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The third edition of the Americas Rugby Championship comes to a close this Saturday in São José dos Campos. Brazil host Argentina in the third and final fixture of the final round. They do so in the heartland of Brazilian rugby and are looking for widespread support from the locals.
Brazilian Head Coach Rodolfo Ambrosio has changed six players. Of these three are in the backs and three in the forwards. At scrumhalf Laurent Bourda-Couhet makes way for Will Broderick to form a Bandeirantes Saracens combination in the halves with Josh Reeves. It’s a first start for English-born Broderick, who made his debut during the November tour after qualifying on residencey.
Moisés Duque, Felipe Sancery and Lucas Tranquez all retain their places at inside center, outside center and fullback. Both wings, though, are changed. Ariel Rodrigues and De Wet van Niekerk both return, taking over from Robert Tenório and Stefano Giantorno respectively.
In the forwards Maurício Canterle of Farrapos has an opportunity to start for just the second time, doing so in the second row. He joins Cléber Días in the engine room. Lucas Abud swaps with Michel Gomes at loosehead prop, and Endy Willian is restored as backup hooker.
Uncapped Matheus Claudio is named at openside flank in place of Matheus Daniel. The 19-year-old is highly rated and spent time in Canterbury, New Zealand, on a development exchange in 2016.
One further uncapped player is included on the bench. Another youngster in powerful midfielder Valentin Garcia who has been playing his club rugby in France, most recently with Sud Grésivaudan having come through the FC Grenoble age grade system and Saint-Marcellin.
Argentina XV Head Coach Felipe Contepomi continues with widespread rotation. He has opted for a total of nine changes from the side that faced Canada last Saturday in Jujuy. These include seven changes to the forwards.
Back to lead the captain is flanker Lautaro Bavaro. He will do so from flanker and takes over from Tomás de la Vega. He is to be joined in the back row by Francisco Gorrissen and Santiago Portillo, the latter of whom moves from second row to No8.
In the second row the outstanding Ignacio Larrague holds down his place. He is all but certain to be named in the Team of the Tournament. He partner in locking the scrum this weekend will be Jerónimo Ureta who previously started against Chile in Ushuaia and the USA in Los Angeles.
Up front it is a brand new front-row. Franco Brarda, Gaspar Baldunciel, and Santiago Medrano make way for Santiago García Botta, Axel Zapata and Benjamín Espinal. The inclusion of García Botta is of note as he is considered the leading Jaguares’ loosehead and started against England last year in London.
In the backs Contepomi has retained Jaguar Felipe Ezcurra at scrumhalf. He joins Juan Cruz González in the halves with Lucas Mensa moving to inside center for the French-bound Juan Cappiello. Santiago Resino has been retained at outside center as has Juan Cruz Mallía at fullback. On the wings a double change by Contepomi sees German Schulz and Julián Dominguez starting.
The Argentina XV enters the match as red-hot favorites. They dropped their opening match against the USA but went on to defeat Chile, Uruguay and Canada in their three subsequent matches. Brazil, in contrast, defeated Chile in round one, pushed Uruguay in round two but were well beaten by both Canada and the USA.
In the prior matches between Brazil and the Argentina XV Os Tupis have struggled. In the 2016 ARC the Argentina XV won 42-7 in São José dos Campos while last year they recorded a 79-7 victory in Ushuaia.
The 2016 win saw the Argentina XV crowned the inaugural ARC champions. This weekend not only do the Argentina XV need a win but they also need Uruguay to defeat the USA.
BRAZIL
1 Lucas Abud, 2 Yan Rosetti (capt.), 3 Jardel Vettorato, 4 Mauricio Canterle, 5 Cléber Dias, 6 Arthur Bergo, 7 Matheus Claudio, 8 André Arruda, 9 Will Broderick, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 De Wet van Niekerk, 12 Moisés Duque, 13 Felipe Sancery, 14 Ariel Rodrigues, 15 Lucas Tranquez
Replacements: 16 Endy Willian, 17 Michel Gomes, 18 Matheus Rocha, 19 Michael Moraes, 20 Matheus Daniel, 21 Daniel Lima, 22 Stefano Giantorno, 23 Valentín Garcia
ARGENTINA XV
1 Santiago García Botta, 2 Axel Zapata, 3 Benjamín Espinal, 4 Jerónimo Ureta, 5 Ignacio Larrague, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 7 Lautaro Bavaro (capt.), 8 Santiago Portillo, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 10 Juan Cruz González, 11 Germán Schulz, 12 Lucas Mensa, 13 Santiago Resino, 14 Julián Domínguez, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Diego Fortuny, 17 Franco Brarda, 18 Lucas Favre, 19 Diego Galetto, 20 Santiago Montagner, 21 Gregorio del Prete, 22 Santiago Álvarez, 23 Rodrigo Etchart
Date: Saturday, March 3
Venue: Estádio Martins Pereira, São José dos Campos
Kickoff: 18:10 local (16:10 Eastern, 13:10 Pacific)
Referee: Francisco González (URU)
Assistants: Murilo Bragotto (CBRu) & Victor Barboza (CBRu)
Broadcasts: TSN (Canada), ESPN3 (USA / South America), World Rugby (Stream)
