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Regardless of the quality of rugby produced by Los Jaguares vs Highlanders, there will be nobody at the ground to see it. The Buenos Aires government has prohibited attendances at events, which sees the match being played behind close doors.
For the match, Gonzalo Quesada has heavily changed his starting line-up. He had made eight changes from the side that was humbled by the Sharks. Four are in the forwards and the same number in the backs.
In the forwards Agustín Creevy starts ahead of Julián Montoya at hooker. He joins Lucio Sordoni and Mayco Vivas in the front-row. The former takes over from Joel Sclavi who will play as a replacement. Not included is Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro who may have paid the price for an unimpressive tour to South Africa.
Lucas Paulos returns to start in the second-row. He joins Guido Petti which sees Matías Alemanno on he bench an Marcos Kremer starting at flanker. Kremer will be joined by Tomás Lezana and Francisco Gorrissen in the back-row, a decision which sees Rodrigo Bruni dropped and rookie, Bautista Pedemonte having a second opportunity.
In the backs Felipe Ezcurra is back from injury to start in place of Gonzalo Bertranou at scrum-half. He will partner Domingo Miotti in the halves. The mid-field is unchanged, although Juan Cruz Mallía will play at fullback for the first time this year. Joaquín Tuculet has been dropped. Sebastián Cancelliere and Santiago Carreras start on the wings with Emiliano Boffelli rested.
The Highlanders have also named a much changed line-up. In the forwards Josh Dickson warns a start at lock. He takes over from Jesse Parete. Hooker Ash Dixon will lead the sea from hooker. He is to do so in place of scrum-half Aaron Smith who will miss the match through injury.
In the backs Kayne Hammington starts in place of the All Blacks’ scrum-half. He will do so in a halves combination together with Mitch Hunt. Additional changes see Josh Ioane moving to fullback and starts for Tei Walden in the mid-field and Sio Tomlinson on the wing.
Jaguares vs Highlanders is a rare fixture. There have only been two prior meetings between the sides. The first saw the New Zealanders winning 34-8 in Buenos Aires in 2016 and the second was a 32-27 win in Dunedin in 2019.
Following the South African tour it is make or break for Los Jaguares. The same was true in 2019 and the corresponding part of the season was the start of what took the team to the Super Rugby Final. ARN projects a Jaguares win over the Highlanders by 11 points.
TEAMS
JAGUARES
1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Agustín Creevy, 3 Lucio Sordoni, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Lucas Paulos, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Tomás Lezana, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 10 Domingo Miotti, 11 Santiago Carreras, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente (capt.), 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Javier Díaz, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Bautista Pedemonte, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 23 Santiago Chocobares
HIGHLANDERS
1 Daniel Lienert-Brown, 2 Ash Dixon (capt.), 3 Siate Tokolahi, 4 Josh Dickson, 5 Manaaki Selby-Rickit, 6 Shannon Frizell, 7 Dillon Hunt, 8 Marino Mikaele Tu’u, 9 Kayne Hammington, 10 Mitch Hunt, 11 Tima Faingaanuku, 12 Tei Walden, 13 Ngane Punivai, 14 Sio Tomkinson, 15 Josh Ioane
Replacements: 16 Nathan Vella, 17 Ethan De Groot, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Will Tucker, 20 Teariki Ben-Nicholas, 21 Folau Fakatava, 22 Michael Collins, 23 Josh Mckay
Date: Saturday, March 14
Kick-Off: 6:40pm (Rio de la Plata)
Venue: Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires
Referee: Damon Murphy (Australia)
Assistant Referee: Nic Berry (Australia), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)
