PHILADELPHIA, PA – The first Americas Rugby Championship – well, the first with this format – is in the books. Argentina XV ended up in the top spot thanks, in part, to the poor performances by USA in the final 2 weeks. USA still ends up in 2nd place. Canada are third, though tied with USA in total points because of USA won the head-to-head match. Even though Chile defeated Brazil head-to-head, Brazil end up ahead of Chile in the final standings. It is perhaps worth remembering that before the tournament started, Brazilian Virgilio Neto told Rugby World Magazine, “Against Argentina, the States, I do not think we can score a try.”
[supsystic-tables id=’18’]
As we look to our panel’s final table, it is Jonathan Wicklow Barberie who emerges the victor. JWB did not have a great record for his Picks of the Week, and, in fact, all of the matches he picked wrong were ones he felt so strongly about he made them picks of the week. Still, JWB got off to a strong start in Round 1 and never looked back. Ronan Nelson comes in second, with the rest of us in a heap behind him.
[supsystic-tables id=’35’]
Here is hoping that with all the players and coaches learned during the ARC, the referees learned a few things as well. Our hopes for international referees might be impossibly high, but there seems no real disputing that the referees in the ARC, like the players, have plenty of room to improve.
Uruguay 29-25 USA
Here is the recap of the match. Certainly, this was not the response to the loss to Brazil that USA were hoping for.
Brazil 7-42 Argentina XV
Brazil managed a consolation try at the end, but this match was all Argentina.
Attendance: 3,401
Chile 13-64 Canada
This was a tremendous bounce-back for Canada after losing big to Argentina in Round 4. Chile, meanwhile, end the tournament on a sour note and at the bottom of the table.
Feel free to comment below, look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter@: RugbyWrapUp, Junoir Blaber,James Harrington, Jamie Wall, Nick Hall, DJ Eberle, Jake Frechette, Scheenagh Harrington, Jamie Loyd, Cody Kuxmann, Karen Ritter, Ronan Nelson, Kaitlin McCabe, Kyle Phillips, Rocky Brown and Declan Yeats, respectively.
