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The red hot Dogos travel to Jacareí to take-on Os Cobras on Saturday. The second round match of Super Rugby Americas 2024 sees two teams who impressed in week one looking to continue their winning ways.
The match will be played at the Estádio Du Cambusano in Jacareí. The city is located one hour northwest from São Paulo’s biggest airport, Guarulhos. It is a new home for Os Cobras but one that already is already written in history.
Os Cobras’ 15-13 win over Peñarol in week one marked the first Uruguayan loss against Brazilian opposition since the South American professional league began in 2020. Now the challenge is against the 2023 runners-up, Los Dogos.
Head Coach Josh Reeves has not stuck with the winning formula. Instead, his line-up sees a staggering eleven changes. The four names retained are flanker Matheus Cláudio and the Argentine trio of tight head Francisco Moreno, second-rower Franco Carrera and winger Agustín Llano.
Cláudio takes over the captaincy from Cleber Dias who drops to the bench as part of Reeves’ rotation. The man of the match against Peñarol, Endy Willian Pinheiro is nowhere to be seen. Henrique Ribeiro replaces him at hooker and joins Argentines Luciano Gabellieri, and Francisco Moreno in the front-row.
Carrera is joined by Ben Donald in the second-row; Donald was a replacement against Peñarol. Meanwhile, the new look back-row sees the trio of Cláudio, 7 Rafael Teixeira, and Pedro Henrique Soares Aparecido.
Douglas Rauth makes way for Felipe Gonçalves at scrum-half. Gonçalves starts in combination with Lucas Spago. Victor Souza will play inside center with Joel Júnior making his Super Rugby Americas debut outside him. Robson Morais, and Sérgio Luna join Llano in the back-three.
The replacements also contain new blood. Renato Santos and Maiki Lemes will both make their debuts for Os Cobras as will Argentine prop José Santucho.
Los Dogos are running high in confidence. Head Coach Nicolás Galatro continues with Franco Molina as captain. Galatro’s line-up sees Molina leading a team with just one change. Old Resian winger Nahuel Romero comes in to the side.
Molina captained Los Dogos to a dominant 56-8 win over the American Raptors in Córdoba. It was a mismatch as the team from Colorado was throughout outplayed across the set-piece and in open play.
Not only does the Argentina XV second-rower lead a stable line-up but the replacements are also settled. The one replacement alteration is that of the inclusion of Club Atlético Estudiantes de Paraná flanker Felipe Villagrán.
Los Dogos not have Pumas but the side has plenty of Pumitas and Argentina XV players. Furthermore, there are players more than capable of making the step up to the highest level; indeed, Felipe Contepomi is certain to be paying close attention.
In addition to Molina, hooker Boris Wenger, and fellow second-rower Lautaro Simes were both stand-out performers throughout Super Rugby Americas 2023. There is a lot of potential individually and collectively in the back-row of Aitor Bildosola, 7 Ignacio Gandini, and Efrain Elias.
Agustín Moyano is one player to assume is on Contepomi’s radar. Scrum-half was scrutinized throughout 2023 as a weak point of Los Pumas. The 20-year-old Moyano plus 20-year-old fullback Mateo Soler lead the way as prospective youth options to be capped in the new era.
Os Cobras and Los Dogos have crossed paths twice before. Los Dogos won the two prior matches. The first was twelve months ago with Los Dogos winning 31-14 in São Paulo. The second was in April with a home win in Córdoba. It was among the best matches from the 2023 regular season.
TEAMS
COBRAS
1 Luciano Gabellieri, 2 Henrique Ribeiro, 3 Francisco Moreno, 4 Ben Donald, 5 Franco Carrera 6 Matheus Claudio (capt.), 7 Rafael Teixeira, 8 Pedro Henrique Soares Aparecido, 9 Felipe Gonçalves, 10 Lucas Spago, 11 Agustin Llano, 12 Victor Souza, 13 Joel Junior, 14 Sergio Silveira, 15 Robson Morais
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Souza, 17 Levy Marinho, 18 Jose Santucho, 19 Cleber Dias, 20 Renato Santos, 21 Maiki Santos, 22 Douglas Rauth, 23 Lucas Tranquez
DOGOS
1 Santiago Pulella, 2 Boris Wenger, 3 Octavio Filippa, 4 Lautaro Simes, 5 Franco Molina (capt.), 6 Aitor Bildosola, 7 Ignacio Gandini, 8 Efrain Elias, 9 Agustín Moyano, 10 Julián Hernández, 11 Ernesto Giudice, 12 Leonardo Gea Salim, 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Nahuel Romero, 15 Mateo Soler
Replacements: 16 Tomás Bartolini, 17 Juan Aguirre, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Lorenzo Colidio, 20 Felipe Villagrán, 21 Nicolás Viola, 22 Juan Bautista Baronio, 23 Faustino Sanchez Valarolo
DATE: Sayruday, February 24
KICK-OFF: 4pm (Brasilia); 4pm (AR)
VENUE: Poliesportivo Municipal Du Cambuzano (Jacareí, SP, BR)
REFEREE: Gonzalo de Achaval (AR)
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Lucas Saccomanno; Jauri Riveiro
TMO: Victor Hugo Barbosa
BROADCAST: ESPN; Star +
HISTORIC RESULTS
Apr 14, 2023 – Dogos 45-29 Cobras (Córdoba, AR)
Feb 26, 2023 – Cobras 14-31 Dogos (São Paulo, BR)
