2017 Americas Rugby Championship

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Brazil doing well vs Uruguay now, 25 minutes in. Brazil are already the highest ranked team *not* still competing for RWC qualification.

[EDIT: stream is working now]

Uruguay are still quite one-dimensional, and not very disciplined in terms of keeping possession. Several times they made an offload or pass under pressure without looking, and it goes straight to a Brazilian player. There was also one very comical Uruguay scrum where the Uruguayan hooker accidentally kicked it straight to the Brazilian 2nd row.

Brazil's territorial kicking game was working quite well, but only because Uruguay made mistakes and gave away possession often enough. Also that one Brazilian forward made a few breaks and had the pace to make some good meters.

Both sides making several turnovers at breakdowns.

A bit of a messy game punctuated by some of the usual flair we are coming to expect from Brazil. Uruguay were missing quite a few starters and didn't seem too interested in the first half (probably still hungover from RWC qualification). Hopefully they'll improve and offer a real ***le challenge.

Brazil will be disappointed as they had a big chance here. I think Sancery is better at fullback than centre and they have not caught fire yet in the first two rounds (against the "weaker" sides). I was hoping for more progress from them.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

Brazil are certainly improving though and I'm pleased to see them giving a game to Uruguay even if they were without a few starters.

 

[petite]

yes nice to see Brazil grow! they could be a powerhouse!

 

[petite]

does someone knows if there's a streaming for arg vs chi?

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Maybe I am being a bit harsh on Brazil. Uruguay have been in fine form recently and they competed against them.

does someone knows if there's a streaming for arg vs chi?

World Rugby seem to be streaming each game on YouTube.

 

[amz]

from Americas yes they are streaming this year, I wonder why they don't stream Rugby Europe games as well.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

Good result for the USA last night against Canada. I only watched the first half unfortunately as I fell asleep from a long hard day of watching 5 games before it. It's not like Canada had a weak side out either with the likes of Van der Merwe starting which is a rarity for this competition. The number 8 for USA (Dolan I believe) was excellent in the time that I saw and I was very impressed.
To me USA are improving and moving in the right direction somewhat even if it is very slowly, and I'm looking forward to the USA - Uruguay game soon.
USA have a few solid players in the 7s game, I know the switch to 15s is hard to make but I'd be interested to see how they'd get on.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

from Americas yes they are streaming this year, I wonder why they don't stream Rugby Europe games as well.

Agreed, the REC needs equally as much publicity from World Rugby. Could it be down to WR not wanting people to see Georgia and Romania demolishing everything before them and being too good for the the REC so they can limit the calls for the six nations to open up? Surely not but it's just a thought.
Were any of the games in the ARC on local tv as when I was watching the USA game, there was only another 200 people watching apparently on YouTube.

 

[amz]

Agreed, the REC needs equally as much publicity from World Rugby. Could it be down to WR not wanting people to see Georgia and Romania demolishing everything before them and being too good for the the REC so they can limit the calls for the six nations to open up? Surely not but it's just a thought.
Were any of the games in the ARC on local tv as when I was watching the USA game, there was only another 200 people watching apparently on YouTube.

Or maybe because Rugby Europe streams on its own website but still, so very few people outside T2 are aware of these matches.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

Anyone watch the games this week?
I only caught the highlights of the matches so can't really comment too much about anything...
USA scored some beauties albeit against Chile and are heading for the ***le again for the ARC.
Uruguay 13 game winning streak came to an end sadly against Argentina XV but does this actually count as AXV aren't a ranked side so does the winning streak remain intact does anyone know?
Brazil lost heavily to Canada as well which is a pity imo. Brazil won this fixture last year and I'm sure they were targeting two wins again on this tournament so it'll be tough to achieve that now against a strong USA side next time out.
So far, USA and Uruguay are the marked improved imo and have shown that they have taken steps forward in particular Uruguay who I believe are at an all time high in the rankings(?). Brazil look a bit inconsistent but their performance against Uruguay last week shows they are able to compete with some of the big boys on their day. Argentina XV look the weakest I've seen them for a few years. I don't know if this is down to other teams being stronger or them just being weaker.
Good tournament so far though. I would have liked to have seen the USA-Argentina XV as the last game though to keep it all open till the last week!

