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The 2017 Nacional de Clubs Champion will be crowned on Saturday. The battle for the ultimate prize in Argentine club rugby will see a Buenos Aires vs Córdoba battle as Hindú and Tala face-off at CASI in Northern Buenos Aires at 3:40pm.
Both clubs made it to the final by having impressive Nacional de Clubes campaigns. Hindú downed Belgrano Athletic 45-31 in one Semi Final while Tala toppled San Luis 47-35 in the other.
In previous editions both clubs have also been frequently involved. Of them Hindú has been the most prominent, winning seven national club titles.
The Don Torcuato club is looking to make it three national titles in-a-row. In 2015 Hindú defeated Newman while in 2016 it was Belgrano Athletic. With both being against Buenos Aires rivals Saturday’s final marks a final with a non URBA Top 12 team.
Tala is not only a fresh club in the final but the club is in search of making history. Never before has Tala won the Nacional de Clubes. The Córdoba club reached the final in 2006, losing against SIC.
This year’s final sees two teams fielding extremely noteworthy players. Hindú is to have Rugby World Cup 2007 center, Hernán Senillosa playing outside Rugby World Cup 2011 fly half, Santiago Fernández. Also featuring is former Brive and Pumas prop Pablo Henn.
Hindú also has a number of new generation players. Among them is flanker Lautaro Bavaro, a player to have captained the Argentina XV earlier this year. He misses out on Saturday’s match against Toulon as do the likes of Sebastián Cancelliere and Joaquín Díaz Bonilla.
Both Cancelliere and Díaz Bonilla are to play for Hindú out of position in the final. Cancelliere is considered a scrum-half by Argentina XV Head Coach Felipe Contepomi. He was a stand-out performer in the Americas Rugby Championship. He, nonetheless, plays wing for Hindú. Díaz Bonilla has played fly half for Los Jaguares in Super Rugby but starts at fullback on Saturday.
Another Jaguar involved for Hindú is Bautista Ezcurra. The inside center will play from the bench, covering not only Senillosa but also the majority of back-line positions.
Tala has a Jaguar starting too. Playing Tight Head prop will be Facundo Gigena. He joins Argentina XV front-rower Franco Brarda as the starting props against Hindú. Both would have been strongly considered to play for the Argentina XV this weekend were it not for the match clashing with the Nacional de Clubes Final.
Former Argentina XV player Aníbal Panceyra Garrido has been named to start at flanker. Also featuring for Tala are Argentina XV wingers Franco Cuaranta, and Germán Schulz. The latter made his Pumas debut against Georgia in June.
Hindú enter the final as favorites though recent form in the URBA Top 12 does not have the club well positioned. This could be a prime opportunity for the national title to move up to Córdoba.
HINDU (Buenos Aires)
1 Mariano de la Fuente, 2 Augusto Faraone, 3 Pablo Henn, 4 Nicolás Guisasola, 5 Sacha Casañas, 6 Luca Zanetti, 7 Lautaro Bavaro, 8 Gonzalo Delguy (Capt.), 9 Lucas Camacho, 10 Santiago Fernández, 11 Bautista Álvarez, 12 Hernán Senillosa, 13 Severiano Escobio, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla
Replacements: 16 Nicolás Leiva, 17 Alejandro Capurro, 18 Juan Ignacio Martínez Sosa, 19 Agustín Schab, 20 Federico Aguiar, 21 Bautista Ezcurra, 22 Santiago Mourin, 23 Francisco Mateu
TALA (Córdoba)
1 Franco Brarda, 2 José Escutti, 3 Facundo Gigena, 4 Marcos Lobato, 5 Martín Freytes, 6 Aníbal Panceyra Garrido, 7 José Basile, 8 Franco Casutti, 9 Rodolfo Ambrosio, 10 Stefano Ambrosio, 11 Franco Cuaranta, 12 Nicolás Cantarutti, 13 Juan Cruz Cuyaube, 14 Germán Schulz, 15 Guillermo Albrisi
Replacements: 16 Micael Majoan, 17 Gonzalo Llopis, 18 Ramiro Ceti, 19 Javier Ruiz, 20 Manuel Garzón, 21 Gastón Oviedo, 22 Gonzalo Ruíz, 23 Ignacio Albrisi
Venue: CASI, Buenos Aires
Date: Saturday July 29
Kick-Off: 3:40pm
