SLAR Preview: Olímpia Lions vs Corinthians

The historic match that Paraguayan and Brazilian rugby supporters have long dreamt of will be realized on Friday. The Olímpia Lions play host to Corinthians in the first-ever professional rugby match involving Paraguay and Brazil. Unfortunately for supporters, the match will be played behind closed doors due to coronavirus.

The Olímpia Lions will be playing their second Súper Liga Americana e Rugby (SLAR) match. Their first was last weekend and saw them losing 48-8 against Los Ceibos in Córdoba, Argentina. Despite the scoreline, the Paraguayan side did make the Argentines work for the win.

Against Corinthians, Olímpia Lions have made four changes. At flanker Matt Matich replaces the concussed Enzo Ocampo; Damian Stevens replaces Facundo Munilla at scrum-half; Sebastián Urbieta replaces Santiago Resino in the centers; and fellow Paraguayan Renato Cardona starts in place of Grant Hermanus at fullback.

Corinthians Head Coach Fernando Portugal has named a similar side to that which was beaten 45-14 by Peñarol in a warm-up match. Ten of the same players who started on that day will also run-out in Asunción.

The changes from that game include Endy Willian starting at hooker in the absence of Yan Rosetti; Cléber Dias locking the scrum in place of Luiz Vieira; Matheus Claudio starting at flanker instead of Devon Müller; Felipe Cunha making-way for Douglas Rauth at scrum-half; an Lucas Tranquez dropping from fullback to the bench.

The Corinthians line-up is very close to the Brazilian test side. It is, for all purposes, Brazil’s version of Los Jaguares. This is in contrast to the Olímpia Lions which is a mixture of Argentine players outside of Los Ceibos and talent from a number of other countries.

An important difference from last week is that the Olímpia Lions go into the game against Corinthians with Paraguayans in the starting line-up. They are Sebastián Urbieta and Renato Cardona. Of the imports players of note include former Puma Gabriel Ascárate; Argentina XV hooker Axel Zapata; and Namibia’s RWC 2019 players Max Katjijeko and Damian Stevens.

ARN predicts a fierce battle between the sides. Due to the coronavirus there will be no home fans to cheer on the Paraguayan franchise. Notwithstanding, ARN sees the Olímpia Lions as the favorite to win the match by 5 points.

 

TEAMS

OLIMPIA LIONS
1 Liam Hendricks, 2 Axel Zapata, 3 Facundo Pomponio, 4 Federico Gutiérrez, 5 Brandon Valentyn, 6 Matt Matich, 7 Max Katjijeko, 8 Nicolás Proto, 9 Damian Stevens, 10 Máximo Ledesma, 11 Manuel Montero, 12 Gabriel Ascárate (capt.), 13 Sebastián Urbieta, 14 Napolioni Nalaga, 15 Renato Cardona

Replamcenents: 16 Juan Ávila, 17 Facundo Maina, 18 Enrique Quinteros, 19 Alejandro Montiel, 20 Ariel Nuñez, 21 Facundo Munilla, 22 Diego Argaña, 23 Grant Hermanus

CORINTHIANS
1 Leonel Moreno, 2 Endy Willian, 3 Pedro Bengaló, 4 Gabriel Paganini, 5 Cléber Días, 6 Matheus Claudio, 7 Arthur Bergo, 8 André Arruda, 9 Douglas Rauth, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Daniel Lima, 12 Robert Tenorio, 13 Felipe Sancery (capt.), 14 Gabriel Quirino, 15 Daniel Sancery

Replacements: 16 Henrique Ribeiro, 17 Caíque Silva, 18 Matheus Rocha, 19 Kauã Guimarães, 20 Devon Müller, 21 Adrio de Melo, 22 Felipe Cunha, 23 Lucas Tranquez

Date: Friday, March 13
Kick-Off: 9:00pm (Rio de la Plata)
Venue: Para Uno, Asunción
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (Argentina)