It’s a special edition of the Up and Under. Following the completion of the June international series Americas Rugby News takes a look at the great and not-so-great from Americas teams last month. UP AJ MacGinty There is no need to beat around the bush, AJ MacGinty is on his way to …

Three promising players from the Americas – two from Argentina and one from Canada – are heading to France to join the academy program at Top 14 club Pau. Joel Sclavi, Ignacio Calles, and Matt Beukeboom will make the move in their first steps towards becoming fully professional players. The …

Nine referees representing six different counties will take charge of matches during the 2016 Rugby Championship. Only three – England’s Wayne Barnes, Jérôme Garcès of France, and South African Jaco Peyper – will have two appointments in the middle. Federico Anselmi is the only Americas representative given a spot, selected …

Puma Tomás Cubelli will return to the Brumbies starting lineup this weekend. The Argentine has been named as the starting scrum half to face the Blues in Auckland For the Brumbies franchise a win is desirable as the team is in search of winning the conference. In an effort to …

It’s a creative team this week, with players drawn largely from two domestic leagues – PRO Rugby and the Canadian Rugby Championship – but there was also the Jaguares to look at and even a couple players from the Rugby Americas North fixture between Mexico and the Cayman Islands. Below …

The fairy tale came to an end on Saturday as the Cayman Islands fell to defeat to Mexico by a score of 34-24 in Dos Ríos. Playing at the extreme altitude of 8,600 feet above sea level, the Caymans produced a valiant effort that saw them claw back from a 27-7 …

Buenos Aires native Matías Agüero has signed for French Pro D2 club Aix-en-Provence. The 35-year-old loosehead prop departs Leicester Tigers, with whom he spent one season after signing as a medical joker to replace fellow Italian international Michele Rizzo in November. He won the last of his 40 caps for …

Argentine centre Nicolás De Battista will play for the Cornish Pirates in the 2016/17 Greene King IPA Championship. The 25-year-old has signed his first professional contract with the English club on the recommendation of former Italy flyhalf Alberto Di Bernardo, a fellow Argentine who had previously sent a season in …

Canada made it two from two with their second straight blowout victory of the Women’s Rugby Super Series, this time with hosts USA on the losing end of a 33-5 result. Andrea Burk led the way with 18 points including five successful kicks at goal as the Eagles struggled to …

England out-wrestled France in Round 2 of the Women’s Rugby Super Series, scoring on the last play to steal a 17-13 win in a hard-fought contest in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. The first half was a near-deadlock, with neither side conceding much if anything in defense and the only …

Canada’s Maple Leafs development side defeated the USA Women’s Collegiate All-Americans by a score of 15-10 on Tuesday afternoon. The match was the first of two set to take place in Salt Lake City giving some of the top young players from each country a chance to impress the national …

USA Rugby has a new Chief Executive Officer. Former Eagles international Dan Payne has been hired to succeed outgoing CEO Nigel Melville effective August 1. Jim Snyder will assume the role in an interim capacity until that time. Melville announced his departure from USA Rugby – and it’s commercial arm …

Argentina under 20 players have been called up to Los Jaguares ahead of Saturday’s home match against the Highlanders. Following the win over the Bulls this past Saturday Head Coach Raúl Pérez has added Bautista Delguy, Marcos Kremer (pictured) and Juan Cruz Mallía to the training squad. Bautista Delguy is a fullback …

The Super Series continues as Round 2 kicks off in Salt Lake City on Tuesday afternoon. England and France are up first, with the latter favorites after pushing past a physical Eagles side in Round 1. The hosts USA will try their luck against a massively impressive Canadian team who …

Following on from an unbeaten three match tour last month Georgia is looking to repeat this in 2017. The Lelos played in the Pacific Islands, returning home with wins over Fiji and Tonga and a draw against Samoa. The tour was the first of its kind for the Caucasus country. …

The draw has been made for the International Sevens SAR. Set to take place in Guarne, Antioquia, Colombia the tournament will bring together nine Tier 3 unions to compete in a Sudamérica Rugby and World Rugby sanctioned competition. The event will take place from July 8-9 with the host nation …

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 Mexico World Rugby’s off-the-record desire for heavily populated countries to emerge had a box ticked this weekend. The largest Caribbean country in both …

Heavyweights New Zealand have confirmed their roster for next month’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Included is the well-travelled Sonny Bill Williams who is the biggest name unveiled by Sir Gordon Tietjens. Surprisingly Missing though is veteran Liam Messam. The roster features Rugby Sevens is dominated by specialists such as …

Sacramento pinched a vital bonus-point victory on Sunday as they overwhelmed a scrappy San Francisco side 43-19 at Boxer Stadium. There was plenty of endeavor from both sides but it came at a price with accuracy at a premium and a litany of handling errors marring an otherwise entertaining match. …

There have been changes to the Americas Rankings following international competition this weekend. The updated Americas Rankings – July 03 2016 see Mexico gaining rankings points at the expense of the Cayman Islands. Before the fixture Mexico had 44.62 points and was 56th in the world. This was a narrow advantage …