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Pumas and Eagles will feature in the 2021 English Premiership and French Top 14 finals next weekend. The Harlequins and Exeter Chiefs will decide who is the English champion while La Rochelle and Toulouse will square off in a repeat of the 2021 European Champions Cup Final.
ENGLISH PREMIERSHIP – SEMI FINALS
The Harlequins completed a miraculous 43-36 win over the Bristol Bears. The win was miraculous due to what transpired on the field; the Harlequins had been trailing 28-0. Former Pumas Santiago García Botta and Martín Landajo were replacements for the Harlequins. The former made his 39th appearance and the latter his 37th in Quins’ colors.
The Bristol Bears were without their Puma; loose head prop Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro did not feature. In addition, USA Eagles center Paul Lasike did not play for the Harlequins.
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The second Semi Final was also high-scoring. It saw the Exeter Chiefs downing the Sale Sharks 40-30 at Sandy Park. St. Lucia speedster Marland Yarde started for the Sale Sharks against his former team. He has 13 caps for England. USA captain AJ MacGinty missed out through injury while Ewan Ashman was the Sharks’ replacement hooker. The Toronto native has been named on Scotland’s roster for the July Internationals.
Scotland will be without a number of players who will be in South Africa playing for the British & Irish Lions. One of them is Scotland captain and fullback Stuart Hogg. He was kept on the bench for Exeter in the Premiership Semi Final win. This also explains why Argentine flier Facundo Cordero missed out.
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TOP 14 – SEMI FINALS
La Rochelle were the first French team to book their place in the 2021 Top 14 Final. La Rochelle did so with a 19-6 win over Racing 92. Puma Facundo Bosch started at hooker for the winning team. His strong season has seen him rewarded with a place on Los Pumas’ roster ahead of Agustín Creevy.
Racing 92 were without their Pumas. Juan Imhoff and Emiliano Boffelli both missed the Semi Final. Imhoff is unavailable through injury. His involvement for Argentina against Romania and Wales in July is being analyzed. Boffelli has struggled for regular game time since joining Racing 92 in January.
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La Rochelle will take-on Toulouse in the Top 14 Final. The 2021 Champions Cup winning Toulouse claimed a tense 24-21 victory over Bordeaux in Lille. Both teams scored two tries. Bordeaux’s first saw Puma Santiago Cordero providing the assist. Guido Petti joined Cordero in the starting line-up. Petti had an excellent work rate and ignored the pain barrier to defy his broken nose.
Three Americas players were involved for Toulouse. Argentina’s Santiago Chocobares started at outside center. He had a solid evening on defense and with ball in hand he made a rampaging charge to be stopped a meter short. Toulouse scored from the next phase. Juan Cruz Mallía was a replacement as was USA prop David Ainu’u.
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