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Peñarol’s first home match of 2021 will be the match of the round. The Uruguayan side has performed well thus far in the 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR). Their opponents, the Olímpia Lions, are a team that has surpassed expectations and deserves to be in 4th position.
Peñarol have been playing a controlled brand of rugby. The team is among the most structured of all in SLAR. The strategy has seen the team building leads with goal-kicking being more common than of the other teams. This, in part, explains why Martín Roger is the leading point-scorer half way through the competition.
Roger will be the one non-Uruguayan starting in the backline. He will play outside Tomás Inciarte. They also played as the halves against Los Jaguares XV. In earlier rounds, however, Inciarte had played at outside center. It was outside center where he started for Uruguay in Oita, Japan against Australia at RWC 2019. He was officially the third choice scrum-half behind Santiago Arata and Agustín Ormaechea.
Andrés Vilaseca will captain Peñarol from inside center. He will be joiend by Nicolás Freitas in the mid-field. Freitas has played both wings and inside center in prior SLAR matches this season. His place in the starting line-up for both Peñarol and Uruguay is guaranteed; such is his importance. Veteran winger Rodrigo Silva will pla on the left wing. The young duo of Mateo Viñals and José Maria Iruleguy complete the starting backs on the right wing and at fullback respectively.
Peñarol’s forwards also contain a large contingent of Uruguayan test players. Six of the starting forwards are Uruguayan and all have test caps for Los Teros. Juan Echeverría, Facundo Gattas, and Diego Arbelo will start in the front-row; fellow RWC players Manuel Ardao and Santiago Civetta will start as the flanker; and Felipe Aliaga will play second-row. Argentines Nahuel Milan, and Conrado Roura complete the starting formation.
The Olímpia Lions are a side focused on building a competitive franchise. That is to say that the national Paraguayan team is not the center-point of the team’s 2021 ambitions. This is reflected in the overall make-up of the team. Argentines continues to account for the bulk of the players; this will be no exception against Peñarol. Yet, there do continue to be opportunities for Paraguayans.
Four Paraguayans will start against Peñarol. Daniel Cabral will play loose head; Marcos Riquelme N8; Sebastián Urbieta fly half; and Juan González will be on the left wing. The Paraguayan-eligible Jerónimo Gómez Vara will start at flanker. He is an native of Argentina as are the remaining starting players for the Olímpia Lions.
Axel Zapata will captain the side from hooker. He and fellow Argentina XV player Lucas Favre both start in the front-row. Both players have enhanced their chances of international duty while playing for the Paraguayans SLAR team. The same is the case of starting flanker Lucas Santa Cruz and scrum-half Ignacio Inchauspe.
Santa Cruz has been a leading player for the Olímpia Lions thus far. His work-rate has been among the best of all players in the competition. His individual battle against Santiago Civetta is an exciting match-up.
Peñarol and the Olímpia Lions have played each-other once previously; round one of this season. The Uruguayan side downed the Paraguayans in a bonus point performance. The match was arguably the worst game from the Olímpia Lions in the opening half of the season.
ARN projects a competitive match on Sunday. Both sides are capable of winning the contest, though Peñarol will go in as favorites. A bonus point is very plausble for both teams.
Kickoff is set for 3:00pm local time and Asunción, 2:00pm Santiago and 1pm Bogotá. Live broadcasts will be provided by ESPN in the competing countries.
PENAROL
1 Juan Echeverría, 2 Facundo Gattas, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Nahuel Milan, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Conrado Roura, 9 Tomás Inciarte, 10 Martín Roger, 11 Rodrigo Silva, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.) 13 Nicolás Freitas, 14 Mateo Viñals, 15 José Maria Iruleguy
Replacements: 16 Ezequiel Ramos, 17 Facundo Pomponio, 18 Matías Benítez, 19 Eric Do Santos, 20 Carlos Deus, 21 Marcos Chamyan, 22 Juan Manuel Alonso, 23 Santiago Alvarez
OLÍMPIA LIONS
1 Daniel Cabral, 2 Axel Zapata (capt.), 3 Lucas Favre, 4 Carlos Repetto, 5 Mauro Rebessone, 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara, 7 Lucas Santa Cruz, 8 Marcos Riquelme, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe, 10 Sebastián Urbieta, 11 Juan González, 12 tba, 13 Franco Bullentini, 14 Leopoldo Herrera, 15 Martín Bogado
Replacements: 16 Mariano Muntaner, 17 Martín Sitjar, 18 Luis Enrique Quinteros, 19 Mariano Garcete, 20 Matías Gómez Vara, 21 Joaquín Pellandini, 22 Máximo Ledesma, 23 Marcelo Matiauda
Date: Sunday, April 11
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Kickoff: 3:00pm (Montevideo), 3:00pm Asunción, 2:00pm Santiago, 1:00pm Bogotá
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (Argentina)
Broadcast: ESPN America Latina, ESPN Brasil
Historical Results:
2021-03-16 – Olímpia Lions 11, Peñarol 40 (Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile)
