Argentina is the only Rugby World Cup semi finalist to have never hosted a Rugby World Cup.
By 2023 Europe will have hosted four Rugby World Cup´s, Oceania three, Africa one, Asia one and the Americas zero.
Peru made history in Colombia in winning the South American B Rugby Championship (also known as CONSUR B) and doing so undefeated. At the start of the week long tournament, Peru were ranked third of the four participating unions and considered massive outsiders with little chance os success vs Colombia or Venezuela. In the IRB World Rankings Peru are in 78th position but Colombia are ranked 53rd and Venezuela 60th. Defeating teams ranked 18 and 25 places higher is no walkover. It is utterly extraordinary. Peru´s success is the equivalent of Kenya defeating Argentina or Uruguay winning the Rugby World Cup. The achievement underwrites the continued growth of rugby in South America with more teams coming through to make the state of international rugby in the continent increasingly more competitive.
Peru´s success began with a shock 13-5 win over Venezuela and continued with a 21-7 victory vs Colombia. The biggest win, however, would come on saturday vs the newcomers to international rugby, Costa Rica whom Peru defeated 61-5. Second place was fought over between hosts Colombia and Venezuela in a match as tough as the diplomatic relations between the two countries. Venezuela won in the end with a 28-26 victory which should see them rising in the IRB World Rankings. Costa Rica, for their part, obtained crucial international experience and interestingly scored 5 points vs Peru, the same number as Venezuela.
Complete Results
Round 1:
Peru 13-5 Venezuela
Colombia 61-6 Costa Rica
Round 2:
Venezuela 29-6 Costa Rica
Colombia 7-21 Peru
Round 3:
Peru 61-5 Costa Rica
Colombia 26-28 Venezuela
26 year old USA backrower, Iñaki Basauri, has been recalled to the USA squad for the teams november tour which will include matches against Saracens, Portugal, Scotland A and Georgia. The 26 year old is one of more than 11.5 million legal immigrants from Mexico and happens to be a very gifted rugby player.
He was born in Monterrey in northeastern Mexico near the border with Texas and started playing rugby in the USA aged 15 following the invitation of a friend. He quickly developed into a quality player and played for the USA under 19 team when he was a 16 year old and was vice captain of the USA junior side that participated in the Junior World Cup in 2006 in France. After the tournament, French third division side (Fédérale 1), Massy signed Basauri to play for the clubs under 21 side. He currently plays in Italy for L'Aquila in the Premier Italian League - the Campinato d´Eccelenza. He joined the Italian club this season after moving from Massy to Marmande, then to current Top 14 side Agen and then to CA Lannemezan last season. Last weekend he played for L'Aquila in the teams 41-16 loss to Crociati Rugby.
Basauri has played 6 tests for the USA since making his debut in the 2007 Churchill Cup. He performed so well that he was selected in the USA Eagles squad for Rugby World Cup 2007 and played number 8 for the first two of the USA´s four matches - vs England and Tonga. Since France 2007 he has played three international matches for the USA, two vs Japan and one vs Uruguay all of which were played in november 2008. His selection in the USA Eagles squad for the upcoming european tour is therefore a recall following two years out of international action.
The surprizes in South America´s second tier of rugby continued in round two of the 2010 South American B Rugby Championship in Colombia with Peru getting a second victory in two games. In round one on Sunday October 24, Peru pulled off a massive upset in defeating Venezuela 13-05 and then in round two on Wednesday, Peru faced hosts Colombia and secured an impressive 21-07 victory to all but guarantee themselves the championship. Should Peru continue winning it will be the country's first ever South American B Rugby Championship title and would mark a significant improvement in the South American order and in IRB World Ranknigs. In the 2009 South American B Rugby Championship, Peru finished third behind both Colombia and Venezuela and in 2008 Peru was fourth with Brazil, who now play in the South American A Championship, winning the event. Peru's best performance came in 2006 when they finished second behind Brazil.
Currently, Peru sit on 6 points with both Colombia and Venezuela sitting on 3 points after two rounds. Costa Rica has lost to both teams so far in the tournament. Firstly losing 61-06 to hosts, Colombia and then to 29-06 to Venezuela. Their first objective in todays final round match vs Peru must be to score a try. Peru need to be defeated by Costa Rica in order for Colombia / Venezuela to overtake them on the table.
Earlier in the day, Argentina's development side, Los Jaguares defeated Russia 32-06 in Moscow to win the two match series 2-0. The Argentine side won without conceeding a try and managed to score five with Juan Pablo Estelles scorign twice and Tomás Cubelli, Pablo Bouza and Agustín Gosio all scoreing one try each.
The second match of Los Jaguares two game tour of Russia takes place today again at Slava Stadium in Moscow. The match will kick off at 14:00 local time or 07:00 Argentina time. Game one was an interesting competition in which the hosts showed that they truely have come a long way in a short period of time and will not be easy beats at next years Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. The visitors did very well to win the contest 40-20 with players from Argentina´s Pladar system showing their progress to out play the Europeans.
Argentina have made substantial changes to their lineup for game two with a total of seven changes to the side that won the first match. In the forwards Maximiliano Bustos starts ahead of por Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro at tighthead prop while november 2009 Puma, Tomás Leonardi is returning from injury to start in the 8 shirt ahead of Agustín Smidt. Julio Farías Cabello will start the match in the second row. Leonardi may very well get a call up to Los Pumas for their tour to Italy, France and Ireland now that backrower Alejandro Campos has been ruled out injured for three months.
In the backs, the Argentine side have made even bigger changes with Tomás Cubelli and Santiago González Iglesias replacing Martín Landajo and Nicolás Sánchez in the halves. 2009 Pumas winger, Mauro Comuzzi will start at wing in place of Juan Imhoff and Juan Pablo Estelles will play at centre in place of Gabriel Ascárate. The final change sees Joaquín Tuculet selected at fullback in place of Román Miralles. Backrower Leonardo Senatore will again captain Los Jaguares.
Los Jaguares
1- Gastón De Robertis, 2- Matías Cortese, 3- Maximiliano Bustos, 4- Julio Farías Cabello, 5- Pablo Bouza, 6- Rodrigo Bruno, 7- Leonardo Senatore (capitán), 8- Tomás Leonardi, 9- Tomás Cubelli, 10- Santiago González Iglesias, 11- Mauro Comuzzi, 12- Horacio San Martín, 13- Juan Pablo Estelles, 14- Agustín Gosio, 15- Joaquín Tuculet.
