Super Rugby Americas 2024 – Selknam vs Yacare – ARN Guide

It is now time for week 9 of Super Rugby Americas 2024. A vital clash sees fourth hosting third. Selknam must win to retain a top four spot. A win over Yacare would see the Chileans adding further pressure on Peñarol. Yacare started the season very well but are in Chile on the back of two defeats.

CURRENT STANDINGS

– 2-3-1 (W1) 4th
– 7-3-4 (L2) 3rd

CLUB DEBUTS

(1) – Tomás Salas
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SUPER RUGBY AMERICAS DEBUTS

(1) – Tomás Salas*
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* – Pro Debut

LINE UP CHANGES

10 Tomás Salas replaces Nicolás Roger
11 Nicolás Garafulic replaces José Larenas
12 Nicolás Saab replaces Martín Dumay

4 Ignacio Martínez replaces Lucio Anconetani
11 Ramiro Moyano moves from 15 o 11; replaces Juan González
12 Ramiro Amarilla moves from 13 to 12; replaces Sebastián Urbieta
13 Tomás Vanni replaces Ramiro Amarilla
15 Thomas Mc Call replaces Ramiro Moyano

CAPPED INTERNATIONALS

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

(10) – R Portillo (PY), I Martínez (PY), M Garcete (PY), R Moyano (AR), A López (PY), C Blasco (PY), A Núñez (PY), G Barreiro (PY), S Urbieta (PY), J González (PY)

NOTABLE ABSENTEES

(5) – Salvador Lues, Augusto Sarmiento, Benjamín Videla, Matías Garafulic, Franco Velarde

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NOTES

• Rarity sees an unchanged Selknam forward pack.
• A new look play-maker with a first start and debut for the uncapped Tomás Salas.
• Nine Paraguayan capped players and a Puma will feature for Yacare against fourteen Chileans for Selknam.
• Joaquín Lamas is the leading point scorer in Super Rugby Americas 2024 with 66 points.
• Yacare have the best lineout this season with an 83% success rate.
• Yacare and Selknam are tied at rucks with a 95% success rate.
• Selknam have the best defense with an 88% tackle competition rate.

PREDICTION

Yacare were red hot in February and March but have cooled off notably in April. Back-to-back defeats have seen distance opening up between Yacare on the one hand and Los Dogos and Los Pampas on the other. Meanwhile, Selknam have improved notably. They have gone from underperforming to now being truly competitive. The only team to not lose to Los Dogos this year, Selknam now look like realistic play-off’s contenders. Granted, destiny is in Selknam’s hands. ARN projects a Selknam home win by a margin of 8 points.

LINEUPS

SELKNAM
1 Javier Carrasco, 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 Tomás Salas, 11 Nicolás Garafulic, 12 Nicolás Saab, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Iñaki Delguy 15 Luca Strabucchi

Replacements: 16 Norman Aguayo, 17 Simón Donoso, 18 Baltazar Gurruchaga, 19 Federico Albrisi, 20 Inti Ubeda, 21 Marcelo Torrealba, 22 José Larenas, 23 Santiago Edwards

YACARE
1 Ezequiel Reyes, 2 Axel Zapata, 3 Rolando Portillo, 4 Ignacio Martínez, 5 Mariano Garcete (capt.), 6 Juan Pérez Rachel, 7 Felipe Puertas, 8 Nicolás Parada Heit, 9 Juan Cruz Strada, 10 Joaquín Lamas, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 12 Ramiro Amarilla, 13 Tomás Vanni, 14 Arturo López, 15 Thomas Mc Call

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Palillo, 17 Camillo Blasco, 18 Rodolfo Rivadeneira, 19 Lucio Anconetani, 20 Ariel Núñez, 21 Gonzalo Barreiro, 22 Sebastián Urbieta, 23 Juan González

MATCH INFO

Date: Saturday, April 19
Venue: Old Grangonian, Santiago (CL)
Kickoff: 12:35pm (CL); 12:35pm (PY)
Weather Forecast: Sunny, 22°C; wind (13 km/h)
Broadcasts: ESPN; Star +

OFFICIALS

Referee: Damian Schneider (AR)
Assistants: Sebastián Toledo; Caua Ricardo
TMO: Ignacio Calle

HISTORY

HEAD-TO-HEAD (7) – Yacare 5, Selknam 2, STREAK Yacare +3
Feb 24, 2024 – Yacare 34-20 Selknam (Asunción, PY)
May 20, 2023 – Selknam 19-20 Yacare (Santiago, CL)
Apr 01, 2023 – Yacare 21-11 Selknam (Asunción, PY)
Apr 23, 2002 – Selknam 41-19 Olímpia Lions (Montevideo, UY)
Mar 13, 2022 – Selknam 20-22 Olímpia Lions (Valparaíso, Chile)
Apr 16, 2021 – Olímpia Lions 24-21 Selknam (Montevideo, Uruguay)
Mar 16, 2021 – Selknam 29-16 Olímpia Lions (Santiago, Chile)