Jaguares defeat Peñarol to become first ever SLAR champions

Los Jaguares XV are the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby 2021 champions. The Argentine side completed an unbeaten season, downing Peñarol in the final. The victory means Los Jaguares XV are the first ever SLAR champions. The 2020 season was suspended early.

It was not one-way-traffic. Peñarol were the better team in the opening quarter. The Uruguayan side showed patience and accuracy to have greater control as to where the rugby was played. The team was rewarded on the 20th minute mark, winning a penalty in Jaguares XV territory. Martín Roger landed the kick from long-range and on an angle.

Roger and Tomás Albornoz both had strong performances. Both players have given Mario Ledesma reason to select them for international duty. Albornoz had a hand in one of what were two second quarter tries by Los Jaguares XV. Tomás Cubilla and Juan Bautista Daireaux went over for tries to give the Argentine side a 12-3 lead.

Peñarol were again the better team early on in the second half. They had a try-scoring opportunity in the 43rd minute. Sustained pressure saw Juan Echeverría barging over for a pick-and-go try. It was initially awarded only to subsequently be dissaloowed for a double movement. Peñarol nonetheles came away with points as Roger landed a penalty.

Los Jaguares XV responded with force. The Argentines ran in back-to-back tries to establish a commanding lead. Cubilla was in the right place at the right time to finish off a 50th minute score and Agustín Segura stepped three defenders to score three minutes later. Albornoz missed both shots at goal.

Peñarol hit-back through Baltazar Amaya. The highly promising fullback split the defense in a superb counter-attack run. He fooled the opposition and thenm put on afterburners to score. With Roger’s conversion the deficit was cut to nine points; Peñarol were stil in the contest.

Tomás Inciarte was Peñarol’s starting outside center. He moved to scrum half in the final quarter. The move saw Peñarol score again. Captain Andrés Vilaseca went over for a 63rd minute try. It came from a beautiful half break and offload from Inciarte.

Peñarol lost replacement Facundo Pomponio to a yellow card. Los Jaguares XV opted for a scrum which advanced before collapsing. Another penalty was awarded from which Los Jaguares XV were awarded a penalty try. Roger kept the contest alive with his third penalty. It was insufficient though as Cubilla completed his hat-trick to give Los Jaguares XV the title.

A consolation try saw Peñarol scoring the final points. A rolling-maul with almost every Peñarol player finished the match. Facundo Gattas was the try scorer.

SCORING

PEÑAROL 28
Try: Amaya 54′, Vilaseca 63′, Gattas 80′
Conversion: Roger 55′, 64′
Penalty: Roger 3 – 20′, 42′, 75′
Yellow Card: Pomponio 69′

JAGUARES XV 36
Try: Cubilla 3 – 23′, 50′, 79′, Daireaux 31′, Segura 53′, Penalty Try 71′
Conversion: Albornoz 32′, 79′

TEAMS

PEÑAROL
1 Juan Echeverria, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Nahuel Milan, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Conrado Roura, 9 Manuel Nogués, 10 Martín Roger, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Juan Manuel Alonso, 15 Baltazar Amaya

Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Facundo Pomponio, 18 Matías Benítez, 19 Eric Dosantos, 20 Juan Marcos Chamyan, 21 Carlos Deus, 22 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 23 José Iruleguy

JAGUARES XV
1 Federico Wegrzyn, 2 Martín Vaca, 3 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 4 Federico Gutiérrez, 5 Franco Molina, 6 Lautaro Bavaro, 7 Juan Martín González, 8 Francisco Gorrissen, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Tomás Cubilla, 12 Juan Pablo Castro, 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Juan Bautista Daireaux

Replacements: Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Francisco Minervino, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Tomás Bernasconi, 20 Joaquín Oviedo, 21 Teo Castiglioni, 22 Martín Elías, 23 Gerónimo Prisciantelli

Referee: Damián Schneider (Argentina)