It has been a great past week for Canadian international prop, Kevin Tkachuk who was selected in the Canadian tour squad for the november tour to Belgium, Spain, Georgia and Portugal. In addition to being picked for his country, Tkachuk scored a vital try for Glasgow in the teams Magners League match win vs current champions, Welsh side the Ospreys. His try was crucial for Glasgow and ensured the Ospreys were too far behind. The 34 year old is targetting another Rugby World Cup after playing all four matches in Australia 2003 but missing out on selection for France 2007. Tkachuk made his Canadian test debut in 2000 and sits on 49 test caps so far. He is bound to pass 50 on Canada´s november tour to Europe.
Glasgow take on another Welsh team tonight, the high flying Scarlets in an away match at Llanelli. Tkachuk has been named on the bench with two players from the Americas starting as the two wingers. Canadian international, DTH van der Merwe will play 14 and Argentina´s Federico Martín Aramburu returns from injury to start in the 11 shirt. Fellow Argentine player, Bernardo Stortoni is being rested for this contest after playing fullback for Glasgow non-stop this season.
Los Pumas Head Coach, Santiago Phelan, has confirmed a squad of 31 players for Argentina´s European tour in november which will include international matches against Italy, France and Ireland. The tour was scheduled to include four matches with Argentina taking on the French Barbarians on November 6th in Paris but the match has been cancelled. Instead the match vs Italy in Verona on Saturday November 13 will be the first match and will be refereed by New Zealander Chris Pollock. Argentina last played vs Italy in November 2008 in Torino and won the match 22-14 with Juan Martin Hernandez setting up a superb try for Rafael Carballo.
After taking on the Italians, Los Pumas will then travel to Montpellier, France to face Les Bleus in the lattest contest to continue their rivalry which has seen Argentina win 7 of the 9 tests over the past 10 years. During which time Argentina has won by impressive margins including 28, 24 and 10 points but France´s two victories have been by 6 points in 2008 and 1 point in 2006. The 28 point win occured in June of this year with Argentina winning bu a recrod breaking scoreline of 41-13. November's match will be a first with the beautiful city of Montpellier hosting a high profile match and Jonathan Kaplan of South Africa will referee the contest.
The final match will be played at the brand new Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland one week latter with another South African, Mark Lawrence being in charge of the match. It is a great chance for both sides to shine and this time should see Argentina at close to full strength after last taking on Ireland in 2008 without first choice players in 6 of the 7 back positions. On that day Ireland won 17-3 with a try non fulltime which was there only try of the match.
The selection of 31 players is one more than the number allocated to each country participating at a Rugby World Cup. Interestingly, Phelan has only selected two hookers but has selected five secondrowers but only four backrowers and Gonzalo Tiesi is the only specialist 13 selected. The team contains 28 professional players all based in Europe and three players from Argentina´s Pladar system. Of the 28, 21 play in France with three playing for Montpellier.
A number of players are returning to the team following injuries. Most notably, the hero from France 2007, Juan Martín Hernández who is returning for this first time since June 2009. Other places back in the team include Marcelo Bosch, Gonzalo Oscar Camacho, Alvaro Galindo and Alfredo Lalanne. There is also room for two uncapped players in winger, Martín Bustos Moyano and backrower Miguel de Achaval who both look set to get game time.
Players unavaliable due to injury include Miguel Avramovic and Alejandro Campos (both Agen). Whilst Juan Manuel Leguizamón is unavaliable due to suspension. The loss of Campos and Leguizamon will mean Argentina are missing two first choice backrowers for the tour but it will give others such as Fessia, Galindo and de Achaval the opportunity to impress ahead of New Zealand 2011.
Felipe Contepomi will captain Los Pumas.
Suggested XV:
15 Martín Rodriguez Gurruchaga, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Nicolas Vergallo, 8 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 7 Alfredo Galindo, 6 Genaro Fessia, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Mauel Carizza, 3 Martín Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Marcos Ayerza
Complete Pumas Squad
Horacio Agulla (Leicester Tigers, England)
Patricio Albacete (Toulouse, France)
Marcos Iván Ayerza (Leicester Tigers, England)
Lucas Borges (Albi, France)
Marcelo Bosch (Biarritz, France)
Martín Bustos Moyano (Montpellier, France)
Gonzalo Camacho (Harlequins, England)
Rafael Carballo (Bordeaux Begles, France)
Manuel Carizza (Biarritz, France)
Felipe Contepomi (Toulon, France)
Agustín Creevy (Clermont, France)
Miguel de Achaval (Asociación Alumni)
Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe (Toulon, France)
Santiago, Fernández (Montpellier, France)
Genaro Fessia (Córdoba Athletic)
Juan Figallo (Montpellier, France)
Agustín Figuerola (Brive, France)
Mariano Galarza (Leinster, Ireland)
Alvaro Galindo (Racing Metro, France)
Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, (Leicester Tigers, England)
Eusebio Guiñazu (Biarritz, France)
Santiago Nicolas Guzmán (Tucumán R.C)
Juan Martín Hernández (Racing Metro, France)
Alfredo Lalanne (London Irish, England)
Mario Ledesma (Clermont, France)
Esteban Lozada (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Martín Rodriguez Gurruchaga (Stade Français, France)
Rodrigo Roncero (Stade Français, France)
Martín Scelzo (Clermont, France)
Gonzalo Pedro Tiesi (Stade Français, France)
Nicolás Vergallo (Toulouse, France)
In just his first season of professional rugby, Stade Français´s new signing Martín Rodriguez Gurruchaga has underlined himself as a worldclass player. He arrived at the club from Atletico del Rosario for whom he competed in the 2009 URBA Top 14 and was a semi finalist. His impressive form combined with injuries to Marcelo Bosch, Felipe Contepomi and Juan Martín Hernández earned Rodriguez Gurruchaga a call up to Los Pumas squad for the 2009 November tour to Europe in which he scored all points for Argentina in the teams three test matches.
Shortly after the tour, Stade Français began negotiating with Rodriguez Gurruchaga to secure a deal for the current season. Upon arriving at the club he was barely known at all to the extent that the teams new coach Michael Cheika had never heard of him. Cheika comented that "He surprized me with his style of play. He still has a lot of work to do on his physical progress in defense. Even on offense and, especially in the language. For now its like playing with someone from another planet because you can´t communicate all the time. But this says a lot about the player. He can´t connect and if he is able to play well, this means that he has great talent."
