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History will be made on Saturday in Asunción. The first ever professional rugby match between teams from Paraguay and the USA will take place at the Estadio Heroes de Curupayty, Asunción. The in-form Yacare have home advantage against the American Raptors.
Yacare go in to the match full of confidence. The Paraguayan side were 34-14 winners over Os Cobras in São Paulo, Brazil on Sunday. Yacare scored impressive tries and are now looking to go 2-1 for the Super Rugby Americas 2023 season.
Ignacio Inchauspe will again lead Yacare. He will have a new partner in the halves as fellow Argentine Federico Cacciabue starts at fly half. Significant backline changes also see Ramiro Amarilla moving in from outside to inside center and Tomás Acosta Pimental starting at outside center.
The forwards have the powerful front-row of Lucas Noguera Paz, Emilio Gorostiaga and Facundo Pomponio. Paraguay’s Mr. Consistent Mariano Garcete will again be one half of the second-row while the in-form Felipe Vilagrán, and Felipe Puertas start as the flankers.
The American Raptors have been inconsistent so far. They opened their Super Rugby Americas 2023 season with a heavy defeat against Selknam in Santiago. They gave Peñarol a scare in round two and had their moments against Los Pampas in round three. The Colorado side are now looking to get their first win of the season in a fourth country in as many weeks.
The American Raptors are again led by Mikey Grandy. He will lock the scrum alongside the most capped player in the history of the Americas, Diego Magno. Juan Echeverría also starts again at tight-head. This sees two Uruguayan forwards starting. Canadian Siaki Vikilani holds down his spot at N8.
In the backs the Argentine duo of RWC veterans Martín Ladnajo and Lucas González Amorosino continue at scrum-half and fly half respectively. Ryan James and Line Late are two impressive U.S. players who again start the match.
Both teams will be chomping at the bit on Saturday. This is a key match for both with an eye to what is around the corner. The match will be broadcast on ESPN in both halves of the Americas.
TEAMS
YACARE
1 Lucas Noguera Paz, 2 Emilio Gorostiaga, 3 Facundo Pomponio, 4 Ignacio Martínez, 5 Mariano Garcete, 6 Felipe Vilagrán, 7 Felipe Puertas, 8 Marcos Riquelme, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe (capt.), 10 Federico Cacciabue, 11 Juan González, 12 Ramiro Amarilla, 13 Tomás Acosta Pimental, 14 Federico Gauna, 15 Tomás Mac Call
Replacements: 16 Mariano Muntaner, 17 Julián Martín, 18 Estéfano Aranda, 19 Carlos Plate, 20 Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel, 21 Diego Miño, 22 Sebastián Urbieta, 23 Facundo Paiva
AMERICAN RAPTORS
1 Ma’ake Muti, 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 Watson Filikitonga, 14 Ryan James, 15 Line Latu
Replacements: 16 Franco Palillo, 17 Payton Telga-Ilalio, 18 Adagio Lopeti, 19 Will Crawford, 20 Tommy Clark, 21 Ethan McVeigh, 22 Cassh Maluia, 23 Patrick Madden
Date: Saturday, March 11
Kick-Off: 8pm (PY); 4pm (MST)
Venue: Estadio Heroes de Curupayty, Asunción (PY)
Referee: Gonzalo de Achával (AR)
Assistant Referees: Federico Solari (AR); César Torres (AR)
TMO: Alejandro Longres (UY)
HISTORICAL RESULTS
N/A
