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SLAR 2022 leaders Peñarol play host to Los Cafeteros Pro on Friday evening. The round seven match will see 1st against 5th. If the Colombian franchise can pull-off a history-making win over Peñarol, then the team will move into the play-off’s zone.
Peñarol are 1st on 24 competition points. Los Jaguares XV are next with 21. If the Argentine franchise defeat the Olímpia Lions on Friday then Los Cafeteros Pro will indeed have the opportunity to move up while Peñarol will need a win so as to avoid falling to second or third position.
The Uruguayans will again be captained by Andrés Vilaseca from inside center. He will form the mid-field combination with test cap Felipe Arcos Pérez. Veteran winger Federico Favaro joins the youth of José Iruleguy and Balatzar Amaya in the back-three. Iruleguy and Amaya could well be starting for Los Teros throughout the next RWC cycle.
Tomás Inciarte and Felipe Etcheverry again form the halves combination. The constant selection underlines Uruguay’s potential starting halves to face Japan in June. In other words, Los Teros are prepared to tour Asia with Santiago Arata and Felipe Berchesi.
A new-look front-row sees Matías Benítez joined by rookie Emiliano Faccennini and Ignacio Peculo up front. Tomás Etcheverry will make his first SLAR start for Peñarol, he joins Argentine Nahuel Milan in locking the scrum. Etcheverry is a potential rookie for Uruguay in June.
Movement in the back-row sees Manuel Ardao moving from flanker to N8. Lucas Bianchi moves from one flank to the other while RWC 2019 starting flanker Santiago Civetta returns to the line-up.
Los Cafeteros Pro will be without Julián Hernández. Without the play-maker from Mendoza the fly half position has gone to Eliseo Morales. He will join Marcos Amorisa in a young but talented partnership in the halves. Elsewhere Leonardo Get, Manuel de Marco and Franco Giudice are among the starting backs.
The team has twelve Argentines and two Colombians starting. The Colombians are winger Alain Altoona, center Juan David Agudelo and prop Diego Posada. Boris Wenger, and Brian González make the step up to start with Posada in the front-row.
Eliseo Fourcade, and Federico Lavanini have enhanced their reputations this season at Los Cafeteros Pro. They will lock the scrum while José Gálvez, Joaquín Sánchez, and Juan Mernes are the starting loose forwards. Colombian star flanker Diver Ceballos has a rare rest.
TEAMS
PENAROL
1 Matías Benítez, 2 Emiliano Faccennini, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 4 Tomás Etcheverry, 5 Nahuel Milan, 6 Lucas Bianchi, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Ardao, 9 Tomás Inciarte, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Baltazar Amaya, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Federico Favaro, 15 José Iruleguy
Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Diego Arbelo, 19 Eric Dosantos, 20 Francisco Suarez Folch, 21 Santiago Álvarez, 22 Nicolás Roger, 23 Rodrigo Silva
CAFETEROS PRO
1 Diego Posada, 2 Boris Wenger, 3 Brian González, 4 Eliseo Fourcade, 5 Federico Lavanini, 6 José Gálvez, 7 Joaquín Sánchez, 8 Juan Mernes, 9 Marcos Amorisa, 10 Eliseo Morales, 11 Alain Altahona, 12 Juan David Agudelo, 13 Leonardo Gea, 14 Manuel de Marco, 15 Franco Giudice (capt.)
Replacements: 16 Tomás Bartolini, 17 Carlos Angulo, 18 Lucas Fernández, 19 Gregorio Hernández, 20 Bryan Guzmán, 21 Julián Navarro, 22 Jhojan Ortíz, 23 Manuel Alfaro
Date: Friday, April 29, 2022
Kick-Off: 8:30pm (Montevideo); 6:30pm (Bogotá)
Venue: Estadio Figueroa (Valparaíso, Chile)
Referee: Damian Schneider (Argentina)
Broadcast: ESPN (America Latina), ESPN (Brazil), Star +
HISTORICAL RESULTS
2022-03-19 – Cafeteros Pro 0, Peñarol 44 (Estadio Figueroa, Valparaíso, Chile)
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)
