Argentina’s strength in depth beneath the senior team was evident in 2014 with the Jaguars and the Pampas XVs both going through the year unbeaten and claiming three tournament titles between them.

In March, the Pampas XV won the revamped Pacific Rugby Cup in their debut season, while later in the year the Jaguars, effectively Argentina’s A team, took both the Tbilisi Cup and Americas Rugby Championship titles.

Pacific Rugby Cup

With a squad steeped in Junior World Championship experience, the Pampas XV proved too strong for the development sides of the NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies and Samoa A and Tonga A en route to a final showdown with Queensland Reds A. Winger Manuel Montero and captain and scrum-half Martin Landajo each grabbed a brace of tries apiece in the searing Sydney sun as the Pampas XV ran out 36-21 winners to claim the cup at the first time of asking.

Winners: Pampas XV

Tbilisi Cup

Having switched from the Nations Cup, Argentina Jaguars made short work of winning the Tbilisi Cup at the first attempt. After earlier wins over Emerging Italy and Georgia, where Juan Pablo Socino excelled with the boot, the Jaguars sealed an emphatic triumph in the round-robin tournament with a 41-7 victory over wooden spoonists Spain. Spain finished the tournament without a point to their name, while hosts Georgia claimed second place after a final day 34-10 victory over Emerging Italy.

Winners: Argentina Jaguars

Nations Cup

Emerging Ireland were the dominant force in the Bucharest-based Nations Cup, ruthlessly brushing aside Russia and Uruguay in their opening two matches before seeing off hosts and defending champions Romania with a 31-10 victory on the final day. Two tries in the space of three first-half minutes proved decisive, dynamic captain Dominic Ryan and winger Craig Gilroy, with his fourth try of the tournament, helping Emerging Ireland into a 17-3 half-time lead. Player of the tournament Robin Copeland put the result beyond doubt with Ireland’s third try shortly after the re-start, with the only other scores being a penalty try and conversion for either side. 

Winners: Emerging Ireland

Americas Rugby Championship 

Bolstered by players who had featured in the Pumas’ historic Rugby Championship victory against Australia, the Jaguars headed to Canada in October as strong favourites to win the Americas Rugby Championship for the fifth time in a row. Indeed, the Jaguars had the title in the bag with a round to spare after bonus-point wins over USA Select and Uruguay left them with an unassailable lead going into the final day. The Jaguars concluded another successful campaign with a routine 39-9 victory against Canada A.

Winners: Argentina Jaguars

Pacific Nations Cup

Japan and Samoa shared the honours in the Pacific Nations Cup, which was split into North American and Pacific conferences with three teams in each.

Samoa began their campaign with an 18-18 draw against Tonga, Otulea Katoa’s fine individual score being the highlight of an otherwise scrappy performance. A week later, Fiji brushed Tonga aside 45-17 to set up a winner-takes-all showdown with Samoa in Suva. Samoa had not won there since 1998 but they capitalised on Fijian ill-discipline to take the match 18-13, all of their points coming from the boot of Tusi Pisi.

Japan came out on top in the high-scoring North American conference after extending their record run of Test victories to nine by overcoming hosts Canada and USA. They did it the hard way in round one, recovering from 25-9 down at half-time to Canada to roar back with tries from Yoshikazu Fujita, Yu Tamara and Hendrik Tui to triumph 34-25. The Brave Blossoms then headed to Los Angeles to play USA in a game that produced four tries for either side. Japan prevailed 37-29 despite Blaine Scully’s hat-trick for the Eagles.

Winners: Samoa and Japan

Junior World Championship

England claimed back-to-back Junior World Championship titles after a thrilling 21-20 win against South Africa at Eden Park. Having beaten hosts New Zealand twice in their own backyard to get to the final, 2012 champions South Africa were always going to provide stiff opposition for England and so it proved. Jesse Kriel handed the Junior Boks an early lead with the first of his two tries before Nathan Earle responded to edge England in front 11-10 at half-time. A Joel Conlon try and penalty and conversion from Billy Burns extended England’s advantage after the break, but Kriel found his way over for a second time and the outstanding Handre Pollard added the extras to set up a tense finish. England held on though. Meanwhile, New Zealand had to settle for third place after a 45-23 win over Ireland in the play-offs.

Winners: England

Junior World Rugby Trophy

Japan secured their return to the Junior World Championship with a 35-10 win against Tonga in the JWRT final. Tries from hooker Shunta Nakamura, wing Shuhei Narita and number 8 Sota Oketani – in addition to a first half penalty try – were enough to spark Japanese celebrations. The Brave Blossoms youngsters did not have it all their own way in Hong Kong though. In fact, the third seeds got off to the worst possible start with a 33-28 loss to former champions Uruguay. They then found themselves 14-0 in arrears against Namibia before fighting back to win 34-28, a victory which meant they had to beat Canada to top Pool B and deny Uruguay, the only unbeaten side in the pool stages after two wins and an 18-18 draw with Canada, a place in the final. Six tries later and a 37-12 win had been delivered. Meanwhile, a 28-22 win for Tonga over 2012 champions USA had proved decisive in the battle for top spot in Pool A. 

Winners: Japan

The sevens scene was once against dominated by New Zealand in both the men’s and women’s games.

HSBC Sevens World Series 2013-14

With five tournaments titles and two runners-up finishes New Zealand took the HSBC Sevens World Series crown by 28 points from South Africa. New Zealand won the opening leg of the series on the Gold Coast of Australia but had to wait until Wellington in February before tasting victory again. In between times, they suffered their heaviest defeat under Gordon Tietjens when they lost 44-0 to Fiji in the Dubai semi-final. A superb defensive display saw New Zealand get back on track on home soil. From the second game onwards in Wellington, the reigning champions kept the opposition pointless, including a 21-0 win against South Africa in the final. The Blitzboks reached their fifth consecutive final as the series moved on to Tokyo but Fiji proved too strong in the final. The All Blacks Sevens returned to the top of the standings with two rounds to play after victory over England in Hong Kong. Canada continued to justify their reputation as a force to be reckoned with by making their first series Cup final in Glasgow, but they were powerless to stop a New Zealand side who had built up a head of steam and slipped to a 54-7 defeat. By progressing to the knockout stages of the Cup in London, New Zealand were guaranteed their 12th title in 15 years, an outstanding achievement in anyone’s book. Twickenham staged the highest scoring final of all time when the All Blacks Sevens concluded the series with a 52-33 win against Australia.

Winners: New Zealand

Women’s Sevens World Series 2013-14

Reigning champions New Zealand were pushed hard by Australia throughout the five-tournament series, with the destiny of the title only decided towards the latter stages of the season’s finale in Amsterdam. New Zealand were given an early warning that they would not have it all their own way when losing to their cross-Tasman rivals in the final of the opening tournament in Dubai. Australia looked down and out having conceded five tries to one, but they rallied to score 28 unanswered points and win 35-27. Normal service was resumed when the series moved on to Atlanta, New Zealand running out 36-0 winners against Canada in the final. Canada looked certain to exact revenge in the Sao Paulo semi-final but New Zealand came back from the dead to score two late tries and overturn a 17-5 deficit. The final proved a step too far though, as Emilee Cherry, later named IRB Women’s SevensPlayer of the Year, inspired Australia to victory. At tournament number four, however, in China, New Zealand turned the tables on Australia before wrapping up the title with victory over the same opponents in the Amsterdam finale.

Winners: New Zealand