Rodriguez Gurruchaga has thus far proven to be a tremendously versatile player. He has played at flyhalf, centre, wing and fullback for Stade Français. This past weekend he played at inside centre against Argentina´s captain, Felipe Contepomi and had a strong match for the Parisians as they hosted Toulon in front of 80,000 people at Stade de France.
On week earlier, Rodriguez Gurruchaga scored a drop goal from halfway in Stade Français´ Amlin Challenge Cup match vs Leeds Carnegie in England. The Parisians went on to win 22-13 to put themselves in firm control of the pool as the only undefeated side after two matches. In round one, Rodriguez Gurruchaga scored 2 tries as Stade Français scored a big 56-7 win vs Italian side Crociati Rugby in Paris.
French powerhouses, Biarritz Olympique have confirmed the signature of former Pumas hooker / prop Eusebio Guiñazú, who was also in talks with fellow Top 14 side, Bourgoin. he is joining as a medical joker to cover for the injured Antonin Raffault who has had to have surgery because of a serious injury. Guiñazú will be playing for his third French club after previously playing for both Toulon and Agen but he most recently played in South Africa for the Super 14 side, the Stormers and for Bolland in the domestic competition.
His contract starts immediately and runs until the end of the 2010-2011 season. It may indeed help his aspirations to get a test recall for Los Pumas but he has stiff compeition. Excluding Eusebio Guiñazú , in the Top 14 alone there are four Argentine hookers and eight Argentine props.
Argentina Hookers in the Top 14
Agustin Creevy (Clermont)
Mario Ledesma (Clermont)
Franco Pani (La Rochelle)
Alberto Vernet Basualdo (Toulouse)
Argentina Props in the Top 14
Andres Bordoy (La Rochelle)
Pablo Cardinali (Brive)
Pablo Henn (Brive)
Juan Figallo (Montpellier)
Juan Orlandi (Racing Metro)
Pedro Ledema (Stade Français)
Rodrigo Roncero (Stade Français)
Martín Scelzo (Clermont)
At present, Biarritz lie in 5th place and Bourgoin in 13th of 14 teams. Guiñazú will be joining fellow Pumas Manuel Carizza (secondrow) and Marcelo Bosch (fullback) at the club.
The continued development of the USA as a power in global rugby has been underlined by national coach, Eddie O’Sullivan in naming a squad of 28 players for next months European tour. Of the 28 players named, 17 are professional rugby players and of the remaining 11, only 1 was not part of the recent Americas Rugby Championship in Cordoba, Argentina.
The assignment of facing Saracens, Scotland ‘A’, Portugal, and Georgia is both challenging and inviting. The USA will have matches against strong teams and will be capable of returning home undefeated. The first match falls outside the IRB mandatory release window and so not all players will be avaliable to face Saracens. Both Chris Wyles and Hayden Smith will miss the match and both are USA internationals who play for Saracens.
The newcomer to the squad is French based Seta Tuilevuka who was interviewed here on Rugby World Cup - Argentina 2023 last week. When asked if he would could play for the USA at next years Rugby World Cup he commented "it may be a possibility but at this point, I'm not sure but would love to if things work out." His rise to stardom has been rapid and even one week ago he didn't see it coming. Seta's older brother, Alipate has also been selected in the squad too.
Returning to the USA Eagles from injury are three leading players. Eagles captain Todd Clever, winger Kevin Swiryn and secondrower Hayden Smith are all returning after missing the 2010 Churchill Cup with injuries. All three played on the weekend for their respective professional teams.
Suggested XV:
15 Chris Wyles, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Seta Tuilevuka, 11 Kevin Swiryn, 10 Nese Malifa, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Todd Clever, 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John van der Giessen, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Mate Moeakiola.
With a chance of closing the year 2010 off on a high and making it a highly successful year of 6 wins and 1 loss, Canada will be looking for nothing less than a clean sweep of four wins from their November 2010 tour of Europe. It will include matches against four different teams that Canada has never lost against but three of which have competed at Rugby World Cup's and all have professional players playing in France's premiership rugby, the Top 14. Portugal have played Canada only once whilst Georgia have twice. Neither Belgium nor Spain have ever played against Canada.
The squad includes five uncapped players who have all gotten the call up following good performances in the Canadian Rugby Championship and the subsequent Americas Rugby Championship. The new players are Mitch Gudgeon, Jeremy Kyne, Jamie Mackenzie, Taylor Paris, Jon Phelan and the impressive 20 year old flyhalf Connor Braid. It also includes a number of European professionals who are doing well, most notably the Glasgow pair of Kevin Tkachuk, who scored a try on the weekend vs Ospreys, and DTH van der Merwe.
A total of seven Canadian players were not included in the squad due to reasons of work, school, injury and suspension. This will certainly open the door to other players and give them a great opportunity to show their worth ahead of next years Rugby World Cup. Those unavaliable are Ed Fairhurst, Stan McKeen, Conor Trainor (all school / work), Nanyak Dala, Luke Tait, Phil Mack (all injury) and Jamie Cudmore (suspension).
Complete Squad
Nick Blevins (Prairie Wolf Pack)
Connor Braid (BC Bears)
Aaron Carpenter (Plymouth Albion, England)
Tom Dolezel (Prairie Wolf Pack)
Sean Duke (BC Bears)
Brian Erichsen (BC Bears)
Matt Evans (Newport Gwent Dragons, Wales)
Mitch Gudgeon (BC Bears)
Ryan Hamilton (BC Bears)
Ciaran Hearn (The Rock)
Nathan Hirayama (BC Bears)
Tyler Hotson (Plymouth Albion, England)
Josh Jackson (Mont de Marsan, France)
Adam Kleeberger (Auckland, New Zealand)
Jeremy Kyne (Prairie Wolf Pack)
Jamie Mackenzie (Ontario Blues)
Phil Mackenzie (Esher, England)
Jason Marshall (BC Bears)
Justin Mensah-Coker (Unattached)
Ander Monro (Ontario Blues)
Chauncey O’Toole (The Rock)
Taylor Paris (Ontario Blues)
Jon Phelan (The Rock)
Dan Pletch (Ontario Blues)
James Pritchard (Bedford Blues, England)
Pat Riordan (BC Bears) - Captain
Jebb Sinclair (The Rock)
Ryan Smith (Prairie Wolf Pack)
Sean- Michael Stephen (Plymouth Albion, England)
Andrew Tiedemann (Prairie Wolf Pack)
Kevin Tkachuk (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland)
DTH van der Merwe (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland)
Sean White (BC Bears)
Tour Schedule
November 6th Belgium vs Canada
November 13th Spain vs Canada
November 20th Georgia vs Canada
November 27th Portugal vs Canada
On sunday afternoon in Medellin, Colombia the national Colombian mens rugby team hosted the newcomers to test rugby, Costa Rica in round one of the 2010 South American B Rugby Championship, also known as CONSUR B. The hosts continued their fine form from last years championship in getting a good win first up and in doing so let Peru and Venezuela know who the favorites are. The junior sides were also in action with Colombia defeating Costa Rica 41-0 and Peru getting a surprizing 17-16 win over Venezuela in a highly fought contest.
