Paraguay Humble Colombia in South American Four Nations

Paraguay humbled Colombia on Saturday. Played at the Héroes de Curupayty in Asunción, Los Yacarés were the far better team. The 50-7 win sees Paraguay opening the South American Four Nations with a dream start.

2019 seems like a lot more than four years ago. Colombia trounced Paraguay 54-15 in 2019 to win the Americas Rugby Challenge title. It was a record winning margin by Los Tucanes against Paraguay.

It was not an isolated victory; Colombia defeated Paraguay 43-13 and 44-29 in the two prior test matches to that one. Colombia had seemingly turned the corner. The development has now hit a brick-wall called amateurism vs professionalism.

Paraguay’s players played a higher-skilled level of rugby. They appeared fitter and were in greater control of their offensive and defensive games that were the Colombians. The demise of Los Cafeteros Pro has taken its toll.

Paraguay dominated the first-half. They scored all first-half points to hold a dominant 31-0 lead at half-time. The opening points came in the former of a penalty. Arturo López landed the one and only penalty of the match.

López was one of a number of Argentines playing for Paraguay. He qualifies for Paraguay via ancestry as do Lautaro Britez, Rolando Portillo, Diego Miño and Gianfranco Parodi who all also featured in Paraguay’s big win over Colombia.

Carlos Plate was named man of the match. He had a busy workload, but a number of players could have also been selected for the award. Plate scored two of Paraguay’s seven tries. Paraguay was also awarded one penalty try while four others touched down in the try zone.

Paraguay scored a range of tries. Forwards powered over and backs ran in scores from far out. Both Ignacio Martínez, and Marcos Riquelme demonstrated power to score their opening quarter tries. The third score was the penalty try. Hooker Lucas Otaño powered over on the stroke of half-time.

Replacement Lautaro Britez finished off the best backline move of the match for Paraguay. The Argentine’s 49th minute try was one of three second-half tries for Los Yacarés. However, before Britez scored Colombia had already done so. Fullback Alejandro Guisao went over for Los Tucanes one try of the match 6 minutes into the second-half.

The two remaining tries in the contest were both scored by Plate. The veteran has played N8, second-row and flanker for Paraguay. He and captain Mariano Garcete are to instances of players to have been involved in heavy defeats in the past, including against Colombia.

Paraguay’s investments in High Performance Center, and Super Rugby Americas have been key factors as to why they have returned to overtake Colombia. The aforementioned strengthening of the roster via player eligibility has been another.

Paraguay now turn their attention to the Chile XV. Los Yacarés take-on the next-of-XV of the World Cup bound Chile. Colombia face Brazil in their next match. Both fixtures will be played on Wednesday.

SCORING

PARAGUAY (50)
Try – I Martínez (14′); M Riquelme (19′); Penalty Try (28′); L Otaño (40′); L Britez (49′); C Plate 2 (53′, 68′)
Con – S Urbieta 4/5 (15′, 20′ 40′, 50′); No Kick (28′); H Gayoso 1/1 (69′)
Pen – A López 1/1 (6′)
YC – I Martínez (45′)

COLOMBIA (7)
Try – A Guisao (46′)
Con – J Ortíz 1/1 (47′)

TEAMS

PARAGUAY
1 Daniel Cabral, 2 Lucas Otaño, 3 Enrique Quinteros, 4 Ignacio Martínez, 5 Mariano Garcete (capt.), 6 Carlos Plate, 7 Mathias Abrahan Álvarez Prieto, 8 Marcos Riquelme, 9 Diego Miño, 10 Joaquín Mussi, 11 Juan González, 12 Sebastián Urbieta, 13 Gianfranco Parodi, 14 Facundo Paiva, 15 Arturo López

Replacements: 16  Diego Caballero, 17 Camilo Blasco, 18 Rolando Portillo, 19 Juan José Heisecke, 20 Lautaro Britez, 21 Marcos Romañach, 22 Hector Gayoso, 23 Tomás Mussi

COLOMBIA
1 Carlos Yepes, 2 Yerson Pérez, 3 Sebastián Benítez, 4 Jorge Gamboa, 5 Jhon Carlos Álvarez, 6 Luis Miguel Giraldo, 7 Diver Ceballos, 8 Juan Pacheco, 9 Andrés Mosquera, 10 Daniel Villa, 11 Andrés Telles, 12 Jhon Quiñones, 13 Jhojan Ortíz (capt.), 14 Andrey Sánchez, 15 Alejandro Guisao

Replacements: 16 Juan Alzate, 17 Jorge Álvarez, 18 Luis Ángel Velasco, 19 Wilson Olave, 20 Juan Ruiz, 21 Cristian Rodallegas, 22 Juan Camilo Hernández, 23 Daniel Gómez

 

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COMPLETE RESULTS
2004 Paraguay 79-7 Colombia in São Paulo, Brazil
2005 Paraguay 82-8 Colombia in Asunción, Paraguay
2008 Paraguay 60-7 Colombia in Asunción, Paraguay
2012 Paraguay 54-17 Colombia in Valencia, Venezuela
2013 Paraguay 25-15 Colombia in Asunción, Paraguay
2016 Paraguay 39-27 Colombia in Asunción, Paraguay
2018 Paraguay 28-26 Colombia in Asunción, Paraguay
2018 Colombia 44-29 Paraguay in Medellín, Colombia
2019 Colombia 43-13 Paraguay in Medellín, Colombia
2019 Colombia 54-19 Paraguay in Medellín, Colombia
2022 Colombia 13-21 Paraguay in Barranquilla in Colombia
2023 Paraguay 50-07 Colombia in Asunción in Paraguay