Selknam win intense SLAR battle against Peñarol

Peñarol and Selknam played a fierce and intense game of rugby on Sunday in Montevideo. Hard-hitting defense from both teams will make for tired bodies ahead of the SLAR 2022 Semi Finals next Saturday. Selknam won the final round fixture 15-8.

The intensity boiled over on more than one occasion. Referee Tomás Bertazza spoke with captains Santiago Civetta and Ignacio Silva before the second half got under way. He did so following a tussle in the tunnel during the interval. This followed incidents with players for both teams guilty of severely testing Bertazza’s patience.

Bertazza was not shy. He handed out early yellow cards to Tomás Inciarte and Ignacio Silva. Rather than this result in a match with players holding back their aggression, the match unfolded as an intense classic.

Federico Favaro gave Peñarol an early lead. The winger slotted a 3rd minute penalty following the card to Silva.  3-0 became 8-0 when Mateo Perillo glided through for the game’s first try.  Favaro missed the conversion and also failed to land a regulation shot later on in the first half.

Selknam hit-back to make it a 5 point deficit at half-time. What followed Francisco Urroz’ 35th minute penalty was a near red card moment. Players from both teams were involved in a disagreement. Marcelo Torrealba pushed and Mateo Viñals appeared to punch Ignacio Silva on the floor. Viñals was yellow carded but worse may be to follow.

Selknam scored all of the second half points. Good early ball got the Chileans deep into the Peñarol 22. The team was able to put together a series of raids before Marcelo Torrealba spotted an opportunity to go over from close range. Urroz converted to give Selknam a 10-8 lead.

The remaining try was the best of the match. Torrealba’s replacement, Benjamín Videla made a clean break upfield. He ran past Penãrol defenders and attracted the final one as he off-loaded the ball to Luca Strabucchi who scored.

Peñarol were unable to get close to the Selknam try-line in the second-half. Meanwhile, Selknam thought they had another try. Center Domingo Saavedra went over for what was a disallowed try. The TMO ruled obstruction.

Attention now turns to the SLAR 2022 Semi Finals. Selknam face Los Jaguares XV while Peñarol will take-on Los Cafeteros Pro. Based on the regular season results, a rematch between Peñarol and Selknam is probable for the final.

 

SCORING

PENAROL 8
Try – M Perillo (10′)
Con – F Favaro 0/1
Pen – F Favaro 1/2 (3′)
YC – T Inciarte (4′), M Viñals (39′)

SELKNAM 15
Try – M Torrealba (42′), L Strabucchi (56′)
Con – F Urroz 1/2 (45′)
Pen – F Urroz 1/1 (35′); S Videla 0/1
YC – I Silva (2′)

TEAMS

PENAROL
1 Matías Benítez, 2 Emiliano Faccenini, 3 Mathias Franco, 4 Diego Magno, 5 Nahuel Milán, 6 Tomás Etcheverry, 7 Santiago Civetta (capt.), 8 Carlos Deus, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Nicolás Roger, 11 Mateo Viñals, 12 Tomás Inciarte, 13 Bautista Basso, 14 Federico Favaro, 15 José Iruleguy

Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Juan Echeverria, 19 Lucas Bianchi, 20 Francisco Suárez Folch, 21 Juan Manuel Tafernaberry, 22 Felipe Etcheverry, 23 Koba Brązionis

SELKNAM
1 Salvador Lues, 2 Diego Escobar, 3 Vittorio Lastra, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Augusto Sarmiento, 6 Tomás Orchard, 7 Ignacio Silva (capt.), 8 Alfonso Escobar, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Juan Zuccarino, 11 Luca Strabucchi, 12 José Larenas, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Nicolás Garafulic, 15 Francisco Arroz

Replacements: 16 Jorge Delgado, 17 Sebastián Otero, 18 Esteban Inostroza, 19 Santiago Pedrero, 20 Martín Sigren, 21 Benjamín Videla, 22 Santiago Videla, 23 Matías Garafulic

Date: Sunday, May 15, 2022
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay
Kickoff: 8:30pm (Montevideo), 7:30pm (Santiago)
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Cauã Ricardo (Brazil), Gonzalo De Achaval (Argentina)
TMO: Alejandro Longres (Uruguay)