Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Two teams who made history in SLAR 2022 round three will face-off in round four on Saturday in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. Los Cafeteros Pro defeated Os Cobras to claim their first ever professional rugby victory. Selknam downed Los Jaguares XV on home soil to hand the Argentine team its first ever defeat in SLAR.
The history making teams now meet in a new location. Never before has either team played a match of professional rugby in Paraguay. The venue is located on the triple border region where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay share borders.
Los Cafeteros Pro are relatively settled but have opted for a number of changes from the side that faced Os Cobras. Continuing are Javier Corvalán, and Álvaro Llaver in the front-row, Federico Lavanini in the second-row, and Joaquín Sánchez and Diver Ceballos in the back-row.
The changes in the forwards see Brian González replacing Daniel Guttierez at tight-head, Eliseo Fourcade in for Gregório Hernández in the second-row and Felipe Puertas back to start in place of Juan Bautista Mernes at N8.
Eliseo Morales takes over from, Marcos Amorisa at scrum-half. He will play inside the promising Julián Hernández who again starts at fly half. The remainder of the backline is either changes or players moving positions. Returning to lead the team from fullback is former Cobra Franco Giudice.
Selknam have a very fresh team. With the decision made to rotate players in a balancing act to prepare for the RWC 2023 qualifiers, Selknam have retained just two players from the historic win over Los Jaguares XV. They come in the second-row and at scrum-half with Santiago Pedrero and Lucas Carvallo starting against Los Cafeteros Pro.
The thirteen changes include first starts and Selknam debuts. Franco Pechia will have an opportunity at hooker as will Joaqupin Milesi and Santiago Edwards in the back-row. There is also a Selknam debut for Argentine Franco Molina. He debuts for Selknam after previously playing SLAR 2020 for Los Ceibos and SLAR 2022 for Los Jaguares XV.
Also making his debut will be Diego Warnken. He replaces the outstanding Rodrigo Fernández at fly half. Fernández is one of a number of names intentionally out of the Paraguay matches. Other missing backs from last week include Matías Garafulic Nicolás Garafulic, Domingo Saavedra and José Larenas.
Julio Blanc is in for his first start of SLAR 2022 on the left wing. He will be joined by debutant Gaspar Moltedo in the back-row while Uruguayan Juan Zucarrino has a start in a new position; he will play inside center against the Colombian SLAR franchise.
Los Cafeteros Pro will be hungry for further competition points. The rugby played not only against Os Cobras, but also in round one against Los Jaguares XV indicates that team is genuinely competitive. Selknam’s rotation means that this is another must-see SLAR fixture. Never before have Los Cafeteros had a better shot at defeating Selknam.
TEAMS
CAFETEROS PRO
1 Javier Corvalán, 2 Álvaro Llaver, 3 Brian González, 4 Eliseo Fourcade, 5 Federico Lavanini, 6 Joaquín Sánchez, 7 Diver Ceballos, 8 Felipe Puertas, 9 Eliseo Morales, 10 Julián Hernández, 11 Andrés Álvarez, 12 Manuel Alfaro, 13 Leonardo Gea, 14 Alain Altahona, 15 Franco Giudice (capt.)
Replacements: 16 Boris Wenger, 17 Diego Posada, 18 Tomás Bertot, 19 Gregório Hernández, 20 José Ignacio Galvez, 21 Marcos Amorisa, 22 Valentín Fernández, 23 Juan David Agudelo
SELKNAM
1 Salvador Lues, 2 Franco Pechia, 3 Vittorio Lastra, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Franco Molina, 6 Santiago Edwards, 7 Ignacio Silva (capt.), 8 Joaquín Milesi, 9 Lukas Carvallo, 10 Diego Warnken, 11 Julio Blanc, 12 Juan Zuccarino, 13 Luca Strabucchi, 14 Gaspar Moltedo, 15 Francisco Urroz
Replacements: 16 Jorge Delgado, 17 Sebastián Otero, 18 Esteban Inostroza, 19 Vicente Fernández, 20 Ernesto Tchimino, 21 Benjamín Videla, 22 Clemente Armstrong, 23 Cristobal Game
Date: Saturday, April 02, 2022
Kick-Off: 4pm (Asunción); 3pm (Santiago); 2pm (Bogotá)
Venue: Estadio 3 de Febrero, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
Referee: Cauã Ricardo (Brazil)
Assistant Referees: Damien Schneider (Argentina); Andrés Bogado (Paraguay)
TMO: Alejandro Longres (Uruguay)
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2021-03-16 – Selknam 35, Cafeteros Pro 12 (Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile)
2021-04-11 – Cafeteros Pro 11, Selknam 42 (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay)
