Poasa Waqanibau will return for the New England Free Jacks in 2021. The 26-year-old Fijian enters the second of a three-year contract that runs through the 2022 Major League Rugby season. Arriving from the Fijian Drua, Waqanibau showed off his pace and power in 2020 with two tries scored, though …

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted rugby. In the Americas it means no Americas Rugby Championship or Americas Rugby Challenge in 2020. Great efforts in Montevideo have taken place to enable the 2020 South American 4 Nations. The South American 4 Nations will comprise the Argentina XV, Brazil XV, Chile XV, …

Rugby Canada has named it’s 2020-2021 class of their residential Men’s Development Academy. More commonly known as the Pacific Pride, there are 33 players on the list. Of those 24 appeared for the team in 2019-2020 when the team won 10 of 11 matches, their sole defeat against UBC in …

Five players from Kenya’s World Sevens Series team have been drafted into Frankie Horne’s SX10 entry for the inaugural World Tens Series event in Bermuda. All-time scoring legend Collins Injera is named along with Willy Ambaka, Andrew Amonde, Oscar Ouma, and Oscar Dennis. They aren’t the only Sevens circuit stars …

Peter Malcolm has re-signed with the San Diego Legion for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The USA international returns for a second campaign with the club after joining from Austin last year. It’s been over two years since Malcolm made his most recent Eagles appearance. A serious knee injury …

Argentina’s Rugby Championship preparations have run into trouble. The UK-based Enrique Pieretto (Glasgow Warriors) and Joaquín Díaz Bonilla (Leicester Tigers) are out of the tournament. They miss out due to problems with UK documentation. The outcome for others is a gain. There have been Rugby Championship call-ups for Francisco Gómez …

More COVID difficulties in Europe saw some potential contenders sitting out this weekend but the beginning of the Premier 15s season gave us a few others to consider for the first time. In all there was a reasonable spread of contenders. There should be significantly more this coming weekend as …

The fifth found of the Mitre 10 Cup season featured five crossover matches between Premiership division teams and the second-tier Championship. Not all went the way of the favorites. As ever a significant number of Major League Rugby players took part including six in the final match of the weekend. …

Referees have been assigned matches for the South American 4 Nations. Argentine Damián Schneider will take charge of two matches. Also officiating will be Uruguayan Francisco González; Chilean Frank Méndez; Brazilian Cauá Ricardo; and Argentine Nehuén Jauri Rivero. The competition kicks-off on Saturday in Montevideo. The 2020 South American 4 …

Front row pair Nicolás Solveyra and Diego Fortuny have extended their contracts with the Houston SaberCats through the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The Argentine duo arrived at the club in late January for their first experience with American professional rugby. Solveyra, 25, appeared in all five matches during the …

Loose forward Evan Giest has re-signed with the The New England Free Jacks for the 2021 Major League Rugby season. The 27-year-old made two appearances as a replacement during the shortened 2020 campaign, his first as a professional. Used exclusively as a flanker in 2020, Geist is capable of playing …

Paris is to be allocated ten matches at RWC 2023, reports L’Equipe. All ten matches will be at the Stade de France, the largest stadium in the country. The Stade de France is expected to host the opening match and final. This would be a repeat of RWC 2007. In …

Make it four Canadian internationals signed for the Loughborough Lightning. Second row Abby Duguid departed for England on Monday to join up with the Premier 15s club. There she will find familiar faces in DaLeaka Menin, Courtney Holtkamp, and Sara Svoboda. Holtkamp and Svoboda played in the win over Sale …

Up and Under is a weekly exclusive on Americas Rugby News. It reviews the best and worst from games involving the Americas teams over the previous week.   UP Bledisloe Cup After months of waiting, international rugby returned with a bang on Sunday. Fans were treated to an absorbing spectacle …

Vern Cotter has named a 32-man Fiji squad for the upcoming Autumn Nations Cup. Included in his first selection as Head Coach are two players signed for Major League Rugby teams in 2021 – Rugby United New York prop Samu Tawake and Dallas Jackals flyhalf Tuidraki Samusamuvodre. Tawake debuted for …

The Toronto Arrows have produced a streamlined chart of their pathway to professional rugby for Canadian players. Included in the chart are routes through both provincial and international rugby, with the pathway starting at junior age-grade and high school level. Two academy systems are incorporated as direct gateways to the …

Biarritz Olympique are now in sole possession of 1st place on the Pro D2 table. Evan Olmstead played a significant role as the forwards dominated Carcassonne en route to a 37-10 victory at Parc d’Aguiléra on Sunday. With 18 points Biarritz move one ahead of Perpignan, Vannes, and Oyonnax, though …

The Shute Shield regular season has ended and the match-ups for next weekend’s Preliminary Finals are set. There are Major League Rugby interests in each contest, with incoming LA coach Darren Coleman leading his Gordon side to a first place finish and favorites heading into the knock-out rounds. Randwick will …

International rugby returned in sensational fashion at the Cake Tin in Wellington on Sunday morning. New Zealand and Australia fought to a 16-all dead heat in the opening match of the Bledisloe Cup. A precursor to the Rugby Championship, the two sides kept the ball alive until the 87th minute …

Lucas Piero has played his last game for Brazil. The venerable forward was one of several notable absentees from the Tupis squad named for the upcoming South American Championship. It has come to light that ‘Bruxinho’ has in fact now retired from international rugby. While Lucas ‘Tanque’ Duque was given …