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Los Cafeteros Pro and Peñarol clash in game two of the second round of the 2022 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR). There have been two prior battles between the Colombian and Uruguayan franchises, the second of which saw Peñarol avoiding defeat by the skin of its teeth.
Not only is the most recent fixture between Los Cafeteros Pro and Peñarol of interest, so too is the teams’ respective starts to SLAR 2022. On the one hand, Peñarol were winners over Os Cobras without playing their best rugby. On the other hand, Los Cafeteros Pro outplayed Los Jaguares XV in the second half to come back and be beaten 33-22.
The Colombian outfit go from playing the 2021 SLAR champions to the 2021 SLAR runners-up. The team for Saturday’s contest is relatively settled. No changes have been made to the starting backs.
Up front Boris Wenger replaces Álvaro Llaver at hooker while Federico Lavanini replaces Gregorio Hernández in the second-row. There is a Reconfigured back-row in which Juan Bautista Mernes starts and Joaquín Sánchez misses out.
If Peñarol play another match in second gear then the Uruguayan side will be running the risk of becoming the first SLAR team to be beaten by Los Cafeteros Pro. Andrés Vilaseca saved Peñarol last year and he is back leading the team again. This time he will not be playing out of position at fly half.
Indeed, Peñarol have specialist players throughout the backline. The side named sees just the one change from round one. It comes at fullback with José Maria Iruleguy named to start ahead of RWC 2015 and 2019 veteran Rodrigo Silva.
In retaining the same starting forwards from last week, Peñarol are to again have Eric Dosantos starting the match in the second-row. He is a flanker by nature but it just so happens that Uruguay lack players in the position and are looking for options for RWC 2023. Do Santos will lock the scrum alongside Nahuel Milan who is to ber Peñarol’s one starting Argentine.
A win for Peñarol will see the team remaining near the top of the SLAR standings. If Los Cafeteros Pro mean then the Colombian side will continue to avoid the bottom spot and pressure will be firmly placed on Os Cobras.
TEAMS
CAFETEROS PRO
1 Javier Corvalán, 2 Boris Wenger, 3 Tomás Bertot, 4 Eliseo Fourcade, 5 Federico Lavanini, 6 Felipe Puertas, 7 Diver Ceballos, 8 Juan Bautista Mernes, 9 Marcos Amorisa, 10 Julián Hernández, 11 Andrés Álvarez, 12 Manuel Alfaro, 13 Leonardo Gea, 14 Alain Altahona, 15 Franco Giudice (capt.)
Replacements: 16 Álvaro Llaver, 17 Carlos Reyes, 18 Daniel Gutierrez, 19 Gregorio Hernández, 20 Joaquín Sánchez, 21 Valentín Fernández, 22 Manuel de Marco, 23 Eliseo Morales
PEÑAROL
1 Juan Echeverría, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 4 Eric Dosantos, 5 Nahuel Milan, 6 Lucas Bianchi, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Ardao, 9 Tomás Inciarte, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Mateo Viñals, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Federico Favaro, 15 José Maria Iruleguy
Replacements: 16 Emiliano Faccennini, 17 Mathias Franco Pereira, 18 Matías Benítez, 19 Diego Magno, 20 Carlos Deus, 21 Juan Manuel Tafernaberry, 22 Nicolás Roger, 23 Bautista Basso
Date: Saturday, March 19, 2022
Kick-Off: 4pm (Santiago, Montevideo); 2pm (Bogotá)
Venue: Estadio Figueroa (Valparaíso, Chile)
Referee: Cauã Ricardo (Brazil)
Assistant Referees: Francico González (Uruguay); Raimundo Fuenzalida (Argentina)
TMO: Ignacio Calle
Broadcast: ESPN (America Latina), ESPN (Brazil), Star +
Historical Results:
2021-04-22 – Peñarol 14, Cafeteros Pro 13 (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay)
2021-03-25 – Peñarol 54, Cafeteros Pro 3 (Estadio Elías Figueroa, Valparaiso, Chile)
