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Super Rugby Americas heats up in Montevideo on Friday. Peñarol play host to Yacare in a top four clash. Both sides are in red-hot form with impressive victories last weekend. The match marks the beginning of the third year of professional competition between teams from Uruguay and Paraguay.
Peñarol are unbeaten in Super Rugby Americas 2023. The Uruguayans were big winners last Friday against Os Cobras. The 33-7 win saw Peñarol demonstrating their superiority with force. Many changes have been made from that side; Peñarol have named a stronger side to start against Yacare.
The front-row is one that could start for Uruguay against Paraguay, Brazil or stronger opposition. It will contain Matías Benítez, Guillermo Pujadas, and Ignacio Peculo. The second-row is also of note; Ignacio Dotti returns to lock the scrum with Eric Dosantos.
The team will be led from flanker. Standout Manuel Ardao starters on the side of the scrum with Manuel Diana and Carlos Deus completing the run-on forwards. Diana has already been named man-of-the-match in three matches for Peñarol.
The backs see Santiago Álvarez continuing at scrum-half and Tomás Inciarte at outside center. Inciarte had been the starting scrum-half for Peñarol in SLAR 2021 and SLAR 2022. Felipe Etcheverry returns to start at fly half.
The change at fly half sees Juan Andrés Zuccarino playing at inside center. With he and Inciarte as the mid-field there will not be a ball-carrying player of note in the mid-field. Veterans Gastón Mieres, and Rodrigo Silva are joined by the exciting Juan Manuel Alonso in the back-three.
Yacare is a also a side with plenty of capped internationals. Estéfano Aranda, Mariano Garcete, Marcos Riquelme, Juan González and Sebastián Urbieta are all leading Paraguayan test players. They will start against Peñarol.
The overall configuration of the Yacare team is hybrid. It is a mix of Paraguayan and Argentine players. The team is captained by Argentina XV scrum-half Ignacio Inchauspe. He led the team superbly in their home win against the American Raptors last weekend. Estanislao Gómez proved to be a solid play-maker; the Argentine will again start at fly half.
Additional Argentine names of note who will start include flanker Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel, outside center Tomás Acosta Pimental, and fullback Tomás Mac Call.
Peñarol has a 3-1 record against Paraguay’s team from SLAR. When playing as the Olímpia Lions, the Paraguayan side completed a 15-13 home win over Peñarol in SLAR 2022. That was a famous win for the Paraguayans at the Estadio Héroes de Curupayty in Asunción. Peñarol recovered to win the next encounter by a big margin in Montevideo.
TEAMS
PENAROL
1 Matías Benítez, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Eric Dosantos, 6 Manuel Ardao (capt.), 7 Carlos Deus, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Juan Manuel Alonso, 12 Juan Andrés Zuccarino, 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Gastón Mieres, 15 Rodrigo Silva
Replacements: 16 Emiliano Faccennini, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Diego Arbelo, 19 Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 20 Lucas Bianchi, 21 Juan Francisco Torres, 22 Guillermo Juan Storace, 23 Nicolás Conti
YACARE
1 Julián Martín, 2 Mariano Muntaner, 3 Estéfano Aranda, 4 Ignacio Martínez, 5 Mariano Garcete, 6 Felipe Villagrán, 7 Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel, 8 Marcos Riquelme, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe (capt.), 10 Estanislao Gómez, 11 Juan González, 12 Sebastián Urbieta, 13 Tomás Acosta Pimental, 14 Facundo Paiva, 15 Tomás Mac Call
Replacements: 16 Emilio Gorostiaga, 17 Camilo Blasco, 18 Rolando Portillo, 19 Álvaro Báez, 20 Carlos Plate, 21 Estanislao Presto, 22 Ramiro Amarilla, 23 Arturo López
Date: Saturday March 17
Kick-Off: 6:30pm (UY; PY)
Venue: Estadio Charrúa (Montevideo, UY)
Referee: Nehuén Jauri Rivero (AR)
Assistant Referes: Luca Solda (AR); Gonzalo Ventoso (UY)
TMO: Alejandro Longres (UY)
HISTORIC RESULTS
2022-05-04 – Peñarol 42-14 Olímpia Lions (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, UY)
2022-03-27 – Olímpia Lions 15, Peñarol 13 (Héroes de Curupayty, Asunción, Paraguay)
2021-04-11 – Peñarol 29, Olímpia Lions 10 (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay)
2021-03-16 – Olímpia Lions 11, Peñarol 40 (Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile)
