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The opening round of Super Rugby Americas 2024 saw wins for Cobras Brasil Rugby, Los Dogos and Los Pampas. First, Los Dogos powered past the American Raptors in what was an explosive performance to open the season. Second, Os Cobras stunned Peñarol to earn their first ever win over the Uruguayans. The final match saw Los Pampas scoring some sensational tries in a bonus point away win over Yacare.
Cobras Stun Peñarol
Cobras Brasil Rugby stunned Peñarol on Saturday afternoon. The 15-13 victory was historic; never before had the Uruguayans lost to a Brazilian competitor in Super Rugby Americas or the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR).
Hooker Endy Willian Pinheiro scored two tries to take home to man of the match award. Peñarol also scored two tries with their hooker, Joaquín Myszka getting the first and doing so on debut. Veteran Gastón Mieres scored with plenty of time left in the match.
Officially what separated the teams was goal-kicking. Juan Andrés Zuccarino did not convert Myszka’s try and Ícaro Amarillo’s conversion attempt from Mieres’ try was also unsuccessful. In addition, Mateo Viñals missed a penalty. João Amaral converted Pinheiro’s second try for a 15-13 lead and Os Cobras held on.
Os Cobras victory was out far more than goal-kicking. In actuality, Peñarol’s scrum was demolished repeatedly. This area of the game gave Os Cobras key field position and saw Peñarol’s opportunities severely depleted.
COBRAS (15)
Try – EW Pinheiro 2 (41′, 59′)
Con – J Amaral (60′)
Pen – J Amaral (4′)
YC – A Altahona (31′)
PENAROL (13)
Try – J Myszka (13′); G Mieres (53′)
Pen – JA Zuccarino (16′)
YC – M Franco (33′)
COBRAS
1 Brendon Alves, 2 Endy William Pinheiro, 3 Francisco Moreno, 4 Franco Carrera, 5 Gabriel Oliveira, 6 Cleber Dias (capt.), 7 Matheus Cláudio, 8 Adrio de Melo, 9 Douglas Rauth, 10 João Amaral, 11 Alain Altahona, 12 Robert Tenório, 13 Lorenzo Massari Temer, 14 Ariel Rodrigues, 15 Agustín Llano
Replacements: 16 Henrique Ferreira, 17 Luciano Gabellieri, 18 Levy Marinho, 19 Ben Donald, 20 Rafael Teixeira, 21 Pedro Aparecido, 22 Lucas Spago, 23 Daniel Lima
PENAROL
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Joaquín Myzska, 3 Mathias Franco, 4 Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 5 Felipe Aliaga, 6 Santiago Civetta (capt.), 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Juan Andrés Zuccarino, 11 Mateo Viñals, 12 Juan Manuel Alonso, 13 Bautista Basso, 14 Gastón Mieres, 15 Baltazar Amaya
Replacements: 16 Francisco García, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Duban Silvera, 19 Agustín Morales, 20 Manuel Rosmarino, 21 Juan Manuel Tafernaberry, 22 Ícaro Amarillo, 23 Juan Bautista Hontou
Dogos Power Past Raptors
The season opener was in Córdoba, Argentina on Friday. Los Dogos were in a class of their own against the American Raptors. The emphatic win sent a warning to Super Rugby Americas rivals; Los Dogos are a force to be reckoned with.
The match was a game of two halves. Los Dogos were the better team in both but the defense of the American Raptors was notably better in the first than in the second. Los Dogos scored first half tries through Leonardo Gea Salim, Boris Wenger and Mateo Soler. Of note, the trio are all returning names from Los Dogos’ 2023 campaign.
Agustín Segura crossed for the first second-half try with it came the bonus point. This time the American Raptors responded; Tomi Moroni scored in the corner in his Super Rugby Americas debut. Fellow debutant Francisco Quinn missed the conversion. The Raptors would not score again.
At the other end of the field, Los Dogos added three further tries. The home side were in total control. Scores included strength from forwards and flair from backs.
