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

Bermuda
The only Rugby World Cup 2019 qualifier this weekend saw Bermuda toppling the Bahamas on Saturday. The 30-13 win sees Bermuda rising in the rankings to be just behind Venezuela in the Americas Rankings. More importantly the result maintains Bermuda’s prospects of advancing to the next stage of Rugby World Cup qualifying.

Ghislaine Landry
Canadian points scoring machine Landry has been named to the official World Rugby Dream Team for the 2015-16 HSBC Women’s Sevens Series. The 27-year-old had another exceptional year, repeating as highest point scorer on the circuit and ranking third in tries scored. Her 575 career points are second only to New Zealand’s Portia Woodman on the all-time scoring list.

Martín Bustos Moyano
Americas Player of the week is not even a contest. The honor goes to Córdoba’s Bustos Moyano. The goal-kicking fullback scored all of Bayonne’s points in the 21-16 victory in the Pro d2 final against Aurillac on Saturday. In winning the match Bayonne secured their promotion back to the Top 14. Bustos Moyano was joined by Chileans Pablo Huete and Ramón Ayarza.

Juan Imhoff
For the second Top 14 game in a row Imhoff crossed for a double. Scoring in the 20th and 47th minutes for Racing 92 the Rosario flier grabbed two of the Parisians’ four tries. The 40-25 win over Montpellier on Sunday evening set up a home barrage playoff against Toulouse on Saturday.

Rodrigo Capó Ortega
Montpellier will host Castres in the second barrage playoff on Sunday. The Tarns have completed a miracle turnaround to rise up the standings and sneak the final place in the playoffs ahead of Bordeaux. Captaining the club has not been a Frenchman but Uruguayan stalwart Capó Ortega. Having already won the French title with Castres once before, Capó Ortega could yet become a two-time winner.

Djustice Sears-Duru, Demián Panizzo
Canadian prop Sears-Duru has secured his professional playing future in Scotland. The 22-year-old will remain at the Glasgow Warriors until at least the end of the 2016-2017 season. In the meantime he will be looking to add to his 16 test caps with Canada during their three-test June series against Japan, Russia, and Italy. Also securing his future this week was uncapped Argentine second row Panizzo who will remain at Colomiers in France for at least one more season.

Will Magie
The English-born American-eligible flyhalf enjoyed arguably his best match of the season in a man-of-the-match performance to lead Denver to their sixth consecutive victory on Sunday. Magie assumed the role of field general and dictated play for his side with some masterful tactical awareness. His kick to the corner late in the game yielded a try for Martin Knoetze and an opportunity to win the game with the conversion from a wide angle – which he made. John Mitchell may yet come calling sooner than later.

Atlantic Rock
Kudos to the Eastern Canadian side for ending a five-year losing run against the Ontario Blues with a 22-12 upset in Burlington on Saturday. It might have been a weakened Ontario side but a win on enemy soil is always an impressive feat and the history books will have no asterisks beside the result. The men in maroon fronted up to a man and their pressure defense resulted in two intercept tries. They now have a few weeks to savor their landmark victory and prepare for the rematch. Now about that video feed…..

UNDER

Chile
Los Cóndores were no match for the Argentina XV on Saturday. Argentina’s ‘A’ team humbled Chile 87-12, doing so with a combination of reserve roster members and leading amateur players selected based on their performances at club level in Argentina. For Chile the loss was the second big defeat in a month and also follows a draw against Brazil. Needless to say improvement is required.

PRO Rugby Team Name Nominations
PRO Rugby has been running a fan-driven team name competition for the past couple weeks and has now revealed shortlists for each of the five franchises. The Americas Rugby News editorial team ran the rule over the three options for each team, with opinions ranging from awful to not bad. Overall the process and final suggestions were underwhelming with the winning team names likely to be revealed this week.

Tomás Lavanini
One player not involved against Chile on Saturday was Lavanini. Early last week the Jaguares lock joined Ramiro Herrera and Leonardo Senatore on the sidelines. All three players are currently suspended. In the case of Lavanini the leading Pumas second row will miss facing Italy in Santa Fé and will also not feature in the first of two home matches against France. He will be free to play in the second test match on Saturday June 25.

Stephanie Bernier and Marie-Pier Pinault-Reid
Lost to retirement are two of Canada’s Women’s World Cup stars. Both scrumhalf Bernier and loosehead prop Pinault-Reid were named to the 2014 tournament Dream Team for their outstanding contributions to Canada’s 2nd place finish. They also share the same home club – Club de Rugby de Québec (CRQ) – where the pair have been staples for the past decade.

Uruguay Roster
News for Uruguay that Mario Sagario will play for Los Teros in the Nations Cup is highly encouraging. The news is not all good, however, and the team will be pushed to the limit as five of their best players were not on the plane flying to Eastern Europe yesterday. Missing the trip to Romania will be Carlos Arboleya, Felipe Berchesi, Gastón Mieres, Agustín Ormaechea and Joaquín Prada. Obtaining results without such a list of talent will be an uphill battle.

Mike Te’o
This is a tough one, as the San Diego star could easily be under the ‘Up’ category as well. Te’o sliced open the Denver defense twice with his brilliant running, and created Kalei Konrad’s try from nothing. On the other hand he also cost his side two tries, one with a poor pass that was intercepted by Christian Wiessing and another when he misjudged Magie’s corner kick and flubbed the tackle attempt on Knoetze. Te’o is easily among the most exciting players in PRO Rugby but he must find a way to minimize his mistakes or risk being overlooked for Eagles selection.