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It was a cliffhanger. Both Selknam and Yacare were competing for a Semi Final spot. The home side needs the win to remain in the hunt while the visitors needed to come away with points. Following a late penalty Yacare pulled-off a 20-19 win to join Peñarol, Los Dogos and Los Pampas in the Super Rugby Americas 2023 Semi Finals.
Yacare started and ended the contest well. The Paraguayan side scored an early try. Mariano Garcete underlined himself as the leading Paraguayan player with a 5th minute score. Federico Cacciabue made no mistake with the conversion.
Selknam were playing good rugby but Yacare’s defense proved to be resilient. It was eventually breached. Following barnstorming work from the forwards, Vittorio Lastra broke free to score. Santiago Videla missed the conversion attempt.
Yacare had opportunities to add points but the goal-kicking proved to be underwhelming. When they did score no kick was needed as Yacare were awarded a penalty try to end the opening half.
Yacare added six second half points while Selknam scored fourteen. Winning the second half was not enough for Selknam. They will look back at their season and note the rotation of players. This will, nonetheless, be a question of balance as the World Cup is the real focus.
Selknam were the better team in the second half. Raimundo Martínez scored an excellent try early on in the second half. Videla converted to make it a 14-12 scoreline. Cacciabue found his accuracy to get three points back for Yacare eleven minutes from full-time.
A fired-up Selknam were not interested in defeat. Flair and determination were at the forefront. A try came with Clemente Saavedra bursting over. Videla converted to give Selknam the lead. It did not last as Ignacio Inchauspe slotted a penalty to set-up a cliffhanger finish.
The Semi Finalists are now confirmed. What remains to be determined is who will face who. The top two will earn home Semi Finals. First will host fourth and second will host third. As such Peñarol will host either Los Pampas or Yacare and Los Dogos will host the other.
SCORING
SELKNAM (19)
Try – V Lastra (25′); R Martínez (49′); C Saavedra (72′)
Con – S Videla 2/3 (50′, 72′)
YC – I Gurruchaga (62′)
YACARE (20)
Try – M Garcete (5′); Penalty Try (40′)
Con – F Cacciabue 1/1 (6′); No Kick (40′)
Pen – F Cacciabue 1/3 (69′); I Inchauspe 1/1 (76′)
YC – F Cacciabue (43′); M Garcete (48′)
TEAMS
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 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 11 José Ignacio Larenas, 12 Pablo Casas, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Cristobál Game, 15 Santiago Videla (capt.)
Replacements: 16 Diego Escobar, 17 Simón Donoso, 18 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 19 Santiago Pedrero, 20 Bruno Sáez, 21 Benjamín Videla, 22 Lukas Carvallo, 23 Ernesto Tchimino
YACARE
1 Lucas Noguera Paz, 2 Mariano Muntaner, 3 Facundo Pomponio, 4 Lucas Sommer, 5 Mariano Garcete, 6 Felipe Villagrán, 7 Felipe Puertas, 8 Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe (capt.), 10 Federico Cacciabue, 11 Juan González, 12 Juan David Agudelo, 13 Ramiro Amarilla, 14 Arturo López, 15 Nicolás Picasso
Replacements: 16 Emilio Gorostiaga, 17 Julián Martín, 18 Rolando Portillo, 19 Ignacio Martínez, 20 Carlos Plate, 21 Estanislao Pregot, 22 Gianfranco Parodi, 23 Estanislao Gómez
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Nehuén Jauri Rivero (AR)
Assistant Referees: Gonzalo de Achával (AR) Gonzalo Ventoso (UY)
TMO: Maximiliano Miranda (AR)