DOGOS (56)
Try – L Gea Salim (12′); B Wenger (24′); M Soler (39′); A Segura (48′); JB Baronio (58′); V Cabral (68′); L Cipriani (71′)
Con – J Hernández 4 (13′, 26′ 40′, 48′); JB Baronio 2 (70′, 72′)
Pen – J Hernández 2 (5′, 19′, 28′)
YC – A Bildosola (42′)
RAPTORS (8)
Try – T Morani (55′)
Pen – P Madden (8′)
YC – J Camp-Villalovos (27′); S Clark (67′)
DOGOS
1 Santiago Pulella, 2 Boris Wenger, 3 Octavio Filipa, 4 Lautaro Simes, 5 Franco Molina (capt.), 6 Aitor Bildosola, 7 Ignacio Gandini, 8 Efraín Elías, 9 Agustín Moyano, 10 Julián Hernández, 11 Ernesto Giudice, 12 Leonardo Gea Salim, 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Lautaro Cipriani, 15 Mateo Soler
Replacements: 16 Tomás Barolini, 17 Juan Francisco Aguirre, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Lorenzo Colidio, 20 Valentín Cabral, 21 Nicolás Viola, 22 Juan Bautista Baronio, 23 Faustino Sánchez Valarolo
RAPTORS
1 Ma’ake Muti, 2 Diego Fortuny (capt.), 3 Facundo Pomponio, 4 Javon Camp-Villalovos, 5 Mikey Grandy, 6 Alexander Vainikolo, 7 Aidan Christians, 8 Diego Magno, 9 Deveraux Ferris, 10 Patrick Madden, 11 Thomas Morani, 12 Aki Pulu, 13 Zach Hall, 14 Rufus McLean, 15 Francisco Quinn
Replacements: 16 Jackson Zabierek, 17 Clay Markoff, 18 Koby Baker, 19 William Crawford, 20 Shawn Clark, 21 Tommy Clark, 22 John Lefevre, 23 Watson Filikitonga
Rookie Pampas Star Power Clear against Yacare
Juan Manuel Leguzamón’s coaching debut was a success. Los Pampas claimed the maximum away against Yacare. The 48-32 victory saw the Buenos Aires team running in five tries and also being awarded a penalty try.
Joaquín Moro broke a 3-3 deadlock to score the first try. The N8 broke off a scrum to score with Juan Molinuevo unable to stop him. Bernabé López Fleming, and Justo Piccardo also scored in the first half while Yacare failed to do so. Moro, López Fleming and Piccardo were all on debut. Two other debutants scored the for Pampas in the second-half.
The teams were matched with three tries each in the second-half. N8 Nicolás Parada Heit bagged a double for Yacare. Curiously, both teams were able to secure the ball following their own kick-off’s in the second half and tries came as a result.
The best try of the match was the last one. In a 95 meter score, debutant Bruno Heit started and finished off an impressive and fortuitous try. With the ball run out from just outside the try zone, Los Pampas kicked, regathered and scored in the right corner.
YACARE (32)
Try – T Vanni (45′); N Parada Heit (60′); R Amarilla 2 (69′, 75′)
Con – JM Molinuevo 3 (46′, 61′, 70′)
Pen – JM Molinuevo 2 (4′, 31′)
YC – E Quinteros (49′)
PAMPAS (48)
Try – J Moro (24′); J Piccardo (29′); B López Fleming (35′); Penalty Try (47′); S Pernas (63′); B Heit (79′)
Con – J de la Vega Mendia 5 (26′, 29′, 36′, 64′, 80′)
Pen – J de la Vega Mendia 2 (19′, 67′)
YC – I Inchauspe (67′)
YACARE
1 Ezequiel Reyes, 2 Axel Zapata, 3 Enrique Quinteros, 4 Ignacio Martínez, 5 Mariano Garcete (capt.), 6 Juan Pérez Rachel, 7 Felipe Puertas, 8 Nicolás Parada Heit, 9 Juan Cruz Strada, 10 Juan Molinuevo, 11 Juan González, 12 Ramiro Amarilla, 13 Sebastián Urbieta, 14 Tomás Vanni, 15 Tomás Mac Call
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Palillo, 17 Camilo Blasco, 18 Rodolfo Rivadeneira, 19 Lucio Anconetami, 20 Ariel Nuñez, 21 Diego Miño, 22 Joaquín Lamas, 23 Arturo López
PAMPAS
1 Matías Medrano, 2 Ramiro Gurovich, 3 Javier Coronel, 4 Eliseo Fourcade, 5 Marcelo Toledo, 6 Manuel Bernstein (capt.), 7 Santiago Montagner, 8 Joaquín Moro, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Bernabé López Fleming, 12 Justo Piccardo, 13 Juan Pablo Castro, 14 Santiago Pernas, 15 Marcos Eliçagaray
Replacements: 16 Valentino Minoyetti, 17 Nahuel Zunnini, 18 Javier Corvalán, 19 Mateo Loreno, 20 Nicolás D’Amorim, 21 Tomás Di Biase, 22 Bruno Heit, 23 Benjamin Elizalde
