Super Rugby Americas – Dogos vs Selknam – ARN Guide

Fresh off a bye, the competition leading Dogos host the underperforming Selknam on Saturday. The round six match of Super Rugby Americas 2024 is decisive for both teams. Los Dogos seek to stay above Yacare and Los Pampas while Selknam are in desperate need of points to get closer to Peãnrol and further away from Os Cobras and the American Raptors.

CURRENT STANDINGS

4-0-0 (W4) 1st

1-0-3 (L2) 5th

LINEUP CHANGES

1 Francisco Aguirre replaces Santiago Pulella
2 Tomás Bartolini replaces Boris Wenger
3 Pedro Delgado replaces Octavio Filippa
6 Felipe Villagrán replaces Ignacio Gandini
7 Lorenzo Colidio replaces Aitor Bildosola
9 Agustín Moyano replaces Nicolás Viola
10 Valentoni Di Capua replaces Juan Bautista Baronio
11 Nahuel Romero replaces Ernesto Giudice
12 Felipe Mallía replaces Leonardo Gea Salim

1 Simón Donoso replaces Salvador Lues
4 Santiago Pedrero replaces Clemente Saavedra who moves to 7.
5 Javier Eissmann replaces Santiago Pedrero at 5
6 Alfonso Escobar moves from 7 to 6
8 Raimundo Martínez replaces Into Ubeda
9 Rafael Iriate replaces Marcelo Torrealba
11 José Larenas replaces Franco Velarde
15 Luca Strabucchi replaces Iñaki Delguy

CLUB DEBUTS

(2) – Diego Correa*, **; Agustín De Vertiz*, **

(0)

* SRA debut, ** pro debut

CAPPED INTERNATIONALS

(0)

(14) – D Escobar, I Gurruchaga, S Pedrero, J Eissmann, A Escobar, C Saavedra, R Martínez, J Larenas, D Saavedra, L Strabucchi, T Dussailant, J Carrasco, M Torrealba, N Garafulic

NOTABLE ABSENTEES

– J Hernández, L Gea Salim, E Giudice

– S Lues, E Inostroza, B Videla, M Garafulic, N Roger (AR), I Delguy (AR)

NOTES

• Dogos are the best team in the competition with an undefeated season thus far.
• Selknam’s only win thus far was against the bottom of the table Cobras in Brazil.
• Dogos welcome back captain Franco Molina from Los Pumas’ training camp.
• Nicolás Galatro has gone for a completely new front-row in Francisco Aguirre, Tomás Bartolini and Pedro Delgado Ibañez.
• Valentino Di Capua gets a start ahead of Juan Bautista Baronio while regular Julián Hernández is out of the 23.
• Diego Correa and Agustín De Vertiz and will debut for Los Dogos as replacements.
• Selknam are without regulars Salvador Lues (out for 3 weeks) and Into Ubeda (out for 2 weeks).
• Nicolás Garafulic is back for his first match since being ruled out of the World Cup.

PREDICTION

The pressure is firmly on Selknam; the Chileans have underperformed thus far in Super Rugby Americas 2024. The team needs a special performance in order to hand Los Dogos their first loss of the season. Selknam must play with discipline and put in an 80 minute performance. Losses have come after being in winning positions. This was the case against Peñarol, Yacare and Los Pampas. Los Dogos are heavy favorites to win.

LINEUPS

DOGOS
1 Francisco Aguirre, 2 Tomás Bartolini, 3 Pedro Delgado, 4 Lautaro Simes, 5 Franco Molina (capt.), 6 Felipe Villagrán, 7 Lorenzo Colidio, 8 Efraín Elías, 9 Agustín Moyano, 10 Valentino Di Capua, 11 Nahuel Romero, 12 Felipe Mallía, 13 Faustino Sánchez Valarolo, 14 Lautaro Cipriani, 15 Mateo Soler

Replacements: 16 Boris Wegner, 17 Diego Correa, 18 Octavio Filippa, 19 Gregorio Hernández, 20 Valentín Cabral, 21 Nicolás Viola, 22 Juan Bautista Baronio, 23 Agustín de Vertíz

SELKNAM
1 Simón Donoso, 2 Diego Escobar, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Alfonso Escobar, 7 Clemente Saavedra (capt.), 8 Raimundo Martínez, 9 Rafael Iriarte, 10 Felipe Méndez, 11 José Larenas, 12 Martín Dumay, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Nicolás Saab, 15 Luca Strabucchi

Replacements: 16 Tomás Dussailant, 17 Javier Carrasco, 18 Ignacio González, 19 Federico Albrisi, 20 Ernesto Tchimino, 21 Marcelo Torrealba, 22 Sebastián Bianchi, 23 Nicolás Garafulic

MATCH INFO

Date: Saturday, March 23
Venue: Tala RC, Córdoba (AR)
Kickoff: 8pm(AR); 7pm (CL)
Weather Forecast: sunny, 27°C, wind N (13km/h)
Broadcasts: Star +; ESPN

OFFICIALS

Referee: Simon Larrubia (AR)
Assistants: Tomás Ninci; Juan Pablo Chumbita
TMO: Gustavo Paulin

HISTORY

HEAD-TO-HEAD (2) – Dogos (2); Selknam (0) STREAK – Pampas (2)

Apr 29, 2003 – Selknam 11-19 Dogos (Santiago, CL)
Mar 10, 2003 – Dogos 24-10 Selknam (Córdoba, AR)