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Paraguay welcome the Argentina XV to the Estadio Héroes de Curupayty on Saturday. The teams are to contest an opening round fixture of the inaugural Sudamérica 6 Naciones A.
The Sudamérica 6 Naciones A is not only a rebranding of the South American A Championship, it is also a restructuring. The new-look competition sees an increase from four to six competitors and eastern and western conferences now being utilized.
Paraguay’s opening fixture is the most difficult for them. The task of taking-on the Argentina XV is the toughest of the year for Los Yakáres. Their most recent match against the side was a capped international against a Martín Landajo captained Pumas side in 2015.
Landajo is involved with Los Jaguares in New Zealand at present. The same is true of Jerónimo de la Fuente, Tomás Lezana and Julián Montoya, all of whom also faced Paraguay in 2015.
Captaining the Argentina XV in Asunción will be Tomás Cubelli. The fit-again scrum-half is looking to be considered for the June Internationals against Wales and Scotland. He is joined in the team by two more Jaguares – Joaquín Díaz Bonilla and Benjamín Macome.
The remainder of the Argentina XV line-up named by Felipe Contepomi is overwhelmingly young. There are some familiar names from the Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) including hooker Axel Zapata, loosehead Nicolás Solveyra, and fly half Juan Cruz González. Against Paraguay González will play at fullback. Also involved is Santiago Resino, the Argentina XV’s find of this year’s ARC.
Paraguay is not involved in the ARC but will feature in the new Americas Rugby Challenge which takes place in September and August and September. Los Yakáres join Colombia, Guyana, and Mexico in the competition.
The Sudamericano 6 Naciones A gives Paraguay greatly needed international competition. Los Yakáres have not played a test match since last May. Their performances in the South American A Championship saw the team outperformed.
They fell 45-19 at home to Uruguay, before losing 66-7 to Chile and 57-6 to Brazil in away matches. Head Coach Nahuel García has gone for a team resembling little to that from 2017.
Heavily selected as players from CURDA, with the club accounting for 11 of the match-day 23. All players selected by García are based in Paraguay.
The history of the South American Championship dates back to 1951. Paraguay’s first involvement occurred twenty years later in 1971. Since then Los Yakáres are yet to record a win over Argentina. The closest Paraguay has come was in 1991 when they fell to a 37-10 defeat in Asunción.
The Argentina XV go into Saturday’s match as clear favorites. A win by a 70 point margin or greater is highly likely.
PARAGUAY
1 Emilio Gorostiaga, 2 Juan Manuel Gavigán, 3 Martín Sitjar, 4 José Lezcano, 5 Andrés Nasser (capt.), 6 Horacio Ocampos, 7 Gonzalo Alvarado, 8 Leonardo Glizt, 9 Gonzalo Bareiro, 10 Sergio Alvarenga, 11 Renato Cardona, 12 Camilo Orrego, 13 Sebastián Urbieta, 14 Diego Argaña, 15 Juan González
Replacements: 16 Juan Gómez, 17 Matías Martínez, 18 César de Brix, 19 Gastón Navas, 20 Federico Cattaneo, 21 Rodrigo Da Rosa, 22 Mariano Garcete, 23 Carlos Bareiro
ARGENTINA XV
1 Nicolás Solveyra, 2 Axel Zapata, 3 Lucas Favre, 4 Nicolás Walker, 5 Nahuel Milán, 6 Benjamín Macome, 7 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 8 Santiago Portillo, 9 Tomás Cubelli (capt.), 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 11 Facundo Cordero, 12 Santiago Gilligan, 13 Santiago Resino, 14 Manuel Bustinduy, 15 Juan Cruz González
Replacements: 16 José Luis González, 17 Luciano Santángelo, 18 Julián Martín, 19 Federico Parnás, 20 Exequiel Alegre Chedid, 21 Juan Cruz Rodríguez, 22 Facundo Ferrario, 23 Francisco Liotta
Date: Saturday, May 5
Venue: Estadio Héroes de Curupayty, Asunción
Kickoff: 15:30 local (12:30 Pacific)
Referee: Frank Méndez (FERUCHI)
Broadcasts: ESPN
