rugby World Cup 2027 bid
Australia’s bid for RWC 2027 appears to be compelling with a high likelihood that it will be allocated tournament hosting rights. It would be the third RWC on Australian soil and the second played entirely within the country. What stands out is the format as stated in Australia’s bid. Once again it is 48 games and 20 teams, a letdown for those calling for expansion of rugby’s flagship tournament. It represents no progress from the last time Australia hosted a RWC in 2003.

Men’s Eagles Sevens
The Men’s Eagles completed a difficult International Sevens Series against Great Britain and Ireland with just one win from six matches. It wasn’t until their final opportunity of the three-day exhibition session that they finally found success. The team now prepares for the ‘Quest For Gold’ tournament to be held at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles on the June 25-26 weekend. It will be the final warm-up event before departing for the Tokyo Olympics in July.

Los Pumas on the road
Argentina is to tour South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia in the 2021 Rugby Championship. The South Americans will also play test matches in Europe in July and November. Los Pumas will be the only Rugby Championship team without a home match. South Africa will host two matches, New Zealand and Australia five each, and Argentina zero. Los Pumas last played a home test match in August 2019.

Argentines who missed the cut
Mario Ledesma’s Pumas roster for 2021 is big. It contains 67 players, a reflection of the options available for international duty. There are enough players to field four starting lineups. The roster was comprehensive though there were notables who did miss out. Of those not included one has confirmed that Ledesma wanted to include him but the UAR prevented this possibility. The non-inclusion of Brive winger Axel Müller is a point of controversy.

Houston SaberCats in a rut
A home defeat sees Houston’s season in tatters. The Texans are now on a four match losing streak and have an overall 2-7 record. They now face a difficult road match against a resurgent Legion, with four more games before they have another bye to regroup. For whatever reason things just haven’t gone to plan for the Cats this year.

Seattle Seawolves starved at home
Houston are one point above the bottom-placed Seawolves. Seattle were beaten at home by Rugby ATL on Sunday. The effort was there but execution and ideas at times were lacking. Seattle failed to score a single try in the match – in fact they had no points at all in the final hour against a dedicated Ratler defense.