Up and Under

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

 

UP

Paraguay upset Colombia in Barranquilla
The 2022 South American Tri Nations got underway on Saturday evening in Barranquilla. Paraguay ensured the tournament started with a bang as Los Yakares upset Colombia 21-13. Paraguay’s strong performance was a team-effort; the players worked together and were able to control a lot more of their game than were the Colombians. The Paraguayan scrum was also an impressive area of their play. Colombia were repeatedly showed backwards.

Chile’s RWC 2023 preparations on track
Chile continued preparations for Rugby World Cup 2023 on Saturday. Los Cóndores completed a 28-9 win over Brazil in Temuco. The match as the second of two between the Chile XV and the Brazil XV. The Chileans won both to complete a series win. Los Cóndores are in a good position with an eye to the World Cup. ARN understands that the South Americans will play against two RWC 2023 competitors in Europe in November.

Canada fight back to topple Chile in u20’s
Canada recovered from an 11-point deficit to defeat Chile 25-24 in their u20 match at Guelph University on Thursday evening. A conversion from wide out by Jamin Hodgkins after a Sol Jacques try gave the home side the lead and they held on for the victory. They close out their series against Uruguay on Tuesday.

Uruguay u20 overpower Zimbabwe
Uruguay continued their dominance at the u20 series in Canada as they overwhelmed Zimbabwe by a score of 35-12 at Guelph University on Thursday. The strength of the Teritos set piece proved too much for the Junior Sables. Canada are the only team that stand in the way of a clean sweep for the Uruguayans.

Memorable Top 14 debut for Leindekar 
Uruguayan Manuel Leindekar made his debut for Top 14 side Bayonne. He was a try scorer for the Basque side in his first appearance. The match was a preseason fixture ahead of the 2022-2023 Top 14 season. Leindekar and Santiago Arata will be Uruguay’s players in France’s elite for the upcoming season. Also scoring his first try with Stade Français was for the first time was Juan Martín Scelzo, the son of Pumas great Martín Scelzo.

Young Blood for Major League Rugby
Major League Rugby held its third edition of the Collegiate Draft this past week. 39 players were selected by 11 teams from 24 different schools. A record eight Canadian named were called, including three of the top five picks. As expected Cal Berkeley captain Sam Golla was chosen first overall by the Dallas Jackals.

Make it Five for Mike Sheppard
Mike Sheppard will return for a fifth Major League Rugby campaign with the Toronto Arrows. The 33-year-old lock is the fourth re-signing of the off-season for the club. A leading player for the team since their inception, Sheppard captained the Arrows in 2022 and has now made 44 professional appearances for the club. This past season he started 14 games, missing only the match against Dallas and the season finale against DC.

 

UNDER

Colombia slip on a banana skin
Los Tucanes were beaten by Paraguay cleanly on Saturday. Colombia were 21-13 losers but may well may lost by a scoreline closer to 35-13 had there been a TMO. Alarmingly, Colombia played as if they were expecting to win. It seemed that the team was not appropriately prepared for the match and that Paraguay caught them for this reason. Rugby is a hard game. Never underestimate the opposition.

Non-test status was needless
Chile vs Brazil was a two-match series. The teams were loaded with SLAR players with an injection of players based abroad. Despite the relative strength of the two sides, the matches were not full tests – they instead played as the Chile XV and Brazil XV. The short turnaround between games was unfortunate. Outside of an official ‘A’ competition such as the Americas Pacific Challenge, there seems little reason to play them this way other than to avoid risking ranking points.

Brazil and no Rest for the Wicked
In a fixture list that resembles the horrors asked of Italy and Tonga at RWC 2003 in Australia, Brazil are in the middle of a rough match schedule. Tonga’s schedule at RWC 2003 was appalling; four games in fourteen days. In 2022 Brazil has it even worse. Brazil played Chile on August 17 and August 20 and will face Paraguay on August 24 and Colombia on August 28. Four games in just 12 days. All are away and involve significant travel. Santiago to Bogotá alone is a six-hour flight.