LANGFORD, BC: Welcome to beautiful Langford, home of the 2013 Americas Rugby Championship. The ARC is a tournament for the non-first choice/foreign based players but playing at the highest domestic level in the national team pool players from Argentina, Canada, United States and Uruguay. Hence the slight name changes like USA Selects and not Eagles.
We did team previews last week and briefly delved into the match-ups in the Weekend Preview and Wrap-Up. Let’s dive a little deeper this time and review Round 1 and preview Round 2, which kickoffs tonight at 6pm PST.
Here are the results from this past weekend:
FRI – 11TH OCT 13
USA Select XV 9 – 27 Argentina Jaguars
Canada A 17 – 10 Uruguay
In the Argentina vs USA game, an Argie win was not a surprise. It was more of how they didn’t demolish the USA side. It may speak to how many members of the side are recent graduates of the U-20 program. This showed in set pieces, as they weren’t always dominating, with the Eagles occasionally getting the better of them. They did play good defense and show a will to win in putting away the US. From the US prespective the performance can be scene as encouraging since they kept pace for most of the game. The discouraging part was the inconsistent defense, poor tackling leading to tries and once the lack of precision in attack. Inopportune knock-ons, lack of creating space and inability to finish movements are becoming permanent bad habits.
In the Canada vs Uruguay game, both teams really fought to a standstill and should have been a draw. Canada is sending a really young side, trying to cap their U-20s and work on their depth. So the side is incredibly raw and full of players more meant for 2019 than 2015. With that you saw them really not able to control and takeover the game. Uruguay, sending over a young team themselves, took advantage of this. They never fully clicked on attack put never really cracked on defense either and the game was tight all the way through.
Here is tonight’s schedule:
FRI – 11TH OCT 13
Uruguay – Argentina Jaguars 6pm (PST)
Canada A – USA Select XV 8pm(PST)
Here are the line-ups for each match:
Uruguay
Yet to release their line-up
Argentina
1. Roberto Tejerizo
2. Julián Montoya
3. Esteban Viale
4. Matías Alemanno
5. Juan Guerineau
6. Martín Chiappesoni
7. Fidel Lamy
8. Lucas Paschini
9. Gonzalo Bertranou
10. Patricio Fernández
11. Joaquín Tuculet (capitán)
12. Juan Cappiello
13. Matías Orlando
14. Dan Isaack
15. Ramiro Moyano
Reserves:
16. Martín García Veiga,
17. Ignacio Sáenz Lancuba,
18. Matías Díaz,
19. Guido Petti Pagadiabal,
20. Joaquín Camacho,
21. Pedro Imhoff,
22. Sebastián Poet,
23. Javier Rojas
This is a dangerous game for Uruguay. The Argentinians may have shaken off the rust in their match against the USA and now maybe hitting their stride. They may play more of the reserves on the 30-man list, but those players may be hungrier – even if undercooked. It will be interesting to see if Uruguay send out a team to be cannon fodder or shot to try and get into a battle with their neighbors. Indications are that it will be a stronger side than the one that took on Canada. The game will be won by Argentina, but don’t be surprised if it is a blowout or a narrow victory. It is one of those hard to tell games.
For the Canada–USA game, here are the line-ups:
USA
1 Nick Wallace (Olympic Club)
2 Phil Thiel (Life University)
3 Chris Sullivan (Life University)
4 Tai Tuisamoa (OMBAC)
5 Graham Harriman (Metropolis)
6 Danny Barrett (SFGG)
7 Derek Asbun (University of Cape Town)
8 Cam Dolan – Captain (Life University)
9 Shaun Davies (Glendale)
10 Toby L’Estrange (NYAC)
11 Tim Maupin (Olympic Club)
12 Mile Pulu (SFGG)
13 Chris Chapman (NYAC)
14 Ed Mills (Kansas City Blues)
15 Joe Cowley (Life University)
Reserves
16 Cameron Falcon (LSU)
17 Shawn Pittman (Seattle-OPSB)
18 Titi Lamositele (Chuckanut U19s/ Saracens trialist)
19 John Cullen (Seattle-OPSB)
20 Trevor Cassidy (Old Blue of NY)
21 Chris Saint (HARC)
22 Peter Moala (San Mateo)
23 Maximo De Achaval (Denver Barbarians)
Canada
1- Doug Wooldridge, (Lindsay RFC/Ontario Blues) Lindsay, ON
2- Ray Barkwill, (Niagara Wasps RFC/Ontario Blues) Niagara Falls, ON
3- Ryan March, (Abbotsford RFC/BC Bears) Abbotsford, BC
4- Henry (Hank) McQueen, (Balmy Beach/Ontario Blues) West Vancouver, BC
5- Kyle Baille, (Castaway Wanderers/The Rock) Charlottetown, PEI
6- Kyle Gilmour, (St. Albert Rugby Club/Prairie Wolf Pack) Edmonton, AB
7- Alistair Clark, (Baystreet RFC/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON
8- Adam Kleeberger, (Castaway Wanderers/BC Bears) White Rock, BC
9- Sean White, (James Bay AA/BC Bears) Victoria, BC
10- Guiseppe Du Toit, (Uvic Vikes) Maple Ridge, BC
11- Jordan Wilson-Ross, (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Alliston, ON
12- Mike Scholz, (Castaway Wanderers/Ontario Blues) London, ON
13- Conor Trainor, (UBCOB Ravens/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC
14- Duncan Maguire, (St. Albert Rugby Club/Prairie Wolf Pack) St. Albert, AB
15- Jack Fitzpatrick, (Dublin University Football Club) Dublin, Ireland
Reserves
16- Micha Gorvorchin, (Burnaby Lake RC/BC Bears) New Westminster, BC
17- Djustice Sears-Duru, (Castaway Wanderers/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON
18- Jake Illnicki, (Williams Lake Rustlers/Auckland Colts) Williams Lake, BC
19- Callum Morrison, (UBCOC Ravens/BC Bears) Victoria, BC
20- Matt Heaton, (SABRFC/The Rock) Godmanchester, QC
21- Jamie Mackenzie, (UVIC Vikes/Ontario Blues) Oakville, ON
22- Adam McQueen, (Calgary Hornets/Prairie Wolf Pack) Canmore, AB
23- Joe Dolesau, (Burnaby Lake RC/BC Bears) Burnaby, BC
In the other border war on tap for tonight, expect a USA victory. If the US cannot rattle a Canada side with an 18 year-old fly-half that just graduated High School in June, then Lord help them. Canada fly-half Giuseppe Du Toit will have bit more experience around him in the centers and at scrum-half with Sean White, but this is a big ask of a young kid and plenty of rugby legends have stumbled in their debut game, so keep that in mind. From the US prespective, it is also about fly-half, with Toby “L’Sigh” L’Strange (nickname courtesy of Mike Holzman) running the show. No Adam Siddall and Max De Achaval on the bench; the two men meant to put pressure on L’Strange to perform. It appears that Mike Tolkin has fastened his career to L’Strange which demands the embattled #10 reward him with a performance to silence the critics. Tolkin is now in a precarious position where if the USA fails to look dangerous on attack, he will be a lame-duck coach going into RWC2015… assuming they beat Uruguay to qualify. IF they don’t qualify, Tolkin will definitely be gone. For the sake of the program, we hope this is the game that L’Strange shows what he is capable of.
That’s it for now… feel free to comment below, look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter @: RugbyWrapUp, Junoir Blaber, DJ Eberle, Nick Hall, James Harrington, Cody Kuxmann and Declan Yeats, respectively.
And until the next time… stay low and keep pumping those legs.
