Up and Under

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

UP

Brazil Men
With a 26-24 win over Portugal Brazil are up to 25th in the world rankings. It furthers the progress made by Os Tupis as they finish the RWC 2019-2023 cycle better than all other prior RWC cycles. The dream is for qualification for RWC 2023, a mountain of a task but one that is far more plausible now than in prior campaigns.

Brazil Women’s Sevens
As Yaras continue to be dominant in South American Women’s Rugby Sevens events. They were undefeated in the this past weekend’s Valentín Martínez event to win a 17th continental title. Argentina finished second and Colombia third.

Chile
A dominant first half display against San Juan province saw Chile cruising to victory on Saturday. It was a solid warm-up for this coming Saturday’s home test match against Portugal. Los Cóndores will go into that match well positioned to press for a win over a notably higher ranked opponent.

Colorado Raptors
The Glendale Raptors are no more. The re-branded name of the Colorado Raptors is now what the team will be known as. It is an appropriate change to appeal to a wider audience and to be far more recognizable to viewers from outside of the region. A further pro is setting up an interstate derby against the Utah Warriors.

Súper Liga Americana
The official announcement of the 2020 Súper Liga Americana is just weeks away. Details are emerging such as Portuguese players Raffaele Storti and Jerónimo Portela in addition to Namibian RWC players Damian Stevens and Max Katjijeko set to play in the league. 12 players from the Pacific Islands are among the additional players from outside of South America.

Argentine Players in Top 14
Argentine players impressed in France over the weekend. Wingers Santiago Cordero, and Axel Muller were both try scorers; Benjamín Urdapilleta produced a try assist; and Patricio Fernández completed his comeback from surgery to debut for Lyon in a comprehensive win over La Rochelle. The pressure will firmly be on Jaguares’ players to keep their spots in Los Pumas in 2020.

UNDER

Uruguay Women’s Sevens
The 2019 Valentín Martínez Women’s South American Sevens competition took place on Friday and Saturday in Montevideo. The Uruguayans were unable to capitalize on home advantage as they finished bottom of the table.

Stade Français
A 25-9 loss in the Parisian derby sees Stade Français’ horror-show season continuing. The club is deadliest in the Top 14 on 9 points with the next worst side, Agen, having 16. Nicolás Sánchez scored all of Stade Français’ points while Juan Imhoff featured for Racing 92.

Leicester Tigers
The Leicester Tigers were humiliated on Sunday, falling to a 36-11 defeat against London Irish. The club has gone from giants to minnows in the English Premiership in rapid time. Both Facundo Gigena, and Tomás Lavanini were involved in the defeat.

John Quill
The international career of John Quill came to a close this past week. The USA Eagles flanker announced his retirement, hanging up his boots after two RWC tournaments. The end of his career will be remembered for the wrong reasons as he was red carded for foul play against England in a RWC pool match.

Joaquín Díaz Bonilla
The starting Jaguares 10 from the 2019 Super Rugby play-offs’s was unable to make the lineup for Racing 92 this weekend. Scotland’s Finn Russell and Fiji’s Ben Volavola returned from RWC duty to be the two players selected for the position. Díaz Bonilla is under contract until the end of November but now faces uncertainty over further game time.

No Room For Rookie 9s in Jaguares
Gonzalo Bertranou, Tomás Cubelli, and Felipe Ezcurra are all locked into long-term deals with the UAR. The three are to be the scrum halves in the upcoming announcement of Los Jaguares’ roster for 2020. There is no room for a rookie which will see the next generation of Pumas 9’s lacking the means of playing Super Rugby unless an injury crisis were to present itself.

Brazil vs Portugal Attendance
Yet again Brazil had a home match that failed to attract the public. in 2018 the CBRu invested heavily in promoting the game vs the Maori All Blacks and the public responded. This is happening again in regards to Wednesday’s international against the Barbarians. Meanwhile other matches are not being promoted well at all and attendances are continuing to disappoint.