SLAR 2021 – Cobras vs Peñarol Preview

History will be made on Sunday. Brazil will become the latest country to officially have a professional rugby team take to the field in a professional rugby competition. Os Cobras Brasil XV will take-on Peñarol in Santiago, Chile. The match is a second round fixture in the 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR).

Os Cobras Brasil XV are captained by Felipe Sancery. As is the case with the test side, he will play outside center and his twin brother will start at fullback. They are joined by five other regular starters for Brazil’s test team. Moisés Duque is, Brazil’s Matt Giteau; the tried and tested veteran who defies his size to be a decisive back.

The forwards consist of six Brazilians and two Argentines. Test players Caique Silva, Yan Rosetti, Gabriel Paginini, Cléber Dias, Matheus Cláudio and André Arruda are joined by Alejandro Luna and Manuel Bernstein. Both Argentine players offer plenty to the needs of Os Cobras.

While it is to be the first game for Os Cobras Brasil XV, it will be the second for Peñarol. The Uruguayan side played in the season opener on Tuesday. Peñarol were 40-11 winners over the Olímpia Lions.

Peñarol’s starting line-up consists of ten Uruguayans and five Argentines. There will be one Argentine vs Argentine contest; Nahuel Milán starts in the second-row for Peñarol against Manuel Bernstein. Both are former Pumitas. Facundo Pomponio and Conrado Roura start at tight head and N8 while Manuel Nogúes and Martín Roger will be the starting halves.

Pomponio will join Uruguayan test players Juan Echeverría, and Guillermo Pujadas in the front-row. Both went to RWC 2019. Juan Garese joins Bernstein in locking the scrum while Tero Santiago Civetta is joined by teenager Carlos Deus at flanker.

Nogúes and Roger impressed against Los Cafeteros Pro. They will be joined by the highly promising Baltazar Amaya on the elft wing and José Maria Iruleguy at fullback. Andrés Vilaseca will captain Peñarol from inside center.

Sunday will mark the first ever match between the two teams; however, it is not entirely new. Peñarol played host to Corinthians Rugby in a warm-up fixture ahead of the 2020 SLAR season. Peñarol won the contest 45-14 in Montevideo. The CBRu and Corinthians did not continue their relationship for 2021, hence the team was rebranded into the name Cobras Brasil XV.

As is the case in Uruguay vs Brazil, the more southern of the two enters men’s rugby matches as the favorites. Peñarol performed well against the Olímpia Lions and have already shown smartness with regards to player rotation. ARN projects Peñarol to win again on Sunday. This would take the Montevideo franchise to a 2-0 record against Brazilian SLAR teams as well as in the 2021 SLAR season.

Kickoff is set for 1pm local time, 1pm Brasilia, 11am Bogotá. Live broadcasts will be provided by ESPN in the competing countries.

COBRAS
1 Caique Silva, 2 Yan Rosetti, 3 Alejandro Luna, 4 Gabriel Paginini, 5 Manuel Bernstein, 6 Cléber Días, 7 Matheus Claúdio, 8 André Arruda, 9 Laurent Bourda-Couhet, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Daniel Lima, 12 Moisés Duque, 13 Felipe Sancery (capt.), 14 Robert Tenorio, 15 Daniel Sancery

Replacements: 16 Leonardo Souza, 17 Brendon Alves, 18 Román González, 19 Adrio de Melo, 20 Arthur Bergo, 21 Felipe Gonçalves, 22 Franco Guidice, 23 Lucas Spago

PEÑAROL
1 Juan Echeverría, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Facundo Pomponio, 4 Juan Garese, 5 Nahuel Milán, 6 Carlos Deus, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Conrado Roura, 9 Manuel Nogúes, 10 Martín Roger, 11 Baltazar Amaya, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Juan Manuel Alonso, 15 José Maria Iruleguy

Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Diego Arbelo, 18 Matías Benítez, 19 Felipe Aliaga, 20 Eric Dosantos, 21 Santiago Alvarez, 22 Nicolás Freitas, 23 Mateo Viñals

Date: Sunday, March 21
Venue: Estadio Municipal de La Pintana, Santiago, Chile
Kickoff: 13:00 local
Broadcast: ESPN Brasil, ESPN America Latina

Historical Results:
N/A