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The penultimate round of Super Rugby Americas 2023 kicks-off in Montevideo on Friday. Peñarol host Los Pampas in the battle of the Rio de la Plata. Los Pampas are in search of a ticket to the Semi Finals. Of note is that Los Pampas handed Peñarol their only defeat thus far in Super Rugby Americas 2023.
Peñarol are assured of a place in the Semi Finals. The Uruguayans are the odds-on-favorites to lift the Super Rugby Americas 2023 trophy. Together with Rugby World Cup planning, player rotation is a theme of the final rounds of the season.
Rotation has seen a stronger line-up. On the back of a strong win over Os Cobras, a boosted Peãnrol team features a line-up that could play a test match for Uruguay. The back-row of Manuel Ardao, Carlos Deus and Manuel Diana is outstanding.
The second-row is experimental. It happens to be a position in which Uruguay has had a shortage of depth at past World Cups. Juan Manuel Rodríguez and Felipe Aliaga are two options being considered to go to France.
Another name being scrutinized is Santiago Álvarez. Scrum-half is a position in which Uruguay has real depth; notwithstanding, Álvarez has been exceptional this season. It has seen Tomás Inciarte playing at outside center all season.
The double play-maker continues; Felipe Etcheverry and Juan Andrés Zuccarino start at fly half and inside center respectively. They will have speed to burn outside them with Juan Manuel Alonso, Gastón Mieres and Rodrigo Silva starting in the back-three.
Los Pampas have a highly changed side for the match. Some are out of action due to commitments with Los Pumitas. Head Coach Ignacio Fernández Lobbe has, nonetheless, named a strong team. Puma Rodrigo Martínez starts at loose head. He is joined by Argentina XV names such as Manuel Bernstein and Jerónimo Ureta. Santiago Ruiz leads the side from N8.
In the backs there are plenty of players of note. Juan Pablo Castro has been closer to a Pumas cap in the past. Joaquín de la Vega Mendía has developed well this season while one of the rookies of Super Rugby Americas 2023 has been winger Benjamín Elizalde.
Changes see regular starter Nicolás D’Amorim, returning play flanker, Mateo Albanese starting at scrum-half and Tomás Passaro set to play on the wing. They replace Eliseo Chiavassa, Eliseo Morales and Iñaki Delguy respectively. Delguy is officially out of the contest through injury. Her suffered a sprained knee playing for Los Pampas in the away match against Selknam in Santiago, Chile.
The match promises to have plenty of action. On the one hand, every Peñarol player is on the radar for the World Cup. On the other hand, Los Pampas require a reaction to their bad loss away to Selknam last weekend.
PENAROL
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 5 Felipe Aliaga, 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 Faccnnini, 17 Matías Benítez, 18 Ignacio Peculo, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Lucas Bianchi, 21 Juan Francisco Torres, 22 Alfonso Silva, 23 Santiago del Cerro
PAMPAS
1 Rodrigo Martínez, 2 Ramiro Gurovich, 3 Javier Corvalán, 4 Manuel Bernstein, 5 Eliseo Fourcade, 6 Nicolás D’Amorim, 7 Jerónimo Ureta, 8 Santiago Ruiz (capt.), 9 Mateo Albanese, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Tomás Passaro, 12 Felipe de la Vega, 13 Juan Pablo Castro, 14 Benjamín Elizalde, 15 Juan Ignacio Landó
Replacements: 16 Rodrigo Pérez Boulan, 17 Matías Medrano, 18 Javier Coronel, 19 Lorenzo Colidio, 20 Eliseo Chiavassa, 21 Rafael Iriarte, 22 Eliseo Morales, 23 Joaquín Lamas
Date: Friday, May 19
Kick-Off: 8pm (UY); 8pm (AR)
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo (UY)
Referee: Damian Schneider (AR)
Assistant Referees: Matías Esteban (UY); Cauã Ricardo (BR)
TMO: Alejandro Longes (UY)
HISTORIC RESULTS
March 29, 2023 – Pampas 20-19 Peñarol (Buenos Aires, AR)
May 10, 2022 – Peñarol 32-14 Jaguares XV (Montevideo, UY)
April 02, 2022 – Jaguares XV 20, Peñarol 27 (Ciudad del Este, PY)
April 04, 2021 – Jaguares XV 46, Peñarol 17 (Santiago, CL)
May 01, 2021 – Peñarol 18, Jaguares XV 42 (Montevideo, UY)
April 04, 2021 – Peñarol 28, Jaguares XV 36 (Montevideo, UY)
