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Round three of the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) will take place on Thursday. The opening game will be historic; never before has there been a professional rugby match between teams from Uruguay and Colombia. Peñarol enter the match unbeaten while Los Cafeteros Pro are seeking to overturn losses in rounds one and two.
Peñarol’s team is one of rotating Uruguayan test players. This is most evident in the backs. Nicolás Freitas moves out of position to rest captain Andrés Vilaseca. The move sees a third mid-field pairing in as many matches Freitas and Tomás Inciarte will be the centers. Rotation also sees starts for Felipe Aliaga, Ezequiel Ramos, Eric dos Santos, and Mateo Viñals.
The policy has not been applied to Peñarol’s Argentine players. Most of them remain in the starting team. Nahuel Milan will play second-row, Ronrado Roura N8, and Martín Roger. One case of rotation sees Santiago Álvarez starting at scrum-half ahead of Manuel Nogúes.
Los Cafeteros Pro have also rotated; albeit, this was already the case from game one to game two. It has again happened with care to include sufficient opportunities for Colombians. The line-up is a 9-7 blend of Argentines and Colombians. The seven Colombian starting players are prop Diego Posada, flanker, Diver Ceballos, N8 Gerson Ortíz, wingers Alejandro Navarro, and Jhon Arley Urritia, center Cristian Rodallegas and fullback Andrés Álvarez.
Gonzalo García and Nicolás Roger remain as the halves combination. García was named as the best player of round two. His service and combination with Roger were impressive. Another potential Puma, Facundo Ferrario, was initially named to start at fullback. A late change, due to medical protocol sees Andrés Álvarez starting and Álvaro Gamara included on the bench.
Peñarol were 40-11 winners over the Olímpia Lions in round one. The Uruguayans backed-it-up with a 33-24 win over Os Cobras. Peñarol demonstrated superior discipline over both teams. Los Cafeteros Pro fell 35-12 to Selknam in round one and 71-28 to Los Jaguares XV in round two.
The results thus far and the status of Uruguay’s and Colombia’s test teams indicate that Peñarol are heavy favorites to win. ARN projects Peñarol to defeat Los Cafeteros Pro by 20 points.
Kickoff is set for 12:20pm local time, 12:20pm Montevideo, and 10:20am Bogotá. Live broadcasts will be provided by ESPN in the competing countries.
PEÑAROL
1 Matías Benítez, 2 Ezequiel Ramos, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Nahuel Milan, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Eric Dos Santos, 8 Conrado Roura, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Martín Roger, 11 Mateo Viñals, 12 Nicolás Freitas (capt.), 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Federico Favaro, 15 Rodrigo Silva
Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Facundo Pomponio, 18 Mateo Perillo, 19 Carlos Deus, 20 Lucas Bianchi, 21 Manuel Nogues, 22 Andrés Vilaseca, 23 Baltazar Amaya
CAFETEROS PRO
1 Javier Corvalán, 2 Agustín Acosta, 3 Diego Posada, 4 Lautaro Simes, 5 Ramiro Tallone, 6 Diver Ceballos, 7 Felipe Puertas, 8 Gerson Ortíz, 9 Gonzalo García (capt.), 10 Nicolás Roger, 11 Alejandro Navarro, 12 Cristian Rodallegas, 13 Tomás García, 14 Jhon Arley Urrutia, 15 Andrés Álvarez
Replacements: 16 Jorge Álvarez, 17 Yani Pérez, 18 Brayhan Pérez, 19 Jhon Álvarez, 20 Sebastián Zapata, 21 Julián Navarro, 22 Jhojan Ortiz, 23 Álvaro Gamara
Date: Thursday, March 25
Venue: Estadio Elías Figueroa, Valparaiso, Chile
Kickoff: 12:20 (Santiago), 10:20am (Bogotá)
Broadcast: ESPN Brasil, ESPN America Latina
Historical Results:
N/A