The senior mens sides of Venezuela and Peru played latter on in the evening in Medellin with Peru copying the juniors in upsetting the higher ranked Venezuela 13-5. The win is going to see significant changes for both sides in the IRB World Rankings.
Since leaving South Africa's Currie Cup and Super 14 Lions for a new challenge in the form of Suntory Sungoliath in the Japanese Top League, USA rugby captain, Todd Clever has been doing very well for himself. He has been scoring tries and he has earned man of the match awards. His new club have benefited grealy since his arrival and with him on the field have been a a better side.
This month has seen Clever play three matches for Suntory Sungoliath for three wins. He made his debut for the club on October 02 in his sides 92-8 demolition of Toyota Shokki. It was his first game since injuring his shoulder playing for the Lions in the Super 14. A week latter, Clever won man of the match in his sides 34-8 victory against the Kubota Spears. On October 17 he did even better in scoring three tries as and winning man of the match vs the Coca Cola Red Sparks.
Clever is not the only test player at Suntory. Rather, he is surrounded by some truely elite players. Suntory is the home of former Australian captain and 1999 Rugby World Cup champion, George Gregan. Fellow Australian, Peter Hewat plays for the club as does Samoa´s Tusi Pusi, and Japanese internationals including Go Aruga, Takamichi Sasaki, Ryan Nicholas, Keisuke Sawaki, Hirotoki Onozawa and Koji Taira. All in all, it is a recipe for Clever to enter Rugby World Cup 2011 in good shape and if his form continues he could be one of the best players at the tournament. His form for what is the top level of the country that will host Rugby World Cup 2019 underlines the contribution of the Americas to global rugby and further suggests that Rugby World Cup 2023 should be hosted by the Americas powerhouse, Argentina.
With the November internationals just around the corner rounds 10 and 11 of the Top 14 are highly important for international players. The national squads have been anmed already by teams including Fiji, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. Both Argentina and the USA are set to announce their playing squads this coming week. Today´s rounds was crucial to the chances of a number of players and those in action delivered. Argentina had players involved in 6 of the 7 matches and the USA was represented in 3 matches this weekend as the Americas continues to contribute top level players to the worlds leading dometic competition.
Montpellier impressed with a 28-3 home win vs Bourgoin with Juan Figallo and Santiago Fernández both having solid matches as did Seta Tuilevuka. Argentina A centre, Matías Viazzo, played flyhalf for Bourgoin and kicked a penalty for the visitors. The win puts Montpellier in first place but they are equal with last years play-offs teams Racing Metro and Toulouse.
Racing Metro defeated former competition leaders 15-9 in a tryless match as Juan Martín Hernández looks set to return to the field next week. Three other Pumas returned to action from injury with prop Rodrigo Roncero joining fellow Puma Martín Rodriguez Gurruchaga in playing at Stade de France for Stade Français Paris in front of a crowd of 80,000, secondrower Patricio Albacete returning from a month on the sidelines and fullback Marcelo Bosch returning alongside Zee Ngwenya for Biarritz. All three teams secured victories with Toulouse defeating Perpignan 38-29 in the match of the round. Importantly, all three improved their position on the ladder which is crucial as Heineken Cup 2011-2012 places are on the line as well as places in the Top 14.
With the bottom two being relegated every win is indeed very important. Bourgoin´s loss to Montpellier means they stay in the bottom two with Agen who still only have one win despite American winger, Kevin Swiryn continuing to put in strong performances. La Rochelle remain in 12th spot of 14 but scored an important 26-21 home win vs Brive to move clear of Bourgoin and Agen and to now be only 3 points behind Brive who are in 11th. La Rochelle could well move into 11th very soon as they face Agen next weekend with Brive facing the red hot Biarritz. The La Rochelle vs Brive match featured three Argentine frontrowers with hooker Franco Pani starting for the hosts and prop and fellow uncapped Argentine, Andrés Bordoy coming on as a second half replacement. Whilst former Argentina prop, Pablo Henn continues to push for a recall to the Pumas as he started at loosehead.
Round 11 fixtures:
Friday October 29 Racing Métro 92 vs Perpignan
Saturday October 30 Clermont Auvergne vs Stade Français
The former club of Argentina internationals, Gonzalo Tiesi and Juan Leguizamon, San Isidro Club (SIC) ended a six year wait on saturday in defeating La Plata in the URBA Top 14 final to win the championship for the 23rd time in their history. The final was held in La Plata with a strong crowd of 16,000 attending the match.
SIC lead from the beginning with flyhalf Benjamín Madero kicking two penalties to give his side a 6-0 lead after 8 minutes. La Plata winger, Esteban Durante responded in the 19th minute with a penalty before SIC took total control of the second 20 minutes of the first half with two tries to Javier Ortega and José López Mañán. Madero converted both as well as kicking a penalty to give SIC are comanding 23-3 half time lead.
La Plata responded well to win the second half 19-7 but it was not enough. The half started off badly for La Plata with SIC prop, Francisco Piccinini, scoring in the second minute and Madero again kicking the extras. La Plata Backs, Pedro Mercerat and Augusto Ramos both scored tries with Ramos scoring two to put their side back in the match but it all came too late as Ramos´s second try scored in the 80th minute of the match was really just consolation as SIC won the final 30-22.
SIC
15. Federico Serra (c), 14. Tomás de Vedia, 13. Marcelo Soiza, 12. Agustín Vago, 11. José López Mañán, 10. Benjamín Madero, 9. Nicolás Bruzzone, 8. Cristian Etchart, 7. Juan Pablo González Bonorino, 6. Javier Ortega. 5. Santiago Artese, 4. Mariano Taverna, 3. Ramiro García Frugoni, 2. Fernando Lauría, 1. Francisco Piccinini.
