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Os Cobras Brasil XV and Los Jaguares XV will meet for the first time on Sunday. Their clash is a round 6 match in the 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR). They were unable to play their round one fixture; SLAR awarded Los Jaguares XV the win via WO. In short, Sunday will mark the first-ever professional rugby match between teams from Brazil and Argentina.
Os Cobras Brasil XV have their backs against the wall. The team was overwhelmed by Selknam in their most recent match. The heavy defeat was a dire warning ahead of the South American RWC 2023 qualifiers. Os Cobras also fell to a heavy defeat against the Olímpia Lions. The Brazilian team had a late rush to claim a bonus point against Peñarol and had their best result in their win against Los Cafeteros Pro.
The lack of form appears to be central to the team named to face Los Jaguares XV. There is little indication of player rotation; in fact, the team is one that could well start for Brazil in June. The exception is Manuel Bernstein. The Argentine starts in the second-row. He is the only starting player not to have been capped by Brazil.
Bernstein will join both youth an experience in the forwards. Caique Silva, Yan Rosetti, and Matheus Rocha will start in the front-row while Bernstein and Cléber Días lock the scrum. Form Utah Warrior Arthur Bergo starts in the back-row alongside Adrio de Melo and the best Cobras forward thus far, N8 André Arruda.
The backline is a genuine test lineup for Os Tupis. Douglas Rauth, and Joshua Reeves form the starting halves combination. Reeves will have the help of a second play-maker outside him in Brazil’s Matt Giteau, Moisés Duque. Felipe Sancery will play ouside center, his twin brother will start at fullback and Daniel Lima, and Robert Tenorio will be Os Cobras’ starting wingers.
Rotation is a feature of the line-up named to start and to play as the replacements for Los Jaguares XV. Head Coach Ignacio Fernández Lobbe has recalled flanker Lautaro Bavaro, for the suspended Francisco Gorrissen, and handed starts to hooker Beltrán Salese; N8 Tomás Bernasconi; and fullback Gerónimo Prisciantelli.
Felipe Ezcurra will captain the side again from scrum-half. He will be joined by Tomás Albornoz in the halves. Rotation sees Martín Elías rested while Juan Pablo Castro will play inside center rather than Santiago Chocobares. Continuity sees Martín Cancelliere and Sebastián Cancelliere starting on the wings.
Patagonian props Federico Wegrzyn, and Juan Pablo Zeiss start again as does Juan Martín González at flanker. Rotation sees Federico Gutiérrez, and Franco Molina forming the second-row. Leading Jaguares XV forwards Joaquín Oviedo and Joel Sclavi are rested.
The replacements bench is unique. It sees players named across a range of positions, but not in the standard formation. It includes two hookers in Ignacio Ruiz and Martín Vaca; two loose head props in Francisco Minervino, and Luciano Torres, and just two backs in Rafael Iriarte, and Juan Bautista Daireaux. Replacement flanker Santiago Ruiz will wear the 23 shirt.
Los Jaguares XV have been dominant thus far in SLAR. The Argentine side has been challenged at times, yet the final scoreline has always been heavily in favor of Ignacio Fernández Lobbe’s team. ARN projects a big win on Sunday with the Argentines to run in more than ten tries.
Kickoff is set for 9:00pm local time, Buenos Aires and Brasíllia; 8:00pm Santiago; and 7pm Bogotá. Live broadcasts will be provided by ESPN in the competing countries.
COBRAS
1 Caique Silva, 2 Yan Rosetti, 3 Matheus Rocha, 4 Manuel Bernstein, 5 Cléber Días, 6 Arthur Bergo, 7 Adrio de Melo, 8 André Arruda, 9 Douglas Rauth, 10 Joshua Reeves, 11 Daniel Lima, 12 Moisés Duque, 13 Felipe Sancery (capt.), 14 Robert Tenorio, 15 Daniel Sancery
Replacements: 16 Santiago Grippo, 17 Leonel Moreno, 18 Alejandro Luna, 19 Gabriel Paganini, 20 Matheus Claudio, 21 Laurent Bourda-Couhet, 22 Lucas Spago, 23 Franco Guidice
JAGUARES XV
1 Federico Wegrzyn, 2 Beltrán Salese, 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 4 Federico Gutiérrez, 5 Franco Molina, 6 Lautaro Bavaro, 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Tomás Bernasconi, 9 Felipe Ezcurra (Capt.), 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Martín Cancelliere, 12 Juan Pablo Castro, 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Gerónimo Prisciantelli
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Francisco Minervino, 18 Luciano Torres, 19 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 20 Martín Vaca, 21 Rafael Iriarte, 22 Juan Bautista Daireaux, 23 Santiago Ruiz
Date: Sunday, April 11
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Kickoff: 9:00pm (Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Brasília), 8:00pm (Santiago), 7:00pm (Bogotá)
Referee: Frank Méndez (Chile)
Broadcast: ESPN America Latina, ESPN Brasil
Historical Results:
2021-03-16 – WO Jaguares 20- Cobras 0 (Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile)
