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The Olímpia Lions and Los Cafeteros Pro meet in the final round of the 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) season. The Paraguayan team go in to the match with a final opportunity ahead of the Semi Finals; the Colombians are seeking their first win of the campaign.
Los Cafeteros Pro enter the match with a strong line-up. It happens to be a forward pack selected with an eye to the RWC 2023 qualifiers. Colombia will face Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay in round one of the South American regional qualifiers. Two teams will advance to face Uruguay in the second, and final, round.
Los Tucanes may well have a very close line-up to the pack named for Saturday’s match. Los Cafeteros Pro start with Yani Pérez, Juan David Herrera, and Jorge Álvarez in the front-row; Danny Giraldo, and Jhon Álvarez lock the scrum and Diver Ceballos, Enzo Ocampo, and Felipe Puertas will play in the back-row. Puertas is the only non-Colombian named in the pack.
The backline sees Julián Navarro starting ahead of regular captain Gonzalo García at scrum-half. Fellow Colombian Jhojan Ortíz replaces Nicolás Roger at fly half. Colombians Álvaro Gamarra, and Cristian Rodallegas start on the wings. The three remaining starters are Argentines; Tomás García, and Santiago Resino in the mid-field and Facundo Ferrario at fullback.
The Olímpia Lions have opted against a general rotation. Despite the team not needing any competition poins, the line-up to take on Los Cafeteros Pro is not a new one. The team is again predominantly made-up of Argentine players. Notwithstanding, regular captain Axel Zapata has been rested. He will feature as a replacement with Ignacio Inchauspe leading the side from scrum-half.
The Paraguayan side were 39-32 winners agaisnst Los Cafeteros Pro earlier this season. The team is favored to win again against the Colombian side. ARN projects another highly entertaining match with the Olímpia Lions favorites to win by 13 points.
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.
CAFETEROS PRO
1 Yani Pérez, 2 Juan David Herrera, 3 Jorge Álvarez, 4 Danny Giraldo, 5 Jhon Álvarez (capt.), 6 Diver Ceballos, 7 Enzo Ocampo, 8 Felipe Puertas, 9 Julián Navarro, 10 Jhojan Ortíz, 11 Álvaro Gamarra, 12 Tomás García, 13 Santiago Resino, 14 Cristian Rodallegas, 15 Facundo Ferrario
Replacements: 16 Agustín Acosta, 17 Javier Corvalán, 18 Diego Posada, 19 Lautaro Simes, 20 Tomás Etcheverry, 21 Gonzalo García, 22 Andrés Álvarez, 23 Gerson Ortíz
OLÍMPIA LIONS
1 Rodrigo Martínez, 2 Mariano Muntaner, 3 Lucas Favre, 4 Carlos Repetto, 5 Mauro Rebussone, 6 Marcos Riquelme, 7 Lucas Santa Cruz, 8 Ignacio Gandini, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe (capt.), 10 Máximo Ledesma, 11 Juan González, 12 Tomás Acosta Pimentel, 13 Diego Argaña, 14 Renato Cardona, 15 Francisco Diez
Replacements: 16 Axel Zapata, 17 Martín Sitjar, 18 Daniel Cabral, 19 Mariano Garcete, 20 Matías Gómez Vara, 21 Joaquín Pellandini, 22 Sebastián Urbieta, 23 Martín Bogado
Date: Saturday, May 01
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Kickoff: 3:00pm (Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Brasília), 2:00pm (Santiago), 1:00pm (Bogotá)
Referee: Damian Schneider (Argentina)
Broadcast: ESPN Extra (America Latina), ESPN Play (Brazil)
Historical Results:
2021-04-04 Olímpia Lions 39, Cafeteros Pro 32 (Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile)