La Plata
15. Dimas Suffern Quirno 14. Augusto Ramos, 13. Pedro Mercerat, 12. Pablo Molina, 11. Esteban Durante, 10. Patricio Roán, 9. Francisco Albarracín, 8. Gonzalo Oviedo, 7.Pablo Sciarreta, 6. Juan Gentile, 5. Guillermo Piovano, 4. Sebastián Grange, 3. Guillermo Roan, 2. Martín Haidar, 1. Juan Ignacio Dalla Salda.
Argentina´s historical rugby tour to Russia starts today with the national Russian test team known as the Bears hosting Argentina´s Jaguares side in the first of two matches in what is a ground breaking tour for both sides. It is to be the first ever clash between the two countries ever but is not an official test match because Los Jaguares are not Argentina´s national team, rather the players selected are deemed to be the best domestic based players. Nevertheless, Argentina will be fielding a number of important players who have played professionally in Europe and / or for Los Pumas already such as Matías Cortese, Pablo Bouza and Horacio San Martín.
With both Argentina and Russia confirmed for Rugby World Cup 2011 this clash is a great chance for players from both teams to gain extra experience. Russia, in qualifying for New Zealand 2011 have proven that they truely are a rising force in world rugby. Since France 2007 Russia have defeated teams with experience at Rugby World Cup´s including Namibia, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Uruguay. Next years Rugby World Cup will be Russia´s first and they will be in a tough group with matches against Australia, Ireland, Italy and the United States. The match vs the USA is sure to be a fantastic match as well as one of global importance putting the two Cold War enemies head to head in New Plymouth. A match certain to put the city on the map.
Today´s clash is to be played in Slava Stadium in Russia´s capital, Moscow and will be refereed by Ireland´s John Lacey. The match will kick off at 3pm local time and thus 8am in Argentina.
Jaguares
1 Gastón De Robertis, 2 Matías Cortese, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 4 Pablo Bouza, 5 Agustín Smidt, 6 Rodrigo Bruno, 7 Julio Farías Cabello, 8 Leonardo Senatore (captain), 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Juan Imhoff, 12 Gabriel Ascárate, 13 Horacio San Martín, 14 Agustín Gosio, 15 Román Miralles
Reserves: 16 Luciano Proto, 17 Maximiliano Bustos, 18 Lucas Ponce, 19 Rodrigo Báez, 20 Tomás Cubelli, 21 Santiago González Iglesias, 22 Mauro Comuzzi
Russia
1 Carlo Maghlakelidze, 2 Valery Tsnobiladze, 3 Iván Prischepenko, 4 Alexander Voitov (captain), 5 Vladimir Boltenkov, 6 Viktor Gres, 7 Yevgeny Matveyev, 8 Alex Panasenko, 9 Alexander Shakirov, 10 Alexei Korobeinikov, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 12 Sergei Trishin, 13 Igor Galinovskii, 14 Vasily Artemiev, 15 Igor Klyuchnikov
The number of Argentine players in England this season has once again increased with news that 23 year old Argentine flyhalf, Ignacio Mieres, is joining English Premiership (Aviva Premiership) rugby team, the Exeter Chiefs. The newcomers to the elite level of English rugby have secured the services of the Argentine following the approval of his visa. Mieres is to visit the club today which will mark his return to English rugby after playing for Leicester as a trial player in 2008 but leaving the club for France that year. Mieres spent two years in France, mostly with Stade Français but also with Peripignan for several months to replace the injured Dan Carter. Earlier in 2010 he got a lot of game time for Stade Français in the 10 shirt.
His move to southwestern England follows talks with a number of English and French clubs. But rather than sign for the biggest club Mieres has opted for a new challenge. His decision to move to Exeter is a clear indication that his priority is getting more game time this season as Rugby World Cup 2011 fast approaches. Mieres had his test debut for Argentina vs Chile in 2007 and has scored a total of 32 points in his four test match appearances thus far, including 2 tries and 11 conversions. His four test appearances, however, have been all against South American opposition - three vs Chile and one vs Uruguay rather than against first tier opposition. Mieres has also played for Los Jaguares - most recently in the 2010 Americas Rugby Championship, and for Argentina A - most recently vs France A in June 2010. Given the high number of professional Argentine players in his position, moving to Exeter appears highly sensible as he attempts to break into Los Pumas squad and make the team for New Zealand 2011. His new team, Exeter, currently lie in 10th place out of the 12 teams and have won 2 out of their 5 matches thus far. They will host premiership leaders, London Irish tommorrow in their next match.
In France´s Top 14, Zee Ngwenya (Biarritz) and Kevin Swiryn (Agen) have both been having great seasons as representatives of the USA in the worlds leading domestic competition. Their success is a good sign for the USA as the countdown to Rugby World Cup 2011 continues. Meanwhile a player who currently does not have a profile on wikipedia and little information in general on the internet has been doing very well for himself at Montpellier. Seta Tuilevuka accepted my offer for the following interview for which I am extremely grateful. I wish him all the best for the remainder of the season for Montpellier and have my fingers crossed to see him in action for the USA Eagles at New Zealand 2011.
How is life at Montpellier and in your new team?
Life here is very different. It is a challenge adjusting to the style of rugby here and learning the language. My teammates have been very helpful with both of those things though. Although challenging, I love the Montpellier team and Montpellier itself.
You previously played and lived for many years in the USA. At what age did you leave Fiji for the USA?
I left Fiji in November, 2005. I was 23.
Does this mean you are eligible to represent the USA? Could you play for the USA Eagles in new Zealand 2011?
It may be a possibility but at this point, I'm not sure but would love to if things work out.
Could you comment on your favorite memory from playing in the USA?
My whole experience playing with the Las Vegas Blackjacks and winning nationals last season!
At Montpellier you play alongside three Argentine players (Santiago Fernández, Juan Figallo and Martín Bustos Moyano). How has it been playing with these guys?
Its a great experience to play with these guys who have played top level rugby and represented their countries. I'm trying to learn as much as I can from Santiago and Martin who play in the backline with me. Its a plus to have them as friends off the field too. They are all really good guys.
Do you think Argentina should host Rugby World Cup 2003?
Yes. I think having the world cup in Argentina would be good for the sport and the country itself. Since Argentina doesn´t have pro rugby, it would be good exposure for the players and the sport.
