Paraguay seeking to upset Brazil in RWC 2023 Qualifier

Paraguay is seeking to upset Brazil. Los Yakarés travel to São José dos Campos to face Brazil in a RWC 2023 qualifier on Saturday. The winning team will advance to the finals of South America’s regional qualifiers. The losing competitor will be eliminated. The one-off match has the higher ranked Brazil playing at home.

Both Brazil and Pargaguay have player rosters packed with players from the 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR). The Paraguayan entrant, Olímpia Lions had a minority contingent of locals; Argentines accounted for the majority of the roster. Brazil’s Cobras, in contrast had a roster with all but a handful of Brazilian-eligible players.

The Olímpia Lions were Semi-Finalists in SLAR. Six players from the Lions’ team that lost against Los Jaguares XV in the Semi Final are on the roster to face Brazil. They are Renato Cardona, Mauro Rebussone, Sebastián Urbieta, Enrique Quinteros, Mariano Garcete, and vice-captain Marcos Riquelme.

The team will be captained by prop Martín Sitjar. He proved to be an excellent scrum worker in SLAR.

PARAGUAY ROSTER – RWC 2023 QUALIFIERS

FRONT-ROW Camilo Blasco, Enrique Quinteros, Gastón Salvi, Estefano Aranda, Ivãn Daniel Cabral, Lucas Otaño, Martín Sitjar (Capt.)

SECOND-ROW
Carlos Plate, Mariano Garcete, José Montiel

BACK-ROW
Ariel Nuñez, Leonardo Glizt, Mateo Rodríguez, Marcos Riquelme (vice capt.)

SCRUM-HALF
Gastón Navas, Gonzalo Bareiro

FLY-HALF
Sebastián Urbieta

CENTER
Camilo Ortego, Diego Argaña, Tomás Mussi, Daniel Chilavert

BACK-THREE
Juan González, Marcelo Matiauda, Renato Cardona