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It is the business end of the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) season. Three of the for Semi Finals places have been claimed. It is do or die for Os Cobras Brasil XV. The Brazilian side must defeat the Olímpia Lions in round eight to stay in the hunt.
The Olímpia Lions are what stand in the way of Os Cobras reaching the final four. The Paraguayan side made light-work of the Brazilians in their prior match earlier this season. It was a case of the forwards powering their way upfield, to which Os Cobras had little resistence or answers.
The Olímpia Lions have named a powerful forwards unit. The front-row of Martín Sitjar, Mariano Muntaner, and Rodrigo Martínez have caused many teams problems in the scrum. The remaining forwards will give the team a hard wall which Os Cobras will need to be creative to breach.
The backline sees Ignacio Inchauspe leading the side from scrum-half. He will partner Máximo Ledesma in the halves. The same combination impressed in Olímpia’s upset win over Selknam on Friday. They will be accompanied by an unchanged backline from that victory.
Os Cobras have again named a team close to Brazil’s test team’s formation. Argentine Manuel Bernstein starts in the second-row. He joins Brazilian test players in the fourteen remaining starting spots. He will lock the scrum with the reliable Gabriel Paganini. It does come as a change as Bernstein was used out of position at flanker against Peñarol.
ARN projects a win for the Olímpia Lions. It will, however, not mirror the means of the outcome earlier on in the season. The Olímpia Lions hammered Os Cobras Brasil XV in their prior meeting. Wednesday’s match looms as a tighter contest.
Kickoff is set for 3:00pm local time, Asunción, Buenos Aires and Brasília; 2:00pm Santiago; and 1pm Bogotá. Live broadcasts will be provided by ESPN in the competing countries.
OLÍMPIA LIONS
1 Martín Sitjar, 2 Mariano Muntaner, 3 Rodrigo Martínez, 4 Carlos Repetto, 5 Mariano Garcete, 6 Jerónimo Gomez Vara, 7 Matías Gómez Vara, 8 Marcos Riquelme, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe (capt.), 10 Máximo Ledesma, 11 Renato Cardona, 12 Sebastián Urbieta, 13 Diego Argaña, 14 Leopoldo Herrera, 15 Martín Bogado
Replacements: 16 Axel Zapata, 17 Daniel Cabral, 18 Luis Enrique Quinteros, 19 Carlos Plate, 20 Lucas Santa Cruz, 21 Joaquín Pellandini, 22 Rodrigo Gómez Vara, 23 Marcelo Matiauda
COBRAS
1 Leonel Moreno, 2 Yan Rosetti, 3 Matheus Rocha, 4 Manuel Bernstein, 5 Gabriel Paganini, 6 Cléber Días, 7 Matheus Claúdio, 8 André Arruda, 9 Felipe Cunha, 10 Joshua Reeves, 11 Daniel Lima, 12 Moisés Duque, 13 Felipe Sancery (capt.), 14 Robert Tenorio, 15 Daniel Sancery
Replacements: 16 Santiago Grippo, 17 Lucas Abud, 18 Joel Ramírez, 19 Adrio de Melo, 20 Arthur Bergo, 21 Laurent Bourda-Couhet, 22 Marcos de Sanctis, 23 Gabriel Quirino
Date: Wednesday, April 21
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Kickoff: 3:00pm (Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Brasília), 2:00pm (Santiago), 1:00pm (Bogotá)
Referee: Francisco González (Argentina)
Broadcast: ESPN America Latina, ESPN Brasil
Historical Results:
2021-03-25 – Cobras 8, Olímpia Lions 44 (Estadio Elías Figueroa, Valparaiso, Chile)
