Up and Under

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

UP

USA Women’s Sevens
The USA’s Women’s Sevens team may not have won the war in Atlanta but a significant battle was nonetheless achieved, a win over New Zealand on day one. The upset victory was part of a highly memorable day for both the USA and Canada with both being undefeated. The USA defeated Japan, New Zealand and Spain while the Canadians toppled France, Ireland and Russia. Colombia weren’t lucky, losing to England, Fiji, and tournament winners, Australia.

Chile Sevens
Coming off a poor showing in the Americas Rugby Championship Chile’s Rugby Sevens team was looking for an improvement in the compacted version of international rugby competition. Chile came through with achievements reached. Los Cóndores 7’s defeated both Mexico and Papua New Guinea but fell to Spain. Mexico and Brazil also recorded wins but were mixed bags with Chile being the pick of the bunch.

Ghislaine Landry and Alev Kelter
Canadian Ghislaine Landry and USA playmaker Alev Kelter were acknowledged for their performances this past weekend. The two players were named by World Rugby in the official HSBC Dream Team for the Atlanta 7s. Landry was second-leading point scorer in the tournament, collecting six tries including a hat-trick against Fiji. Kelter scored five tries for the Women’s Eagles, one coming in the upset win over New Zealand.

Chris Wyles and Marcelo Bosch
The dream of being European Champion remains alive for Chris Wyles and Marcelo Bosch. Having been beaten 23-6 by Toulon in the 2014 Final, Wyles and Bosch have the opportunity to make amends. Both players were involved in Saracens’s Home Quarter Final win on Saturday with the North American sealing victory with a second half try. The USA and Argentina veterans can now focus on the Wasps, their Semi Finals opponents.

Juan Imhoff
Also scoring a try this weekend in a European Champions Cup Quarter Final was Juan Imhoff. The Argentine flier scored Racing 92’s only try of their home fixture against three-time reigning champions Toulon. With it Racing 92 eliminated Toulon to secure a maiden appearance in Europe’s final four. Imhoff and Racing 92 need to overcome the Leicester Tigers to reach the final, a tough assignment but one in which the team has the capacity of delivering on.

UNDER

The Americas in Hong Kong
There was not a lot of joy at the 2016 Jong Kong Sevens played from Friday-Sunday. The USA lost 19-0 against England in the Plate Final while Canada fell 19-14 against Russia in the Shield Final. The Americas’ only winning finalist was Argentina who downed Scotland 26-0 in the Bowl Final to partially make-up from a dire series of performances in pool play. Further down results were also lackluster for the Americas with the Cayman Islands being winless while others suffered big losses.

New World Rugby Council Voting Structure
Do not expect winds of change when World Rugby unveils the new global governing structure. The modifications are to see minor changes overall with the existing powerless of Tier 1 unions remaining. Subtle changes will see the Americas gaining more overall power while Oceania will lose out with Fiji, Samoa and Tonga being the notable losers, in addition to Namibia. Hope for rugby to be run more for the greater overall interest and less for founding union members  remains a work in progress.

Matías Orlando
Starting opposite Julian Savea is no easy task. Indeed, Savea was the top try scorer at Rugby World Cup 2015 and is, arguably, the best winger in the world today. Matías Orlando’s performance defensively against Savea on Saturday was underwhelming with the All Black running in three tries, all seeing Orlando beaten. The Tucumán back also committed a number of errors and was particularly exposed under the high ball. All in all, not a match for Orlando to remember fondly.

Los Pumas Sacrifice Home Test for Larger Economic Return
Argentina’s decision to move the home Rugby Championship test from Argentina to London, England has been met with great opposition. Locals have taken out their frustration on social media claiming that the union has gone against the people in renting Twickenham Stadium and not utilizing a venue such as Córdoba or Rosario. Hope is not lost for Córdoba, though, as the central-northern Argentine city is expected to be allocated hosting rights to Argentina vs Italy in June.

Toros REU
Guatemalan club Toros REU were recently on the receiving end of a 111-3 thumping. The club was beaten in a fourth round fixture of the national Guatemalan Championship, ADN Rugby. Their slayers, Julio Verne, were last season’s beaten finalists.