Seta Tuilevuka arrived at Montpellier earlier in the year to play his first season of professional rugby and is already establishing himself as a lethal attacking player. He joined from the Las Vegas Blackjacks with whom he was a national champion last season. Incredibly, Seta Tuilevuka is not capped but this may be set to change. He was born in Fiji but meets the IRB eligibility criteria as he lived in the USA for six years and is the younger brother of former USA Eagles player, Alipate Tuilevuka.
After two rounds of the 2010-2011 Amlin Challenge Cup, a certain 29 year old former Las Vegas player is on fire having scored tries for Montpellier in both of the teams first two matches. In round one Seta Tuilevuka scored a crucial try in Montpellier´s away win vs the newly promoted English premiership club, Exeter Chiefs. Montpellier won the match 20-13. In round two Montpellier defeated English premiership club Newcastle Falcons 32-8 with Seta Tuilevuka scoring a try as he again started at 13. Argentine flyhalf / centre Santiago Fernández played 10. The win puts Montpellier in control of the group as the only undefeated side of the four teams. The next game is at home vs Bourgoin in December as the Amlin Challenge Cup takes a break for the Top 14 and the November international rugby matches. Montpellier currently lie in third place in the Top 14 and coincidently will host Bourgoin on saturday in round 10 of the Top 14.
Born in Fiji, Tuilevuka is a 29 year old who is new to professional rugby after making the move from the Las Vegas Black Jacks in the United States to Montpellier this season. Seta Tuilevuka initially went to Las Vegas, Nevada to live with his brother Colin when he was 23. Colin played for the club as a winger. Seta played for the club for around four years alongside Colin and another Tuilevuka, brother Alipate who played international rugby for the USA. The trio were part of a very successful Sevens team.
Tom Carter from the club commented that "We have a very large Fijian community in Las Vegas. When we first saw Seta, we knew he was a special talent. Myself and my other Club member, Herve Gregoire-Mazzocco had both played pro in Europe in Ireland, England and France. So we knew that Seta could play to that standard. Seta worked with me for a while and dreamed of playing pro rugby. So after the 2009 season we decided to contact some old friends in Europe and send them video footage of Seta. As they say, 'the rest is history'"
Without question the form of Seta Tuilevuka for Montpellier puts him in line for a call up to the USA Eagles. Having lived for more than three years in the USA, he meets the IRB's eligibility criteria to represent the United States. His move to Mediterranean France is part one of a partnership agreement between the Las Vegas Blackjacks and Montpellier which will see the clubs trade players. The long-term goal of the agreement is to have talented young players from both clubs get experience playing abroad. Montpellier are to send players to play in Las Vegas who are deemed to be possibly needing something to jump-start their careers due to not getting sufficient game time in the Top 14 or the Amlin Challenge Cup. All players involved will still be paid by Montpellier.
The initiative was created by Las Vegas assistant Herve Gregoire-Mazzocco, who played many years in France, mostly for Clermont Auvergne, as well as in Italy and the UK. Gregoire-Mazzocco is responsible for Tuilevuka joining Montpellier as he called different clubs in which he has contacts and convinced Montpellier to sign him. Montpellier backs coach Jean-Phillippe Lacoste, commented that the club has a desire to start up overseas academies: “Some European teams just have the big bucks and use that to bring in well-known players, but Montpellier is different. Their policy is to look for the rare gems no one else has found and give them a chance. It has worked very well for them.”
The mighty Hindú Club who have produced many great Pumas had two players from Rugby World Cup 2007 in Nicolás Fernández Miranda and Hernán Senillosa as well well the younger brother of Horacio Agulla, Belisario. They also had Francisco Bosch, who played two seasons of professional rugby in New Zealand, in their starting line up. La Plata, in contrast had no such big name players but that didn´t stop them. They tore apart the script in knocking over the Buenos Aires heavyweights 24-22 to set up what will be a home final. Both teams scored three tries with Agulla scoring a first half try and winger Francisco Díaz Bonilla scoring two in the second half for Hindú. La Plata´s tries were scored by secondrower Guillermo Roan, fullback Dimas Suffern Quirno and backrower Juan Carlos Gentile. Dimas Suffern Quirno also kicked 9 points.
In the other semifinal the favorites would not be overpowered but would be pushed as SIC hosted Belgrano Athletic and won the match 24-16. Belgrano did not have internaitonal players to call upon but SIC had former Pumas fullback Federico Serra, winger Tomás De Vedia and backrower Tomás Leonardi in the starting lineup. SIC were winning the match 10-6 at half time after scoring the only first half try through scrum-half Lucas Alcacer. Benjamín Madero converted it and kicked a penalty while Agustín Lopez Isnardi kicked two penalties for Belgrano Athletic. When man of the match, Tomás De Vedia, scored for SIC in the second minute of the second half SIC took an 11 point lead but Belgrano Athletic fought back with two tries. The first scored by backrower Javier Alianelli and the second by winger Estanislao Falcón. Both tries were unconverted which made the scoreline 17-16 to SIC after 60 minutes. SIC showed their class through a 72nd minute try to hooker Fernando Lauría which Madero converted to seal the win.
The final to be fought over between La Plata and SIC will take place this saturday (October 23) at La Plata.
USA Eagles international winger, Zee Ngwenya, continues to enhance his reputation as the fastest winger in world rugby with an outstanding performance on Sunday for Biarritz as the French side took firm control of their Heineken Cup group with a 35-15 home win vs Ulster. Ngwenya scored two of his teams four tries with French test prop Sylvain Marconnet and Pumas secondrower, Manuel Carizza also scoring.
The match was a game defined by two very different halves with scores tied at 3-3 at half time. In the second half, things changes with Biarritz running wild. Inspired by Ngwenya´s pace, Biarritz played a very attacking game with Ngwenya breaking the line after recieving a box kick well inside his own half from South African international Ruan Pienaar in the 41st minute. Three minutes latter it would be Ngwenya who finished off what he started following good play by Biarritz´s forwards. The teams second try was scored by Argentina´s Manuel Carizza in the 60th minute. It followed two penalties by French scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvilli. The scores were 23-3 to Biarritz at this stage. Ulster fought back through Irish international winger Andrew Trimble but with Sylvain Marconnet´s try in the 68th minute the game was in the bag with Biarritz leading 30-8. Irish international backrower, Stephen Ferris managed a second try for the visitors on full time but Ngwenya had scored his second try two minutes earlier to give Biarritz a bonus point victory.
