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Rugby’s continuous global expansion will add a new first on Saturday as Racing 92 and Brazil play in Tbilisi, Georgia. Their match is to be a part of the inaugural Rugby Summer Cup.
For the respective teams the match serves different purposes. Racing 92 are beginning their pre-season campaign while Brazil are making-up for lost time as they did not play matches during the recent June Internationals.
Racing 92 had a solid 2017-2018 Top 14 season, finishing second upon completion of the regular season. They went on to lose in the Semi Finals against eventual champions, Castres.
Scoring a sensational try in the Semi Final was Juan Imhoff. The Argentine winger will feature against Brazil, doing so as a replacement.
With a recall to Los Pumas appearing all the more likely for the Rugby Championship, the Rugby Summer Cup may be his only preseason involvement before the Top 14 season begins.
For Imhoff it also brings to an extensive period in between facing South American opposition. For Argentina he faced Chile and Uruguay in 2009 and Chile in 2010. In these three matches his return was seven tries. Now on Saturday he will have the opportunity of facing Brazil for the first time.
The lineup named by Racing 92 sees a combination of established stars with wider roster members. Instances being the range offered from Joe Rokocoko, and Donnacha Ryan on the one hand to Anatole Pauvert, and Olivier Klemenczakon the other. There is also a place for the new star recruits Finn Russell and Simon Zebo.
Brazil’s lineup for the match is settled. The same front-force that started in the shock win over the Argentina XV in May will run out against Racing 92. But in the back-row only Arthur Bergo has been retained. João Luiz da Ros has now retired. The spots of da Ros and Matheus Claudio have gone to Cléber Dias and André Arruda.
In the backs Lucas Duque and Josh Reeves again start in the halves as do Moisés Duque, and Felipe Sancery as the centers. Changes come in the back-three with Lucas Tranquez moving from fullback to the right wing and Daniel Sancery returning at fullback. Stefano Giantorno will play on the left wing with Ariel Rodrigues and de wet van Niekerk both replaced.
The Racing 92 match day roster underlines the Top 14 side as having the favorites tag. Yet Brazil will not be concerned by it. As shown in their come-from-behind win in Buenos Aires, Brazil is a team progressing at a tremendous rate. Despite their run of form Brazil are the underdogs which sees the Parisians still entering as favorites. Racing 92 are expected to win by 20 points.
RACING 92
1 Vasil Kakovin, 2 Issam Hamel, 3 Georges-Henri Colombe, 4 Edwin Maka, 5 Donnacha Ryan, 6 Esteban Abadie, 7 Ibrahim Diallo, 8 Antonie Claassen, 9 Xavier Chauveau (capt.), 10 Finn Russell, 11 Anatole Pauvert, 12 Olivier Klemenczak, 13 Léonard Paris, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 15 Simon Zebo
Replacements: 16 Ole Avei, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Census Johnston, 19 Boris Palu, 20 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 21 Raphaël Lagarde, 22 Juan Imhoff, 23 Antoine Gibert, 24 Théo Costosseque, 25 Luigi Tarozzi, 26 Ben Volavola
BRAZIL
1 Lucas Abud, 2 Yan Rosetti (capt.), 3 Jardel Vettorato, 4 Lucas Piero, 5 Gabriel Paganini, 6 Cléber Dias, 7 Arthur Bergo, 8 André Arruda, 9 Lucas Duque, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Stefano Giantorno, 12 Moisés Duque, 13 Felipe Sancery, 14 Lucas Tranquez, 15 Daniel Sancery
Replacements: 16 Caíque Silva, 17 David Muller, 18 Wilton Rebolo, 19 Luiz Vieira, 20 Michael Moraes, 21 Daniel Lima, 22 Robert Tenório, 23 De Wet van Niekerk, 24 Matheus Rocha, 25 Matheus Claudio, 26 Valentin Garcia
Date: Saturday, July 28
Venue: Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi
Kickoff: 21:30 local (13:30 Eastern, 14:30 Brasilia)
Referee: Saba Abulashvili (GRU)
Assistants: Sulkhan Chikhladze (GRU) & Ilia Sajaia (GRU)
TMO: Gia Amirkhanashvili (GRU)
Broadcast: Facebook
