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The Olímpia Lions and Los Jaguares XV battle-it-out in round four of the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR). The round four match will see two winning teams from round three facing-off in Santiago’s Estadio Nacional.
The Olímpia Lions continue to predominently field Argentine players. Notwithstanding, there continue to be spots in the team and on the bench for Paraguayans. The line-up to face Los Jaguares XV
Three Paraguayans will start in the forwards. Enrique Quinteros will play tight head, Mariano Garcete second-row, and Marcos Riquelme starts at N8. In addition Matías Gómez Vara starts at flanker. He is and Argentine player eligible to play for Paraguay. Two Paraguayans start in the backs. Diego Argaña will play outside center and Juan González will play on the right wing.
Axel Zapata will captain the side from hooker. He is one of several Argentina XV players in the team. Also starting is Javier Díaz, a player to have three caps for Los Pumas. Additional starting players pressing for international duty include flanker Lucas Santa Cruz and scrum-half Joaquín Pellandini. Their individual battles against their Jaguares XV opponent will be of note.
Los Jaguares XV go in to the match with seven changes. Among them are season first starts for fly half Tomás Albornoz, tight head Joel Sclavi and flanker Lautaro Bavaro. Three further players are inline to debut from the bench. They are Bautista Bernasconi, Luciano Torres, and Rafael Iriarte.
Felipe Ezcurra will lead the side from scrum-half. He will be in charge of a talented backline. It includes the All Blacks conquerer Santiago Chocobares at inside center and the Glasgow Warriors bound Sebastián Cancelliere on the right wing. Former Jaguares XV captain, Tomás Cubilla partners Chocobares in the centers.
The teams have never met before. Notwithstanding, this is not a genuine first ever fixture. Los Ceibos played host to the Olímpia Lions in round one of the 2020 SLAR season. The Argentine side were 48-8 winners. Los Ceibos were replaced by Los Jaguares XV to be Argentina’s one SLAR team for the 2021 season.
Los Jaguares XV are the SLAR leaders. In their two on-field matches thus far, the Argentine side made light work of both Los Cafeteros Pro and Selknam. The Olímpia Lions lost their first two matches. They did so while being competitive against Selknam and Peñarol. The Olímpia Lions then stormed past Os Cobras in game three.
ARN projects the toughest match thus far for Los Jaguares XV. The Argentine side will still complete a comfortable win, doing so with a bonus point.
Kickoff is set for 8:00pm local time, 8:00pm Asunción, and Buenos Aires, and 6:00pm Bogotá. Live broadcasts will be provided by ESPN in the competing countries.
OLÍMPIA LIONS
1 Javier Díaz, 2 Axel Zapata (capt.), 3 Enrique Quinteros, 4 Mariano Garcete, 5 Mauro Resbussone, 6 Matías Gómez Vara, 7 Lucas Santa Cruz, 8 Marcos Riquelme, 9 Joaquín Pellandini, 10 Máximo Ledesma, 11 Juan González, 12 Franco Bullentini, 13 Diego Argaña, 14 Leopoldo Herrera, 15 Francisco Diez
Replacements: 16 Mariano Muntaner, 17 Daniel Cabral, 18 Lucas Favre, 19 Carlos Plate, 20 Ignacio Gandini, 21 Renato Cardona, 22 Sebastián Urbieta, 23 Martín Bogado
JAGUARES XV
1 Francisco Minervino, 2 Martín Vaca, 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 6 Lautaro Bavaro, 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 9 Felipe Ezcurra (capt.), 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Martín Cancelliere, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Tomás Cubilla, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Juan Bautista Daireaux
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Federico Wegrzyn, 18 Luciano Torres, 19 Tomás Bernasconi, 20 Francisco Gorrissen, 21 Rafael Iriate, 22 Teo Castiglioni, 23 Juan Pablo Castro
Date: Tuesday, March 30
Venue: Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile
Kickoff: 20:00 (Santiago), 18:00 (Bogotá)
Broadcast: ESPN Brasil, ESPN America Latina
Historical Results:
2020-03-06 – *Ceibos 48, Olímpia Lions 8 (Tala RC, Córdoba)