Biarritz next face Italian side Aironi in two matches when the Heineken Cup returns in December. Ulster, face a tougher challenge with home and away matches against English club, Bath. The French side look to be in total control of this group and should get two bonus point victories vs Aironi which would almost guarantee Biarritz´s place in the quarter finals. Firstly, Biarritz have quite a tough series of four Top 14 games to deal with. The first being a home match vs French champions, Clermont on saturday. Biarritz are currently in 8th place in the Top 14.
An amazing fact - the leading points scorer of all time in the Heineken Cup is not from Europe but from the USA. The same player is also the second highest points scorer in the history of the Six Nations and has scored more points for Ireland than any other player. This past weekend he scored 15 points as Munster scored a big win vs French giants, Toulon at Thomond Park in Limerick. He is a previous Six Nations Grand Slam winner and Heineken Cup winner too. The player in question is Munster and Irish international flyhalf, Ronan O'Gara who was born in San Diego, California in 1977 to Irish parents who were living in the United States at the time.
O'Gara, like any player, is able to play for a country that he was not born in based on the IRB player eligibility law that stipulates that a player can play for a country so long as he / she has lived there for three or more years. O'Gara had lived in Ireland for far longer than three years upon making his debut for Ireland vs Scotland in 2000. He became Ireland's first choice flyhalf during Rugby World Cup 2003 and kept his place until well after Rugby World Cup 2007. Today he is in a battle with Leinster flyhalf Johnny Sexton for the Irish number 10 shirt.
Thus far O'Gara has played 99 tests for Ireland and 2 for the British and Irish Lions which makes him the 12th most capped player of all time on par with South Africa's Victor Matfield and former Australian wing, David Campese. Of the players with more international appearances than O'Gara, only three still play - Irish prop John Hayes, South African captain John Smit and Irish captain Brian O'Driscoll. No player born in the United States has played more test rugby than Ronan O'Gara. Interestingly, he has only ever played one test match against the USA, back in 2000 and O'Gara scored 16 points.
Pumas 27 year old scrumhalf, Nicolas Vergallo will be staying at European Champions Stade Toulousain until 2014 after extending his contract with the club for an additional three seasons. The extention means Toulouse now have three long term Argentine players as Nicolas Vergallo joins secondrower Patricio Albacete and hooker Alberto Vernet Basulado on long term deals. Vergallo joined Toulouse this season after playing the previous two for current Pro d2 team, US Dax. The desire of Toulouse to hold onto the Rosario native is a clear indication that he has been impressing the coaching staff in the short time he has been at the club. It also suggests that he should be the starting scumhalf for Argentina in the november international tour of Italy, France and Ireland. Vergallo has played 14 tests for Los Pumas in his career thus far.
Vergallo started at scrumhalf for Toulouse in their Heineken Cup away victory vs Wales´ Newport Dragons at Rodney Parade on saturday. The win put Toulouse in firm control of their group as the only undefeated side after two rounds. Toulouse will play host to Perpignan this coming saturday in Round 10 of the Top 14 as the Heineken Cup takes a break until December with Toulouse travelling to Scotland to take on Glasgow on December 10.
The 2010 South American B tournament is to take place in Colombia latter this month and will be a repeat of the 2009 event involving the same four sides with Central America´s Costa Rica joining the three South American countries of Colombia, Peru and Venezuela in what is South America´s annual second tier rugby tournament. In the 2009 event Colombia won all three matches including an impressive 34-0 win vs Venezuela to win the tournament. Venezuela managed to win its two other matches to finish second whilst Peru scored a big 47-8 win vs Costa Rica to claim third spot.
Of the four competing sides, three are listed in the IRB World Rankings. Currently Colombia are ranked highest in 53rd position followed by Venezuela in 59th and Peru in 78th. Costa Rica continue to not be included in the IRB World Rankings because Costa Rica has not officially been accepted as a full member of the IRB similar to a number of others from across the globe ranging from Estonia to Mexico. The simple reason for this is that the required criteria is yet to be met 100%. The rankings provide a fair analysis of the levels of the participating teams. Venezuela were considered better than Colombia until losing in 2009. These two sides should again be the best two and it is fitting that their clash will take place in the final round of the 2010 event.
Costa Rica certainly merit being a full IRB member and have showed outstanding progress and administrative ablities in such a short space of time. The national rugby team played their first international only five years ago, in 2005 in a match against fellow non-members Panama and won 60-0. The country´s first major tournament was in 2007 in the first ever Central American Rugby Cup which involved Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama with Costa Rica being crowned champions. They will gain priceless experience from playing against the three South American sides and in time should be as equally competitive as they are.
Tournament Schedule
October 24 Venezuela vs Peru
October 24 Colombia vs Costa Rica
October 27 Venezuela vs Costa Rica
October 27 Colombia vs Peru
October 30 Peru vs Costa Rica
October 30 Colombia vs Peru
The second annual Americas Rugby Championship is all said and done with this years hosts, Argentina, having few problems in collecting the Gold medal. According to recent history and the state of the game in all four competiting countries, Los Jaguares were always considered strong favoriutues for the title. The real battle was to be fought over who would finish second with the remaining three teams all capable of taking home silver.
Tonga are a well respeted team in international rugby. They defeated Samoa and the USA at Rugby World Cup 2007 and defeated Italy at Rugby World Cup 1999. Canada and the United States are also well respected sides but the common perception that most rugby sources give is that Tonga are a better side or in the least equal. It was therefore highly positive for the teams representing Canada and the United States to both defeat the Tongans. It is an indication that rugby in North America is truely progressing.
Defeating Tonga alone, however, was not going to be satisfactory for the Candians or U.S. players. Rather, the battle for silver is something highly important to both teams and tonights clash in Cordoba, Argentina was a true war to see who can say they are the best from North America and the second best from the Americas. As is often the case when Canada and the United States go head-to-head, the match was not high scoring. At half time the USA Selects were winning by a score of only 3-0 thanks to a penalty goal from flyhalf Valanese Malifa. It could have been more but the USA had to play 10 minutes with one player short as Chris Biller was yellow carded in the 21st minute. After the break, Canada evened scores quickly through the highly talented 20 year old flyhalf, Connor Braid in the third minute. With Braid´s second penalty three minutes later the Canadian Selects took the lead 6-3. Malifa scored next in the 22nd minute of the second half to even the scores but this would be the last time the USA Selects would score in the match. Replacement prop, Jason Marshall scored the games only try while Braid kicked two more penalties to seal a 17-6 victory for the Canada Selects.
