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Los Pampas are on the verge of securing a place in the Semi Finals. The Buenos Aires team is third and unlikely to finish lower in the regular season. A home win over Selknam is the objective on Friday. Meanwhile, as a pathway to the final four, the visitors from Chile are searching for back-to-back wins.
La Catedral will be the setting for the match. Los Pampas will have a strong turnout of vocal fans. Those in attendance will have two Pumas to cheer on. Rodrigo Martínez starts at loose head and Eliseo Morales starts at scrum-half.
Santiago Ruiz captains the side from the back of the scrum. He is in charge of a side stacked with talent. Joaquín de la Vega Mendía has been impressive throughout the season at fly half. Iñaki Delguy is rising through the ranks similar to what his brother did en route to becoming a Puma and Benjamín Elizalde has been tremendous both on the wing and at outside center.
Every Selknam player is in contention for a spot on Chile’s roster. Of note is changes throughout the season have been players given opportunities rather than the focus being on Selknam winning every match.
Key changes to face Los Pampas can be identified. Vittorio Lastra is in to start at loose head and Joaquín Milesi starts at N8. Milesi will play N8 with regular Chilean starter Alfonso Escobar playing flanker.
In the backs there is a long-awaited return for Nicolás Garafulic. He has recovered from injury to take his spot on the right wing. Cristóbal Game has a start on the left wing and Nicolás Herreros plays scrum-half ahead of Marcelo Torrealba.
The prior match between the teams was in week two. Selknam played their best rugby of Super Rugby Americas 2023. The Chilean’s will look to that performance for inspiration. If they can repeat a 34-20 effort then Selknam will very much look like Semi Finalists.
Players on both teams are competing for international honors. This includes against each other in the form of the Argentina XV and Chile. This means added spice to this match. Two of Chile’s four Rugby World Cup 2023 warm-up matches will be against the Argentina XV.
TEAMS
PAMPAS
1 Rodrigo Martínez, 2 Ramiro Gurovich, 3 Javier Coralán, 4 Manuel Bernstein, 5 Eliseo Fourcade, 6 Eliseo Chiavassa, 7 Jerónimo Ureta, 8 Santiago Ruiz (capt.), 9 Eliseo Morales, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Benjamín Elizalde, 12 Felipe de la Vega, 13 Juan Pablo Castro, 14 Iñaki Delguy, 15 Juan Landó
Replacements: 16 Rodrigo Pérez Boulan, 17 Matías Medrano, 18 Renzo Zanella, 19 Nicolás D’Amorim, 20 Franco Carrera, 21 Mateo Albanese, 22 Benjamín Grondona, 23 Lucio Auad
SELKNAM
1 Vittorio Lastra, 2 Augusto Bohme, 3 Esteban Inostroza, 4 Clemente Saavedra, 5 Pablo Huete, 6 Alfonso Escobar, 7 Raimundo Martínez, 8 Joaquín Milesi, 9 Nicolás Herreros, 10 Francisco Urroz, 11 Cristóbal Game, 12 Pablo Casas, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Nicolás Garafulic, 15 Santiago Videla (capt.)
Replacements: 16 Diego Escobar, 17 Simón Donoso, 18 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 19 Santiago Pedrero, 20 Ignacio Silva, 21 Marcelo Torrealba, 22 Rodrigo Fernández, 23 José Ignacio Larenas
Date: Friday, May 12
Kick-Off: 8pm (AR); 7:00pm (CL)
Venue: La Catedral (Buenos Aires, AR)
Referee: Pablo Deluca (AR)
Assistant Referees: Tomás Bertazza (AR); Luca Solda (AR)
TMO: Maximilano Miranda (AR)
HISTORIC RESULTS
February 25, 2023 – Selknam 34-20 Pampas (Santiago, CL)
