Up and Under

Up and Under is a weekly exclusive on Americas Rugby News. It takes a dive into the best and worst involving Americas Rugby from the past week.

 

UP

Argentina champions in Vancouver
Argentina are again the Men’s Champions of the Vancouver Sevens. Los Pumas conquered France in the Cup Final to equal their success at last year’s tournament. It’s their second Cup Final victory in four events and put them in a very strong position for automatic Olympic qualification with four stops remaining on this year’s circuit.

USA Women’s Bronze Eagles
Make it five podium finishes in five events for the Women’s Eagles. The USA defeated France in the Bronze Final to all but clinch their spot at the Paris Olympics. They now hold a virtually insurmountable 24-point lead over 5th-place Ireland, and are 16 points ahead of 4th-place France.

Canada and Uruguay Shock Australia and Fiji 
Uruguay earned another historic result on the World Sevens Series as they defeated Fiji for the first time on Day One in Vancouver. Canada also did very well to wrap up their day with an impressive win over Australia. Uruguay went on to beat Kenya and Japan on day two. Canada claimed a big win over Chile.

Chile XV celebrate victory over USA Hawks
The USA Hawks were defeated by the Chile XV 41-26 on Saturday. The Hawks will continue their tour against Los Pampas on Friday in Buenos Aires. Originally billed as Selknam, in the end it was a young Chilean side that faced the Hawks. Comprised largely of recent national under-20 graduates, it also featured four senior internationals in the starting lineup with another four on the bench.

Women’s Eagles debut within reach of nine newcomers
Nine uncapped players are on the USA roster to travel to Spain. They are hooker Jett Hayward, props Tiara Aa’u and Mae Sagapolu, second-rower Megan Neyen, flanker Sophia Haley, flyhalf Kristin Bitter, and outside backs Autumn Czaplicki and Summer Harris-Jones. The latter pair are currently on the Eagles Sevens squad, while Haley and Bitter both play for Dartmouth College.

Healthy Fixtures for Canada, USA Women
World Rugby  confirmed details on the format of this year’s Pacific Four tournament. The competition includes Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA. This year will see it spaced out with the first round to be played separately. Before competing in the tournament, Canada and the USA will travel to Madrid to take on South Africa and Spain respectively on March 25.

Houston move to top of Western Conference
The SaberCats earned a thrilling come-from-behind victory over the Legion in Houston on Sunday afternoon. It was a see-saw battle from start to finish with the result in doubt until the very end, with the scoreboard reading 31-26 to the home side at fulltime. The Cats are now at the top of the Western Conference after a perfect start to the new season.

Defending champs roll over Old Glory
Three tries from Jack Heighton led the New York Ironworkers to a comprehensive 34-8 win over Old Glory DC in Mount Vernon on Sunday. The flyhalf added two conversions and a penalty goal for a personal haul of 22 points as the defending champions made it two wins in a row.

MLR welcomed to the Windy City
Chicago welcomed Major League Rugby for the first time on Sunday afternoon but the hometown Hounds couldn’t quite get the result the crowd was hoping for. Instead it was the Utah Warriors who picked up the 14-10 victory in a physical contest dominated by defense. Nonetheless it was a positive start for the expansion side with a very healthy 4,443 turning out at the eye-pleasing venue.

Pampas rebound against Raptors
The first professional rugby match in Buenos Aires since 2019 saw Los Pampas facing the American Raptors on Friday. In front of a packed crowd at La Catedral, Los Pampas rebounded from their loss against Selknam to battle past the fired-up Raptors and win 27-16 at the Club Atlético de San Isidro (CASI) in Buenos Aires.

Dogos and Peñarol put on a thriller
Los Dogos and Peñarol played out a thriller at Tala Rugby Club in Córdoba. It was intense at times and the rugby played was marvelous. Peñarol came back from a third quarter deficit to win 41-35. Los Dogos now turn their attention from Uruguay to Chile. They face Selknam next Friday in Córdoba. Peñarol travel to São Paulo to face Os Cobras on Saturday.

Four Argentines help Benetton sink Ospreys
Argentine center Joaquín Riera was a try scorer for Benetton over the Ospreys in Wales. Benetton won the match 21-20. The result hammers home the crisis that Wales rugby is in. Moreover, Benetton are above every Welsh team in the URC standings. Riera was joined in the run-on team by fellow Argentines Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Bautista Bernasconi, and Ignacio Mendy.

Pumas Score Try Doubles in England, France and Scotland
Julián Montoya was highly impressive for the Leicester Tigers on Saturday. The Argentine captain scored two tries against Bath. Both scores came with the hooker in position of a winger. Meanwhile, Argentine winger Emiliano Boffelli bagged a double for Edinburgh vs Leinster in the United Rugby Championship. The first was like that of a second-row while the second was a classic wingers finish. In France, Santiago Cordero ran in a double for Bordeaux over Brive.

 

UNDER

World Rugby admit World Cup Draw mistake
The cat is at last out of the bag. After repeated World Cup cycles wherein the early draw brings unbalanced pools, World Rugby have admitted the error. The draw for Rugby World Cup 2023 took place in December 2020 based on rankings at the time. The rankings today are highly changed with the World’s Top 5 all on the same half of the draw. Simply put, 3 of them cannot reach the Semi Finals.

NOLA Gold fade badly in Atlanta
Rugby ATL earned a four-try 29-16 victory over NOLA at Silverbacks Park on Saturday. For 35 minutes it looked as though the Gold had finally found their groove, but from then on a litany of errors and poor discipline saw them failing to capture a single bonus point for a third consecutive week. NOLA head home to take on the defending champion New York Ironworkers on Sunday.

Dallas woes drag on as Martín Elías sees red
Martín Elías was red carded just two minutes into Dallas Jackals’ match against the Seattle Seawolves. He stuck a boot into the face of Lauina Futi while catching a high ball. Elías will now find himself in front of a judiciary for the same offense that resulted in Marcos Moroni being suspended for three weeks after the season opener.

Cobras feel the bite of Yacare
Os Cobras felt the bite of Yacare in São Paulo on Sunday. The Brazilian side dropped their third consecutive home match to be winless after three rounds of Super Rugby Americas 2023. Yacare won by a 20 point margin and were comfortably the better team on the day. Os Cobras are 0-3 and all matches have been home games.

Lack of game time in World Cup Year
Rodrigo Bruni and Santiago Chocobares are two names who have been hampered by injuries. Bruni is yet to play all season for Brive. His chances of selection for the World Cup are weakening. Meanwhile, Pedro Rubiolo had a strong match for Newcastle this past weekend. Santiago Chocobares returned for one appearance for Toulouse. He needs to be fully fit and playing regularly.

Nicolás Sánchez on a Stretcher
Another place in a race against time is the second most capped Puma in history. A combination of injury and selection preferences restricted test opportunities for Nicolás Sánchez in 2022. His move to Brive has seen him holding down the 10 shirt. He started opposite French test player Mattheu Jalibert on Saturday. Sánchez went down in a collision with Jalibert and was stretchered off the field.