 

[Brigantine]

I got my time zones wrong or something and only caught the end of the Brazil - Canada game.

Canada bouncing back after 2 defeats to Uruguay, but it's too late. It's looking like they will have to beat either Romania or Samoa now to even qualify for Japan.

I don't feel too bad for Brazil, they had a good year last year but they're still very much Tier 3 and weren't really expected to win. And they got to finish on a good note!

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Uruguay vs USA kicking off.



US victory gives them the grand slam. A loss opens the door to Uruguay and Argentina XV.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

Didn't see the game but wow USA that is a big win against Uruguay. Considering they're ranked exactly the same pretty much, to come away scoring 60 points is very impressive! Are we looking at a potentially top 12 team here or was Uruguay just understrength?

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Didn't see the game but wow USA that is a big win against Uruguay. Considering they're ranked exactly the same pretty much, to come away scoring 60 points is very impressive! Are we looking at a potentially top 12 team here or was Uruguay just understrength?

Uruguay just lack the physical specimens to compete upfront and were dismantled, so it is hard to evaluate how strong the US are. But Uruguay had won their last 11 or 12 tests and I read they recalled some of their stronger players for this match so the US deserve a lot of credit.

It is becoming clear that their former coach John Mitchell is pretty damn capable in setting teams on the right path, their current coach Gold was coaching in the English top flight (so might be decent) and they have a new professional domestic league setting up in the next few weeks.

Lots of potential upside but I've no idea how quickly it'll kick in. Hopefully this new league fairs better than the last one. They are pulling away from Argentina XV and might quickly start to dominate the ARC if Argentina don't send in some more experienced players. I think they should aim to be on a par with Tonga or Samoa in the next few years and take it from there.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

Perhaps Uruguay's players are tired after World Cup qualifying games and no rest afterwards going straight into a full blown competition.

Argentina XV will need to field a stronger team next year I think to keep up with the USA which is an excellent thing.

I was raving about Uruguay's improvement the past few weeks and they have done very well BUT losing at home by 40 points to a team who are meant to slightly below Uruguay's level is very disappointing. Hats off to USA though for what they're doing now.

They are my fourth team )) behind Wales, Spain and Georgia, and I have lots of friends living in America so I naturally have a strong following for them and want them to do well.

For years we've been saying that USA could be one of the top sides on the world if they really wanted and they've never delivered here. Interest levels are growing massively and rugby is finally being played in schools across the country so awareness of the game is increasingly importantly. Could we be seeing the beginning of USA's rise? Give it 15 years I say personally before they break into the top 10, that's so long as the upward tradjectory is maintained.
Uruguay will be a solid top 15 side in the future. A second super rugby franchise for Argentina has been talked about so how about a general South American franchise including some Uruguayans? Unlikely I know but I feel something needs to be done to help Uruguay and the other South American sides given their progress of late.

It seems this competition hasn't been so popular on this forum as I was hoping, and I think the skill level and general quality has risen a lot over the past couple of years. Already looking forward to next year's competition

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Yeah, this tournament has yet to capture the imagination of the general public or TRF. It is a long term project.

I think every nation competing in it benefits a lot from being able to test players and having a lot more competitive tests, so long may it continue.

I was a bit disappointed in Chile and Brazil this year compared to previous ones and I think that made this edition a bit more predictable.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

I was a bit disappointed in Chile and Brazil this year compared to previous ones and I think that made this edition a bit more predictable.

Me too, Brazil caused an upset last year and the year before but they failed to deliver this year sadly. They had their chance against Uruguay and blew it. I don't think they've gone backwards at all though, just the other teams have improved

 

[amz]

the enthusiasm of the beginnings

 

[Welshdragon2000]

the enthusiasm of the beginnings

The over optimism on my part probably