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In a possible early look at the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) Semi Finals, the Olímpia Lions and Los Jagaures XV will battle it out on Monday. Both teams have booked their spots in the final four, and on present positions, they are positioned to square-off in the Semi Finals.
The Olímpia Lions have rotated for the match. This sees some regular starters will featuring from the bench. There will also be a healthy number of Paraguayans or Paraguayan-eligible players in the starting line-up. Carlos Plate will have a start out of position in the second-row, Renato Cardona will play on the left wing while the Gómez Vara’s all start.
Los Jaguares XV have three Super Rugby players in their run-on XV. There is also the former Top 14 prop Joel Sclavi who will play at loose head rather than tight head prop. Felipe Ezcurra will lead the side opposite Joaquín Pellandini. Both players ought to be in the conversation for places on Argentina’s roster for the July Internationals.
Francisco Gorrissen is back from suspension for Los Jaguares XV. He will start in the back-row together with the highly promising Juan Martín González and Joaquín Oviedo. Tomás Malanos and Pedro Rubiolo will both back their debuts for Los Jaguares XV as replacements.
Monday’s match is officially the second meeting between the Olímpia Lions and Los Jaguares XV. The prior match was earlier this season with the Argentine side completing a big win based on a strong second half performance. There is, however, one other match that needs to count as a prior meeting. Los Ceibos defeated the Olímpia Lions in the opening round of the 2020 SLAR season.
All indications are that Los Jaguares XV will win again with a bonus point. There is nothing stopping the runaway train that is the Argentine SLAR team. Every match has been a big win; Los Jaguares XV are demonstrably in a league of their own. ARN projects a Jaguares XV win by 50 points.
Kickoff is set for 9:00pm local time, Asunción, Buenos Aires and Brasília; 8:00pm Santiago; and 7pm Bogotá. Live broadcasts will be provided by ESPN in the competing countries.
OLÍMPIA LIONS
1 Nicolás Revol, 2 Axel Zapata (capt.), 3 Lucas Favre, 4 Carlos Plate, 5 Mauro Rebussone, 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara, 7 Matías Gómez Vara, 8 Ignacio Gandini, 9 Joaquín Pellandini, 10 Máximo Ledesma, 11 Renato Cardona, 12 Rodrigo Gómez Vara, 13 Tomás Pimentel, 14 Leopoldo Herrera, 15 Martín Bogado
Replacements: 16 Mariano Muntaner, 17 Daniel Cabral, 18 Luis Enrique Quinteros, 19 Mariano Garcete, 20 Lucas Santa Cruz, 21 Ignacio Inchauspe, 22 Francisco Diez, 23 Marcelo Matiauda
JAGUARES XV
1 Joel Sclavi, 2 Ignacio Ruiz, 3 Luciano Torres, 4 Federico Gutiérrez, 5 Franco Molina, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 9 Felipe Ezcurra (capt.), 10 Martín Elías, 11 Martín Cancelliere, 12 Teo Castiglioni, 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Juan Bautista Daireaux
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Francsico Minvervino, 18 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 19 Tomás Bernasconi, 20 Pedro Rubiolo, 21 Rafael Iriarte, 22 Gerónimo Prisciantelli, 23 Tomás Molanos
Date: Monday, April 26
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Kickoff: 9:00pm (Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Brasília), 8:00pm (Santiago), 7:00pm (Bogotá)
Referee: Francisco González (Chile)
Broadcast: ESPN 2 (America Latina), ESPN 2 (Brazil)
Historical Results:
2021-03-30 Jaguares XV 71, Olímpia Lions 13 (Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile)
2020-03-06 Ceibos 48, Olímpia Lions 8 (Tala RC, Córdoba, Argentina)
