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Argentina’s Jaguares XV take-on Paraguay’s Olímpia Lions in the second SLAR Semi Final. The match is to be the third between the teams in 2021 and, in part, the fourth overall. Los Jaguares XV replaces Los Ceibos this year. Los Ceibos faced the Olímpia Lions in the opening round of the 2020 SLAR season.
Los Jaguares XV have named a big and powerful pack of forwards. The front-row contains ARN’s SLAR 2021 All-Stars Francisco Minervino and Martín Vaca. They are joined by Puma Juan Pablo Zeiss up front. Size over mobility sees Federico Gutiérrez, and Franco Molina locking the scrum and Lautaro Bavaro, Juan Martín Gonzalez and Francisco Gorrissen start in the back-row.
The team will be led by Felipe Ezcurra from scrum-half. He will be joined by Tomás Albornoz rather than Martín Elías in the halves. The pair will have a luxruy of running options outside them. Wingers Martín Cancelliere and Tomás Cubilla are both capable of playing at this level in additional positions. Centers Juan Pablo Castro and Agustín Segura have trained with Los Pumas in the recent past.
As was the case in the three prior meetings, the Olímpia Lions go in to the match with a heavy Argentine contingent of players. The backbone of the side is Argentine; players from Paraguay’s southern neighbor are the predominant factor as to why the Olímpia Lions are in the SLAR Semi Finals while Os Cobras are not.
Axel Zapata leads the side from hooker. He is joined by two others up front that have impressed this season. Both Rodrigo Martínez and Lucas Favre have furthered their Pumas aspirations. When it comes to heavy workloads both Carlos Repetto and Mauro Rebussone have been present. Jerónimo Gómez Vara, Lucas Santa Cruz, and Ignacio Gandini form back row of the scrum. Santa Cruz has arguably been the best Lions’ player this season.
Ignacio Inchauspe will ask plenty of Felipe Ezcurra and his forwards. Inchauspe starts together with Máximo Ledesma in the halves. They are a solid combination of organization and reliability when kicking for points. Tomás Acosta Pimentel, and Leopoldo Herrera give the team hard workers outwide while Sebastián Urbieta, Francisco Diez, and Martín Bogado are additional players who thrive on playing like forwards in the backline.
Los Ceibos were comfortable winners over the Olímpia Lions in 2020. At the time the 48-8 win was thought of as a no contest; however, Los Jaguares XV’s performances in 2021 show that that particular game was closer than many since.
Of all the 2021 teams the one that has given Los Jaguares XV the most problems is the Olímpia Lions. The Paraguayan side had the Argentines under threat for 30 minutes in Chile while the second game saw the Paraguayan side earning plenty of praise.
Los Jaguares XV are the odds on favorites. The Olímpia Lions have the means of pushing the Argentine side, though competing for a win is not realistic. ARN projects a win for Los Jaguares XV by 30 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.
JAGUARES XV
1 Francisco Minervino, 2 Martín Vaca, 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 4 Federico Gutiérrez, 5 Franco Molina, 6 Lautaro Bavaro, 7 Juan Martín Gonzalez, 8 Francisco Gorrissen, 9 Felipe Ezcurra (capt.), 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Martín Cancelliere, 12 Juan Pablo Castro, 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Tomás Cubilla, 15 Juan Bautista Daireaux
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Federico Wegrzyn, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Pedro Rubiolo, 20 Tomás Bernasconi, 21 Rafael Iriarte, 22 Martín Elías, 23 Gerónimo Prisciantelli
OLÍMPIA LIONS
1 Rodrigo Martínez, 2 Axel Zapata (capt.), 3 Lucas Favre, 4 Carlos Repetto, 5 Mauro Rebussone, 6 Jerónimo Gómez Vara, 7 Lucas Santa Cruz, 8 Ignacio Gandini, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe, 10 Máximo Ledesma, 11 Tomás Acosta Pimentel, 12 Sebastián Urbieta, 13 Francisco Diez, 14 Leopoldo Herrera, 15 Martín Bogado
Replacements: 16 Mariano Muntaner, 17 Nicolás Revol, 18 Enrique Quinteros, 19 Mariano Garcete, 20 Marcos Riquelme, 21 Joaquín Pellandini, 22 Matías Gómez Vara, 23 Renato Cardona
Date: Monday, April 26
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Kickoff: 9:00pm (Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Brasília), 8:00pm (Santiago), 7:00pm (Bogotá)
Broadcast: ESPN 2 (America Latina), ESPN 2 (Brazil)
Historical Results:
2021-04-26 Olímpia Lions 26, Jaguares XV 40 (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay)
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)
