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The final round of Super Rugby Americas 2023 will give fans a taste of El Clásico. Peñarol have home advantage against Selknam. It is a battle without Argentines; every Peñarol player is Uruguayan and every Selknam player is Chilean. Both teams will heavily contribute to Uruguay and Chile’s World Cup rosters.
Peñarol are seeking to finish top of the table. Pablo Bouza will have most of his front-line names starting the match. This is true of Santiago Álvarez and Felipe Etcheverry in the halves, Juan Andrés Zuccarino and Tomás Inciarte in the mid-field and Gastón Mieres on the right wing. So too does it apply to second-rowers Ignacio Dotti and Felipe Aliaga and captain Manuel Ardao.
Juggling for starting spots have been a theme at prop all season. Peñarol continue this policy for El Clásico. Mateo Perillo and Ignacio Peculo start with Emiliano Faccennini, joining them. Juan Manuel Rodríguez moves from second-row to N8. It is a notable selection given Manuel Diana owns the spot for Peñarol and Los Teros.
Elsewhere Santiago del Cerro and Alfonso Silva have opportunities to show their talents. They start in the back-three. Uruguayan competition for both wing and fullback is fierce.
With Selknam out of Semi Finals contention player rotation comes as no surprise. It is World Cup mode already for many of Chile’s top players. This sees opportunities for others. No clearer is this than in the front-row. Simón Donoso, Jorge Delgado and Iñaki Gurruchaga form a unit that was inconceivable at any other time this season.
The in-form Clemente Saavedra and Pablo Huete are retained to lock the scrum. The former has done better in the second-row than at flanker though Chile likely need him more at flanker. Veteran Huete has progressed well throughout the season.
Newcomer Andrés Kusmanic starts at flanker. He will join Raimundo Martínez and Joaquín Milesi in starting against Peñarol. Of note is that Santiago Edwards features as a replacement. Moreover, Selknam have also given a bench spot to newcomers Bruno Sáez and Marco Lopez.
More changes can be seen in the backline. Nicolás Herreros starts at scrum-half and Benjamín Videla gets a first start for Selknam at fly half. Both are down the list when it comes to Chile’s World Cup Radar.
Veteran center José Ignacio Larenas starts on one wing while Gaspar Moltedo starts on the other. Moltedo has shown progress this year when given the ball. Santiago Videla leads the side from fullback while Pablo Casas and Domingo Saavedra continue as the starting centers.
Selknam have won away against Peñarol previously. Historic results favor Peñarol, though Selknam has won twice in Montevideo. The match has been coined El Clásico with good reason.
Peñarol are assured of a Semi Final at home. The match is the final game of Super Rugby Americas 2023 for Selknam. This need not mean the season has been a failure. With player rotation being the order, Chile’s selectors have plenty to analyze ahead of Los Cóndores camp.
PENAROL
1 Mateo Perillo, 2 Emiliano Faccennini, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Felipe Aliaga, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Alfonso Silva, 12 Juan Andrés Zuccarino, 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Gastón Mieres, 15 Santiago del Cerro
Replacements: 16 Francisco García, 17 Mateo Sanguinetti, 18 Diego Arbelo, 19 Carlos Deus, 20 Manuel Diana, 21 Juan Francisco Torres, 22 Rodrigo Silva, 23 Juan Manuel Alonso
SELKNAM
1 Simón Donoso, 2 Jorge Delgado, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Clemente Saavedra, 5 Pablo Huete, 6 Andrés Kusmanic, 7 Raimundo Martínez, 8 Joaquín Milesi, 9 Nicolás Herreros, 10 Benjamín Videla, 11 José Ignacio Larenas, 12 Pablo Casas, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Gaspar Moltedo, 15 Santiago Videla (capt.)
Replacements: 16 Augusto Bohme, 17 Vittorio Lastra, 18 Marco Lopez, 19 Santiago Pedrero, 20 Bruno Sáez, 21 Lukas Carvallo, 22 Diego Escobar, 23 Santiago Edwards
Date: Friday, May 26
Kick-Off: 7pm (UY); 6pm (CL)
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo (UY)
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (AR)
Assistant Referees: Damien Schneider (AR); Claudio Cativelli (UY)
TMO: Maximiliano Miranda (AR)
HISTORIC RESULTS
March 24, 2023 – Selknam 24-35 Peñarol (Santiago, CL)
May 27, 2022 – Peñarol 24-13 Selknam (Montevideo, UY)
May 15, 2022 – Peñarol 08-15 Selknam (Montevideo, UY)
April 08, 2022 – Peñarol 31-03 Selknam (Ciudad del Este, PY)
May 08, 2021 – Peñarol 17, Selknam 14 (Montevideo, UY)
April 26, 2021 – Peñarol 17-27 Selknam (Montevideo, UY)
March 30, 2021 – Selknam 22-26 Peñarol (Santiago, CL)
March 04, 2020 – Peñarol 13-14 Selknam (Montevideo, UY)
