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

Colombia are ready for Kenya
Las Tucanes are ready for Kenya. Colombia’s Women’s test side take on Kenya in a RWC 2022 qualifier on August 25 in Nairobi. The match was scheduled to be played in April 2020. The winner of Kenya vs Colombia will advance in RWC qualifiers to play in the special repechage tournament. The dream of a first RWC appearance for Colombia is alive.

Uruguay locked and loaded for RWC qualifiers vs Canada or USA
Uruguay has confirmed a 25-man roster to train together at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo. The players will train in the country’s High Performance Rugby Center to prepare for the upcoming RWC 2023 qualifiers against either Canada or the USA. The roster includes Los Teros captain Andrés Vilaseca. He has no shortage of established teammates alongside him. The roster also contains relative newcomers such as outside back trio Baltazar Amaya, José Iruleguy, and Mateo Viñals.

Strong competition for spots in MLR Dream Team
It was a remarkable Major League Rugby season given the context of the pandemic with all 99 games completed successfully. The standard of rugby took another step forward and relative parity which made predictions exceedingly difficult on any given weekend. Some players started slowly and raised their game over the course of the season, others were more successful at the front end. All told there was strong competition across the board for places in our annual MLR Dream Team.

Hard Work pays off for Carlos Muzzio
There was an unlikely test debut on Saturday. Carlos Muzzio earned his first cap for Los Pumas at the age of 36. It makes him the oldest Argentine debutant of all-time. He was an unexpected call-up following the non-availability of Ignacio Callás, Mayco Vivas, Facundo Gigena, and Federico Wegrzyn. Muzzio is a product of San Patricio in the northern Argentine city of Corrientes. He departed Argentina for France in 2010 to join Vannes, and later played for Tarbes before joining current club Mont-de-Marsan in 2014.

Pumas in United Rugby Championship
There will be a record number of Argentines in the 2021-2022 Pro 14; that is, the United Rugby Championship (URC). The latest Argentine to join the Celtic-Italian-South African league is Joaquín Díaz Bonilla. He has signed to play for the Sharks. In doing so he follows Juan Martín Hernández. Teams from Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales all have Pumas on their rosters for the new URC season.

Canada Women’s XVs
Most of Canada top women’s players have congregated in Halifax for a week-long training as they advance preparations for next year’s World Cup in New Zealand. Among the 48-strong selection are many of the overseas exiles with another six unavailable. Currently third on the World Rugby Rankings, Canada are well-placed to challenge co-favorites England and New Zealand at the tournament and along with the USA ensure strong North American representation.

UNDER

Argentina well beaten by South Africa
Los Pumas were second best by a distance on Saturday. South Africa were the better team across the board. The outmatched South Americans will have long hours in front of the video analyzing their efforts. The strategy was a copy and paste from July. It showed consistency to that against Romania and Wales; however, against the Springboks it was unable to produce tries. Los Pumas were stagnant in attack, never really looking like breaching the try zone.

Canada’s absentees are the benchmark 
It is fair to say that the results of Canada’s tests against Wales and England during the July international window were not easy on the eyes. Also important, however, is the context of the matches. Canada had a long list of absentees, with several certain starters among them. The million dollar question is how many who missed out in July will return to the lineup in time for the World Cup Qualifiers?

Olympic medalists missing from Canada Sevens events
None of the three Olympic medal-winning sides – Fiji, New Zealand, and Argentina – will be in attendance at the two Canada Sevens events next month. Travel restrictions due to the pandemic are the culprit, with Australia and Samoa also among the notable absentees. Meanwhile Great Britain and Germany will each make their first Sevens Series appearances, the former taking the place of England, Scotland, and Wales due to budget cuts.

Extended wait for potentially formidable Pumas scrum weapon Joel Sclavi
Argentina are to be without Francisco Gómez Kodela for four of the six matches in the Rugby Championship. The starting tight head will only face the Springboks. The same is true of loose head Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro. This meant that Joel Sclavi was to be a player to turn to; instead, other names will play as the props against Australia, and New Zealand. It is not all bad news, Argentina does have reputable options; moreover, Muzzio did well in the scrum on debut.

Five whistle blows against Marcos Kremer
Argentina’s enforcer was not popular with the referee on Saturday. Marcos Kremer was penalized on five separate occasions. In NBA terms he was fouled out with Mario Ledesma replacing him early. Kremer will now need to double-down to restore his reputation. The South African commentary made the disciplinary comparison of Kremer to Tomás Lavanini on more than one occasion during the match.

Scott Murray and Zack Test out as Co-Head Coaches of San Diego Legion
After just one season the Legion’s experiment of having two Head Coaches has been deemed a failure. The futures of Scott Murray and Zack Test at the club are uncertain with the hiring of former All Blacks scrumhalf Danny Lee as Head Coach and Director of Rugby. He arrives from a four-year stint in Japan. This was San Diego’s first losing campaign, though it must be noted that the conditions were far from ideal with moving venues and numerous key injuries.

Meddling with laws
Rugby continues to be unhappy with itself. The Rugby Championship has seen new laws on display. There was the 50:22 rules and the goal-line drop-out among others. Does rugby have an identity crisis? Instead of facilitating the experience for players, coaches, and spectators, the opposite is happening. All of a sudden those at matches need a wi-fi signal to look up the laws of the game.