Peñarol fly past Yacare into Super Rugby Americas Final

Peñarol downed Yacare to book a place in the Super Rugby Americas 2023 Final. Peñarol were 30-17 winners in a final that was not decided until very late. Peñarol will now have the opportunity of adding the SRA star to their jersey alongside the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) winning star from 2022.

Yacare opened the scoring. Captain Ignacio Inchauspe slotted a 12th minute penalty. Peñarol hit-back to equalize through Felipe Etcheverry. The scoring at the close of the opening quarter remained 3-3.

The second quarter began with Felipe Etcheverry – Alfonso Silva double magic. The fly half had two try assists for the winger. On both occasions, Etcheverry’s wonderful dummy skills were on display. He was able to put Silva into space with the winger’s speed doing the rest.

A third try came in quick succession. This time it was a penalty try. Santiago Álvarez was pushed while free in the Yacare try zone. The outcome was a penalty try and a yellow card to Federico Cacciaube.

Yacare were down and frustrated about it. Tension resulted in off ball incidents. Meanwhile, Damian Schneider had had enough of scrum problems. He left his mark with authority; both Mateo Sanguinetti and Facundo Pomponio were yellow carded following a collapsed scrum in the 37th minute.

Trailing 22-3 at half-time, Yacare needed something special if they were to comeback. Recent arrival fro Buenos Aires, Lucas Sommer, gave them hope. Sommer went over for a try two minutes in to the second half. Ignacio Inchauspe converted.

Peñarol were under pressure but absorbed it well. Having fought off raids of jacaré attacks, Peñarol came away with a three pointer to open the final quarter. While it gave the Uruguayans breathing space, Inchauspe responded immediately. A captain’s try score him darting over and then converting from wide.

The try set-up a thrilling finish. Peñarol had emptied its bench and held a 25-17 lead. The Uruguayans were able to fend over Yacare and pounce with time running out. Loose play from Yacare saw Peñarol welcoming a turnover and Juan Manuel Alonso running in to score the match-winner.

SCORING

PENAROL (30)
Try – A Silva 2 (22′, 29′); Penalty Try (33′); JM Alonso (80′)
Con – F Etcheverry 1/3 (30′); No Kick (33′)
Pen – F Etcheverry 2/2 (14′, 63′)
YC – M Sanguinetti (37′)

YACARE (17)
Try – L Sommer (42′); I Inchauspe (64′)
Con – I Inchauspe 2/2 (43′, 65′)
Pen – I Inchauspe 1/1 (12′)
YC – F Cacciabue (33′); F Pomponio (37′)

TEAMS

PENAROL
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Felipe Aliaga, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Carlos Deus, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Juan Manuel Alonso, 12 Juan Andrés Zuccarino, 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Alfonso Silva, 15 Rodrigo Silva

Replacements: 16 Emiliano Facceninni, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Diego Arbelo, 19 Agustín Morales, 20 Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 21 Juan Francisco Torres, 22 Guillermo Storace, 23 Santiago del Cerro

YACARE
1 Lucas Noguera Paz, 2 Julián Martín, 3 Facundo Pomponio, 4 Lucas Sommer, 5 Mariano Garcete, 6 Juan Pérez Rachel, 7 Felipe Puertas, 8 Marcos Riquelme, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe (capt.), 10 Federico Cacciabue, 11 Juan González, 12 Juan David Agudelo, 13 Ramiro Amarilla, 14 Tomás Acosa Pimentel, 15 Nicolás Picasso

Replacements: 16 Emilio Gorostiaga, 17 Camilo Blasco, 18 Rolando Portillo, 19 Ignacio Martínez, 20 Carlos Plate, 21 Estanislao Pregot, 22 Sebastián Urbieta, 23 Estanislao Gómez

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Damian Schneider (AR)
Assistant Referees: Frank Made (CL); Nehuén Jauri Rivero (AR)
TMO: Lucas Galán (AR)