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The wait is finally over; Buenos Aires will play host to Super Rugby Americas on Friday. The first Super Rugby Americas or Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) match in the Argentine capital sees Los Pampas at home against the American Raptors.
Los Pampas were disappointing in round two. The Buenos Aires side were well-beaten by Selknam in Chile. Selknam were too powerful and far more coherent as a team. The outcome is that Ignacio Fernández Lobbe has made three changes to his line-up to face the American Raptors.
Lorenzo Colidio and Rodrigo Fernández Criado combine to lock the scrum and Puma Eliseo Morales will provide the biggest possible boost at scrum-half. The three names replace Manuel Bernstein, Federico Lavanini and Rafael Iriarte respectively.
Morales will form a new-look halves combination with Joaquín de la Vega Mendía. It will give the team plenty of play-making. Morales is also a goal-kicking option and this is an area in which Los Pampas have struggled thus far. Juan Ignacio Landó landed just 2/6 against Selknam. He was better but still substandard against Os Cobras when he kicked 5/8.
Morales will play opposite a former longtime starting Puma in Martín Landajo. The battle is one of note with an eye to the World Cup this year. While Landajo has not played a test at all this RWC cycle, his command over the Raptors will be a solid opportunity for the young Morales.
Likely Uruguayan World Cup players Juan Echeverría and Diego Magno both start in the Raptors’ pack. The latter will play in the second-row against Los Pampas. This is is expected position for consideration for the World Cup; yet, he played in the back-row for round’s one and two of Super Rugby Americas.
Mikey Grandy will again wear the American Raptors’ captain’s armband. His individual match-up against Rodrigo Fernández Criado is a feature battle of Friday’s showdown in Buenos Aires.
Despite losing in round two and not playing especially well first up, Los Pampas are the clear favorites against the American Raptors. Playing at home in the rugby heartland of San Isidro and having players now under pressure to perform ought to lift the performance.
TEAMS
PAMPAS
1 Miguel Prince, 2 Ramiro Gurovich, 3 Javier Coronel, 4 Lorenzo Colidio, 5 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 6 Nicolás D’Amorim, 7 Jerónimo Ureta, 8 Santiago Ruiz (capt.), 9 Eliseo Morales, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Tomás Passaro, 12 Manuel Alfaro, 13 Felipe de la Vega, 14 Benjamín Elizalde, 15 Juan Ignacio Landó
Replacements: 16 Rodrigo Pérez Boulan, 17 Matías Medrano, 18 Martín Villar, 19 Federico Lavanini, 20 Manuel Bernstein, 21 Rafael Iriarte, 22 Tomás Suárez Folch, 23 Santiago Castro
AMERICAN RAPTORS
1 Payton Telea-Ilalio, 2 Diego Fortuny, 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Mikey Grandy (capt.), 5 Diego Magno, 6 Shawn Clark, 7 Ronan Murphy, 8 Siaki Vikilani, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Lucas González Amorosino, 11 Seimou Smith, 12 Aki Pulu, 13 Dominick Iacovino, 14 Ryan James, 15 Line Latu
Replacements: 16 Franco Palillo, 17 Sebastián Otero, 18 Ma’ake Muti, 19 Will Crawford, 20 Tommy Clark, 21 Ethan McVeigh, 22 Watson Filitonga, 23 Patrick Madden
Date: Friday, March 03
Kick-Off: 8:00pm (AR); 4:00pm (MST)
Venue: Club Atlético de San Isidro, Buenos Aires (AR)
Referee: Matías Esteban (UY)
Assistant Referees: Juan Maio (AR); Nicolás Cotic (AR)
TMO: Martín González Deibe (AR)
HISTORICAL RESULTS
N/A