In the days second match the home side enjoyed their third win of the tournament to lift the cup as undefeated champions. After Tonga scored first points with a penalty to Fangatapu Apikotoa in the first minute of play, Argentina took control to lead 18-3 at half time thanks to tries to Martín Landajo and Agustín Gosio as well as one conversion and two penalties to former Stade Français and Perpignan flyhalf, Ignacio Mieres. The second half was a different affair with Argentina taking its foot off the pedal. The hosts did score 10 more points but conceeded 17 to close out the match with a 28-20 victory. Apikotoa kicked one penalty and converted a try scored by Damien Fakafanua to close the game only for Juan Imhoff to respond with a try to Los Jaguares which Nicolás Sánchez converted. With time up on the clock, the Argentineans were winning 28-15 but Fine Vea Mesui Lenoto did well to score a try to close the gap to lose by a respectable 8 points.
Tonga did themselves proud in competing well in the tournament but the fact that they were winless and defeated Chile by only 2 points (32-30) is firm evidence that the Americas Rugby Championship should be an Americas only tournament with Chile and / or Uruguay participating in 2011. Tonga have the Pacific Nations Cup which involves Fiji, Japan and Samoa whilst Chile and Uruguay have no comparable tournament but will provide similar opposition to the three Americas powers as Tonga did in this years Americas Rugby Championship.
Interestingly, Chile and Uruguay both hosted and defeated the United States during qualifying matches for Rugby World Cup 2003 and Uruguay qualified ahead of the United States as Americas 2 for Australia 2023. The IRB has work to do because as it stands South America is not getting treated fairly. Uruguay did play today in Cordoba ahead of Canada Selects vs USA Selects as they took on Cordoba´s Los Dogos and won 21-0. Uruguay used the encounter to experiment ahead of the do or die Rugby World Cup qualification home and away series vs Romania this november.
In round two of the 2010 Americas Rugby Championship Canada Selects faced Tonga A in what is a preview of the Canada vs Tonga clash to take place in Pool A in Whangarei, New Zealand in Rugby World Cup 2011. The clash in the Americas Rugby Championship was therefore extremely useful preperation for both teams as they no doubt are targeting the match in Whangarei as well as the clash vs Japan to try to finish third in the pool. Canada proved to be too strong in scoring 5 tries to 1 to overpower the Pacific Islanders to win 32-16 and stay in touch with the USA. The international sides of Canada and Tonga have twice met in Rugby World Cup history with Canada coming out on top both times with good wins.
In Round two´s other encounter, the Argentina Jaguars showed once again why Argentina is the leading rugby force in the Americas as they backed up their first round 49-14 win vs Canada selects with a 45-12 victory (6 tries to 2) vs the USA selects. The result meant that Argentina are 2010 Americas Rugby Championship title holders with a game in hand as both North American teams, despite defeating Tonga, cannot catch the South Americans regardless of the result of the final round. The North Americans will, however, go head to head today with the winner taking home silver and the loser bronze.
Round three will take place later on today with Canada Selects vs USA Selects kicking off at 17:45 local time with Argentine referee Francisco Pastrana to be in charge of the contest. Argentina Jaguares vs Tonga A will start shortly after the scheduled completion of the match with the official kick off to take place at 19:45. Canadian Brian Arciero will have the honor of refereeing the contest. Canada Selects
1 Frank Walsh, 2 Pat Riordan, 3 Scott Franklin, 4 Brian Erichsen, 5 Brett Beukeboom, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Kevin Parfrey, 8 Jeremy Kyne, 9 Sean White, 10 Connor Braid, 11 Ryan Tomlinson, 12 Ryan Smith, 13 Tyler Wish, 14 Nick Blevins, 15 Derek Daypuck
Reserves: 16 Mike Pletch, 17 Hubert Buydens, 18 Jason Marshall, 19 Jon Phelan, 20 Mark Macsween, 21 Eric Wilson, 22 Sean Ferguson
USA Selects
1 Phillip Thiel, 2 Chris Biller, 3 Eric Fry, 4 Samu Manoa, 5 Brian Doyle, 6 Patrick Danahy, 7 Matthew Hawkins, 8 Nic Johnson, 9 Shalom Suniula, 10 Nese Malifa, 11 Zach Test, 12 Andrew Suniula, 13 Troy Hall, 14 Milemoti Pulu, 15 Taivalu Enosa
Reserves: 16 Anthony Purpura, 17 Ross Silverman, 18 Tom Katzfey, 19 Mark Bokhoven, 20 Benny Mateialona, 21 Volney Rouse, 22 Duncan Kelm
ARGENTINA JAGUARES
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Agustín Gosio, 13 Juan Pablo Estelles, 12 Horacio San Martín, 11 Mauro Comuzzi, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Miguel De Achaval (captain), 7Leonardo Senatore, 6 Genaro Fessia, 5 Santiago Guzmán, 4. Julio Farías Cabello, 3Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Matías Cortese, 1 Mauricio Guidone.
Reserves: 16. Luciano Proto, 17. Roberto Tejerizo, 18. Tomás de la Vega, 19. Benjamín Macome, 20. Nicolás Sánchez, 21. Gabriel Ascárate, 22. Juan Imhoff .
Having a legendary international rugby player as a father would not always be easy. Being the son of such a man and being a player yourself could be complicated. Worse still if the father is from the amateur era in which all he played for was pride and respect but the son is playing in pursuit of big money. The soon to be released movie, Play On, touches on this theme as co-writers Albert Dekin and David Story question what would happen if a father and son were caught on constrasting sides of this divide? Would it be possible for the father to accept his son who is really only interested in making a profit?
It tells the story of, Finlay Kilgour who represented Scotland in the amateur days and had to sustain himself and his family by working in a textile mill. Keir, his son, abandons his Scottish club and family in pursuit of richer pastures and sets off to play for Kansas City in the NFL. Unfortunately for Keir reality hits him in the face when he comes to see that his former life in Scotland was a life of ease and he would not simply be able to walk into the NFL.
The film was shot in both Kansas City and Scotland and utilizes real life rugby players including Scotland´s best ever player, Gavin Hastings. The movie is the lattest example of the increasing importance of rugby in the United States. 2009 brought us Invictus and 2008 Forever Strong. Play On appears to be a better rugby movie than both as the rugby being played involves actual players and the details such as scrums and rucks look superior. Without the booming state of global rugby this film would not be possible. It is a strong indication of the future state of rugby in the Americas and the need for the region to host a Rugby World Cup. Argentina 2023 must become a reality.
