A top three clash will take place in Asunción on Saturday. Yacare have home advantage against Los Dogos in what is a battle between teams from Paraguay and Argentina. The pressure is now mounting on Yacare following losses to the Raptors and Selknam. Can Yacare recover and close the gap on Los Dogos in the standings?
CURRENT STANDINGS |
3-5-0 (L2) 3rd
7-0-1 (W3) 1st
LINEUP CHANGES |
2 Ignacio Palillo replaces Axel Zapata
3 Estefano Aranda replaces Rolando Portillo
4 Lucio Anconetani replaces Ignacio Martínez
8 Ariel Núñez replaces Nicolás Parada Heit
11 Juan González replaces Ramiro Moyano
12 Sebastián Urbieta replaces Ramiro Amarilla
3 Octavio Filippa replaces Pedro Delgado
4 Federico Rolotti replaces Lautaro Simes
14 Javier Olguín replaces Mateo Soler
SUPER RUGBY AMERICAS DEBUTS |
(1) – Juan Daniel Chilavert
(1) – Javier Nicolás Olguín
CAPPED INTERNATIONALS |
(12) – E Aranda, M Garcete, A Núñez, J González, S Urbieta, A López, L Otãno, C Blasco, LE Quinteros, JJ Heisecke, G Barreiro, JD Chilavert
(0) – Franco Molina on 2024 Pumas roster
NOTABLE ABSENTEES |
– A Zapata, N Parada Heit, R Amarilla, R Moyano
– S Pulella, E Elías, F García Hamilton, E Giudice, F Sánchez Valarolo, L Cipriani, M Soler
NOTES |
- The pressure is on Yacare to win. Selknam can overtake the Paraguayans with a win over Os Cobras. That match will finish hour before Yacare host Los Dogos.
- Yacare have 8 bonus points this season. This is the most of any team.
- Los Dogos have the best for and against with a +165 record thus far.
- A first Super Rugby Americas start for Federico Rolotti for Dogos.
- Juan Daniel Chilavert will debut for Yacare as a replacement. He is a homegrown Paraguayan
- Javier Nicolás Olguín will make his Super Rugby Americas debut. He has previously played for Córdoba against Paraguay and Brazil as well as for the Sudamérica XV against Black Lion.
PREDICTION |
Los Dogos are the only undefeated team in Super Rugby Americas 2024. The one block in an otherwise perfect campaign is a draw against Selknam. That came with Los Dogos significantly underperforming; indeed, even without peaking this team is formidable. Yacare’s recent run of losses does not bode well on its own but combined with the red and white machine’s season and there is a clear favorite to win in Asunción. ARN projects a comprehensive Dogos win by 22+ points.
LINEUPS |
YACARE
1 Ezequiel Reyes, 2 Ignacio Palillo, 3 Estefano Aranda, 4 Lucio Anconetani, 5 Mariano Garcete (capt.), 6 Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel, 7 Felipe Puertas, 8 Ariel Núñez, 9 Juan Cruz Strada, 10 Joaquín Lamas, 11 Juan González, 12 Sebastián Urbieta, 13 Tomás Vanni, 14 Arturo López, 15 Thomas Mac Call
Replacements: 16 Lucas Otãno, 17 Camillo Blasco, 18 Luis Enrique Quinteros, 19 Juan José Heisecke, 20 Ramiro Parada, 21 Gonzalo Barreiro, 22 Juan Daniel Chilavert, 23 Joaquín Mussi
DOGOS
1 Boris Wenger, 2 Tomás Bartolini, 3 Octavio Filippa, 4 Federico Rolotti, 5 Franco Molina (capt.), 6 Aitor Bildosola, 7 Lorenzo Colidio, 8 Valentín Cabral, 9 Agustín Moyano, 10 Julián Hernández, 11 Nahuel Romero, 12 Leonardo Gea Salim, 13 Felipe Mallia, 14 Javier Nicolás Olguín, 15 Agustín de Vertíz
Replacements: 16 Santos Juárez Estrada, 17 Juan Aguirre, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Felipe Villagrán, 20 Facundo Cardozo, 21 Nicolás Viola, 22 Juan Bautista Baronio, 23 Agustín Segura
MATCH INFO |
Date: Saturday, April 27
Kick-Off: 7pm (PY); 8pm (AR)
Venue: Estadio Heroes de Curupayty, Asunción (PY)
OFFICIALS |
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (AR)
Assistant Referees: Nicolás Cotic; Adrián Bogado
TMO: Víctor Silvero
HEAD-TO-HEAD. Played 3; Dogos 3, Yacare 0. Streak: Dogos 3. |
Mar 02, 2024 – Dogos 36-32 Yacare (Córdoba, AR)
May 13, 2023 – Yacare 29-45 Dogos (Asunción, PY)
Feb 17, 2023 – Dogos 30-24 Yacare (Córdoba, AR)