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In the third, and final, round of the Sudamérica 6 Naciones A Paraguay play host to Chile. While neither side is in contention for the title the fixture will be fully capped, making it a vital game for both Paraguay, and Chile.
Both Paraguay, and Chile go into Saturday’s match with two losses from their prior fixtures in the Sudamérica 6 Naciones A tournament. Paraguay were hammered by Brazil and humbled by Colombia. Meanwhile Chile were beaten by the next of XV’s of both Argentina, and Uruguay.
Paraguay are coached by former Jaguares Head Coach Raúl Pérez. He has largely kept the faith with his side despite losing badly away to Los Tucanes in Medellín last weekend.
Changes to face Chile begin with Joaquín Vera starting in place of Santiago Cabrera at loose head prop with Enrique Quinteros starting at tight head where Vera had played in Medellín. The remainder of the forward pack is unchanged.
In the backs Pérez has named a new halves combination with Gastón Navas, and Sebastián Urbieta taking over from Eymard Brizuela, and Joaquín Auge who both drop to the bench. Diego Argaña moves from the wing to inside center with Renato Cardona named to start out wide.
Chile have named a highly changed line-up from the Argentina XV, one that is close to that which faced the Uruguay XV in round one.
Pablo Lemoine has entirely changed his front-row with Javier Carrasco, Tomás Dussaillant, and Matías Dittus all back and Piero Zunino, Augusto Bohme, and Nicolás Ovalle dropping out.
In the second-row Pablo Huete of French club Charente is a rare name in the team for the third consecutive week. He will partner Javier Eissmann in the engine room with Francisco Garrido dropping to the bench.
The back-row has reverted to the same formation to that which faced the Uruguay XV. This sees Matías Garafulic, and Martín Sigren being joined by Ignacio Silva who takes over from Clemente Saavedra.
In the backs Benjamín Baraona has been retained at fly half. He was the only point scorer for Los Cóndores against the Argentina XV. He will play outside Domingo Saavedra who has been named at scrum half in place of Aldo Cornejo, and Juan Pablo Larenas who were the specialists in the 23 against the Argentina XV.
The exciting Santiago Videla, joins Iñaki Ayarza in the mid-field while Julio Blanc is to be a dangerous option outside for Los Cóndores.
Of the 28 prior internationals between Paraguay, and Chile Los Cóndores have won 27 of them. Paraguay’s one victory came in the form of 25-24. While neither of the two have embraced professionalism in the same capacity as that of Uruguay it is Chile which is far better positioned.
The 2018 fixture saw Los Cóndores winning 97-0 in Santiago, while in 2017 the victory came in the form of 66-7, and in 2016 Chile were also far too strong in winning 68-7. These results combined with the respective performances of the teams in there 2016-2019 cycle firmly place Chile as favorites to win by 60 points against Paraguay on on Saturday.
TEAMS
PARAGUAY
1 Joaquín Vera, 2 Emiliano Gorostiaga, 3 Enrique Quinteros, 4 Mario Bravo, 5 Mariano Garcete, 6 Enrique Riera, 7 Marcos Riquelme, 8 Carlos Plate, 9 Gastón Navas, 10 Sebastián Urbieta, 11 Renato Cardona, 12 Diego Argaña, 13 Gonzalo Berdejo, 14 Marcelo Matiauda, 15 Horacio Aguero
Replacements: 16 Martín Sitjar, 17 Camilo Blasco, 18 Santiago Cabrera, 19 Ariel Nuñez, 20 Miguel González, 21 Eymard Brizuela, 22 Joaquín Auge, 23 Juan González
CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Tomás Dussaillant, 3 Matías Dittus, 4 Javier Eissmann, 5 Pablo Huete, 6 Ignacio Silva, 7 Martín Sigren (capt.), 8 Nicolás Garafulic, 9 Domingo Saavedra, 10 Benjamín Baraona, 11 Tomás Salas, 12 Santiago Videla, 13 Iñaki Ayarza, 14 Julio Blanc, 15 Christian Huerta
Replacements: 16 Raimundo Martínez, 17 Marcelo Huerta, 18 José Tomás Munita, 19 Francisco Garrido, 20 Augusto Sarmiento, 21 Benjamín Soto, 22 Beltrán Vergara, 23 Lucca Avelli
Date: Saturday, May 24
Kick-off: 3:30pm (Local)
Venue: Estadio Héroes de Curupaty, Asunción
Referee: Juan Pablo Federico (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Diego Colussi (Argentina), local (Paraguay)
