Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Nobody predicted Los Cafeteros Pro to have surpassed expectations and Los Jaguares XV to have failed to reach them; yet, this is how the first half of SLAR 2022 unfolded in Chile and Paraguay. Now the teams battle-it-out in Uruguay in a round six clash on Saturday.
Los Cafeteros Pro will be captained by Franco Giudice from fullback. The former Cobra joins Colombians Andrés Álvarez and Alain Altahona in the back-three. Elsewhere the backs are all Argentines. The breakout pair og Eliseo Morales and Julián Hernández continue in the halves as do the promosing Manuel Alfaro and Valentín Fernández. They will start in the centers.
The forwards see Colombian Diver Ceballos again starting at flanker. he is to be joined by seven Argentines in the pack. Props Javier Corvalán, and Tomás Bertot will ask a lot of questions of Los Jaguares XV’s scrum. Gregório Hernández, and Eliseo Fourcade start in the second-row ahead of Federico Lavanini.
Los Jaguares XV go in to the match as favorites. This is so despite unreliable form in the first half of SLAR 2022. The team named to face Los Cafeteros Pro is one to be taken note of. Tomás Cubilla captains a side featuring Pumas prop Mayco Vivas and Olympic Medalist Santiago Mare.
Vivas joins Ignacio Ruiz, Argentina’s leading domestic-based hooker in 2021, in the front-row. Lautaro Caro Saisi completes the trio. They are joined by big forwards with Pedro Rubiolo and Manuel Bernstein playing flankers despite both having started in the second-row previously. Santiago Ruiz gets a start at the back of th e scrum.
Mare returns to the side at fly half. This sees the inform Gerónimo Prisciantelli named at fullback this weekend. He has been among the best performers of the season and may be inline for Pumas duty in July. Martín Bogado and Iñaki Delguy provide plenty of finishing potential on the wings.
Los Cafeteros Pro are coming off an impressive 16-12 win over the Olímpia Lions. The Olímpia Lions lost against the Colombian side but defeated both Selknam and Peñarol. The same two sides both have SLAR 2022 wins over Los Jaguares XV. In short, SLAR 2022 is highly unpredictable. Will Los Cafeteros Pro be able to continue this on Saturday in Montevideo?
TEAMS
CAFETEROS PRO
1 Javier Corvalán, 2 Álvaro Llaver, 3 Tomás Bertot, 4 Gregório Hernández, 5 Eliseo Fourcade, 6 José Ignacio Gálvez, 7 Diver Ceballos, 8 Felipe Puertas, 9 Eliseo Morales, 10 Julián Hernández, 11 Alain Altahona, 12 Manuel Alfaro, 13 Valentín Fernández, 14 Andrés Álvarez, 15 Francio Giudice (capt.)
Replacements: 16 Boris Wenger, 17 Diego Posada, 18 Brian González, 19 Federico Lavanini, 20 Joaquín Sánchez, 21 Juan Baustista Mernes, 22 Marcos Amorisa, 23 Juan Agudelo
JAGUARES XV
1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Ignacio Ruiz, 3 Lautaro Caro Saisi, 4 Lucio Anconetani, 5 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 6 Pedro Rubiolo, 7 Manuel Bernstein, 8 Santiago Ruiz, 9 Rafael Iriarte, 10 Santiago Mare, 11 Martín Bogado, 12 Juan Pablo Castro, 13 Tomás Cubilla (capt.), 14 Iñaki Delguy, 15 Gerónimo Prisciantelli
Replacements: 16 Andrea Panzarini, 17 Santiago Pulella, 18 Martín Villar, 19 Aitor Bildosola, 20 Bautista Pedemonte, 21 Joaquín Pellandini, 22 Agustín Segura, 23 Ramiro D’Agostino
Date: Saturday, April 23, 2022
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay
Kickoff: 6:00pm (Montevideo, Buenos Aires); 4pm (Bogotá)
Referee: Nehuen Jauri Rivero (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Gonzalo de Achaval (Argentina); Cauã Ricardo (Brazil)
TMO: Francisco Perce
Broadcast: ESPN America Latina, ESPN Brasil, Star +
HISTORICAL RESULTS:
2022-03-09 Jaguares XV 33, Cafeteros Pro 22 (Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, Valparaíso, Chile)
2021-04-16 – Jaguares XV 80, Cafeteros Pro 07 (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay)
2021-03-16 – Cafeteros Pro 28, Jaguares XV 71 (Estadio de La Pintana, Santiago, Chile)
