Up and Under

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

New England Free Jacks
The Free Jacks responded to their snubbing by the pundits with a stunning performance against Rugby United New York in Las Vegas on Sunday. Such was the disparity between the two a casual viewer might have guessed that New England were the returning side, not New York. It was an entertaining match and put the rest of the East Conference on notice.

Atlanta
Rugby ATL overcame a 13-point first half deficit to score an historic come-from-behind win over the Utah Warriors in their Major League Rugby debut on Sunday afternoon. While the visitors dominated much of the first hour of the match, the home side were decidedly more energetic in the final quarter. Attention now turns to game two against NOLA Gold.

Houston SaberCats
First blood in the 2020 Major League Rugby season went to the SaberCats. Their set piece laid the foundation for a strong win over the Colorado Raptors at the AVEVA Stadium in Saturday’s season opener. Scoring three tries to one, the home side were the better team and deserved the victory.

NOLA Gold
A hat-trick by Cam Dolan contributed to NOLA’s 46-13 win over MLR debutantes Old Glory DC on Saturday. As with Houston it was a dominant scrum that lay the foundation as the team were far too strong despite receiving three yellow cards. Among the other try scorers was Argentine Julián Dominguez, a player likely to score many more this season.

San Diego Legion
It doesn’t vanquish last season’s Championship Final defeat but Sunday’s win over Seattle is a good start. The biggest crowd of the weekend were treated to an absorbing match with the Legion stepping out as early favorites for the West Conference. Ma’a Nonu didn’t disappoint in his debut.

Toronto Arrows
The conditions didn’t help with accuracy – the lineout was largely a disaster – but the Arrows scrum obliterated a Wilton-less Gilgronis pack and were only rarely put under pressure in the loose. They might not have been the toughest opponents but any time you pick up a bonus-point win on the road it’s cause for celebration.

Arrows on TSN
GameTV did a fine job of broadcasting the Arrows in 2019 but there’s no question that the step up to Canada’s biggest sports network is a huge coup for rugby in the country. Hopefully the added exposure and on-field momentum will mean bums in seats when the Arrows hit the home stretch in April.

Canadian Captains in MLR
Canadian leadership is at an all-time high in Major League Rugby. Despite having only one team, there are four players nominated for captaincy roles this season. Dan Moor, Kyle Baillie, and Josh Larsen head up the Arrows, Gold, and Free Jacks respectively while Matt Heaton is co-captain of Rugby ATL.

Julio Giraldo
The 24-year-old flanker made history on Sunday when he came off the bench in the first half for Rugby United New York. In doing so he became the first Colombian player in Major League Rugby and one of a select few from his country to play professionally. We hope to see him featuring alongside the likes of Andrés Zafra for the Tucanes in the future.

Selknam
A month before the Súper Rugby begins, Chile’s team has finally confirmed the playing roster. It is good news for Los Cóndores as 27 of the 35 players are Chileans. There is hope that now with a professional side Chile will return to being the third best test team from South America. Given the state of Brazil’s equivalent team this may happen sooner rather than later.

Canada
Canada’s national senior men’s team have risen in the world rankings. Belgium and Portugal were winners over the higher ranked Russia and Romania. The result is that Russia are down to 25th. Canada are among the climbers, up one spot to 22nd. Scotland fell and are now one loss away from dropping below Argentina, a result with ramifications for the upcoming RWC 2023 draw.

UBC Thunderbirds
The Pacific Pride are unbeaten no more. The first defeat of the season for Rugby Canada’s development program was dished out by the UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday. The T-Birds held a commanding 20-5 lead until two late tries for the Pride made the final 20-17. It’s a statement win for UBC whose team featured several age-grade internationals.

UNDER

Jaguares
Los Jaguares appeared to be in control against the Hurricanes yet were beaten. The New Zealand side played the full 80 minutes, while the Argentines seemed to believe the result was confirmed with over ten minutes still remaining. Opportunities were not taken and the review will not be positive for a number of established names who were man-for-man outplayed by their opponents.

de la Fuente – Moroni
In Week One of Super Rugby Juan Cruz Mallía and Matías Moroni impressed as a midfield combination. In Week Two Jerónimo de la Fuente and Matías Moroni did not. Despite carrying loads of experience it seems unlikely that the de la Fuente and Moroni pairing will survive the season. Together they were blunt on attack and beaten on defense by the Hurricanes.

Matías Orlando
The form of de la Fuente and Moroni is one matter for Los Jaguares’ midfield selections, another is the loss of Orlando. The starting 13 from the 2019 season will not play again in the 2020 campaign. He underwent shoulder reconstruction surgery and now faces a race against time to be in the frame for international duty. With this in mind, do not be surprised to see Santiago Chocobares an Lucas Mensa getting starts in their rookie season.

Lance Williams
Also out for the 2020 season is Williams. Utah’s star flanker will not play any matches of the 2020 MLR season after he torn his left anterior cruciate ligament. It’s a terrible blow to the Warriors who may be forced to bring in help with their senior back row stocks already depleted.

Hanco Germishuys
On the eve of the new MLR season the Eagles flanker has left Colorado in the lurch following a contract dispute. It’s a significant blow to the Raptors who are already low on numbers in the forwards and for the player himself it means one of the best Eagles forwards is now unattached to a professional team.

Rugby United New York
What on earth happened to RUNY? We can accept that several important players are still to arrive but that does not explain a truly dire showing against the Free Jacks. Some players looked totally disinterested and one only hopes that this is an aberration. They simply must respond this weekend or their playoff chances could be out the window.

Old Glory DC
By far the weakest of the expansion sides over the weekend, Old Glory looked like they didn’t know that hit them. In need of immediate help is the scrum which was completely dismantled. ‘The Beast’ is a world class player but one man can only help so much. DC have their work cut out for them.

Austin Gilgronis kit
We’re going to give them a pass on the result given the number of quality players absent, but we can’t get past the eyesore. Before it was the goofy name, now it’s goofy kit. It’s not the bright orange, but the ridiculous number on the front of the jersey screams high school football and those name tags appeared to have been stuck on with scotch tape.

Corinthians
Can we change the name of Corinthians rugby to the Diabolicals? There are no shortage of adjectives to describe the shocking administration from the CBRu that has a professional team still without a named staff or playing roster less than a month before the SLAR begins. The knives are out from Brazilians for former CBRu CEO Agustín Danza over the financial state of the union.