Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
- Women’s test rugby saw Trinidad & Tobago defeating Jamaica 27-13 this past weekend.
- The UAR is holding talks with two interested parties about privatizing Los Pampas.
- Argentina’s Men’s and Women’s rosters are out for Valladolid and Bordeaux Sevens.
- At AU$1059, tickets for the Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2027 Final are the most expensive ever.
- Old Glory DC’s Jason Robertson is the MLR Player of the Week.
- There will be no Pumas vs All Blacks match in 2026. The last year that this happened was in 2010.
- Tero, Baltazar Amaya scored for Béziers in the final round of the regular season of the Pro D2. Beziers failed to qualify for the Pro D2 play-offs meaning he ought to be available for Uruguay in July.
- Castres will not be in the Top 14 play-offs meaning in addition to Baltazar Amaya in the Pro D2, Uruguay ought to have access to Santiago Arata. Vannes finish their season on June 06, that is if they reach the Pro D2 Final. Thus Jean Cotarmanac’h and Manuel Leindekar should also be available in addition to front-rowers Diego Arbello and Germán Kessler.
- Vannes finished the regular season in top spot with 21 more points than 2nd placed Colomiers. Vannes defeated Dax in the final round with regular captain, Puma Francisco Gorrissen rested.
- Vannes are favorites to earn promotion to the Top 14. The club will face the winner of Oyonnax vs Valence Romans in one Semi Final while Colomiers will face either Provence or Brive in the other.
- Narbonne, with Axel Muller involved, won the Nationale title, France’s 3rd division to earn promotion to the Pro D2 next season. The dramatic final required a huge comeback as Nice had been in control.
- Chilean center Juan Noriega has signed a new deal with Auch in France. He has Cóndores ambitions.
- Canadian capped fly-half, Shane O’Leary is staying at Nottingham.
- Uruguayan Juan González has been named best fullback in the RFU Championship.
- Puma in waiting, Tomás Medina signed an extension with Benetton until 2028.
- Over 1.5 million people have attended Pro D2 matches this season.
- Brazil has announced a series of regional camps to identify young Women’s players.
- Canada has progressed on opening the first of two Regional Training Centres in Ottawa and Calgary.
- Puma Joaquín Oviedo is in fine-form ahead of the Nations Championship. He was voted player of the week in the Top 14.
- The Bristol Bears lost 94-33, a result deemed not a great look for the English Premiership.
- England, who face Argentina in July, have selected South African Benhard Janse van Rensburg. He played for the Junior Springboks against Los Pumitas. The 29-year-old is neither from England nor a product of English rugby. His eligibility comes after England directly request a law change. He will not be eligible to play for England vs South Africa on July 04 but can face Fiji and Argentina in the following weeks.
- Former England scrum-half, Danny Care has criticized Benhard Janse van Rensburg playing for England. His selection comes ahead of centers including Max Ojomoh and Ollie Lawrence.
- Former England captain Mike Tindall has also criticized England selecting Benhard Janse van Rensburg.
- The controversy of Benhard Janse van Rensburg’s selection is extreme to the point that the same law that England requested to be changed is the one that disqualified Spain from RWC 2019 Qualifiers.
- Writing for the Telegraph, Oliver Brown argues that Benhard Janse van Rensburg is not English.
- Alex Lowe criticizes Steve Borthwick and England for selecting Benhard Janse van Rensburg but not players based in France. The England Rugby administration feels it is “better to be in England than be English.”
- Benhard Janse van Rensburg himself previously criticized players not playing for their own country. “It means so much more for your kids, if one day I tell them If I played for England they would look at me like why? Why did you do that?”
- Another new call-up is Kepu Tuipulotu who also qualifies via residency but is homegrown.
- Billy Vunipola reaffirms that he will not switch allegiance to Tonga: “I played a lot of times for England, so it doesn’t feel right.”
- Hong Kong have called-up ex-Free Jacks scrum-half Emanuel Lai.
- Former Wallaby, Digby Ioane, who was once to join Raptors in MLR, is facing allegations in court that he repeatedly threatened to kill a man over a supposed land deal in Samoa.
- Former All Black winger and head coach of Italy and Japan, Sir John Kirwan says Super Rugby is done. He wants a return to “tribalism and traditionalism” to have a more attractive produce for fans to follow and attend matches.
Photo: World Rugby
