Hungry Yacare Feast on Cobras

Yacare were convincing winners over on Saturday. The Paraguayan side feasted on Os Cobras; the convincing win sees the team edge closer to securing a place in the play-off’s. The win came with bursts of brilliance in what was an on-again; off-again performance.

Played in the heat of São Paulo state, the teams did not really get going in the opening half. Yacare won the 40 minute period 13-3. Leading Super Rugby Americas 2024 point scorer, Joaquín Lamas opening the scoring with a penalty.

A Lucas Tranquez penalty opened Os Cobras account. His three-pointer came in the 23rd minute. It was the only score from the Brazilian side in the first-half. The only try went to Yacare flanker Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel.  Lamas converted the try and added a second first-half penalty.

The second-half started with a bang for Yacare. Joaquín Lamas underlined his rising status with a try. He converted it and was back to add a second conversion in the 48th minute. This time it was Puma Ramiro Moyano who went in. Moyano stepped around Tranquez for the score.

Os Cobras were second best on the day. A notable feature of the performance was handling errors. Multiple occasions deep in the opposition 22 were ruined with a knock-on. Captain Cleber Días, known in Brazil as Gelado (Freezing Cold), ended the drought in the 58th minute. His try gave respectability to the scoresheet, making it a 27-10 game.

With eight minutes remaining a brawl almost started. There was pushing and shoving without punches. Referee Federico Solari, nonetheless, laid down the law. Two Cobras and one Yacare forward were yellow carded.

Os Cobras have their final home match next weekend. The Brazilians welcome the American Raptors in the battle to avoid the wooden spoon. Yacare play host to Peñarol in the match of the round.

SCORING

COBRAS (10)
Try – C Días (58′)
Con – J Amaral (59′)
Pen – L Tranquez (23′)
YC – H Ferreira (73′); G Oliveira (73′)

YACARE (27)
Try – J Cruz Pérez Rachel (15′), J Lamas (42′), R Moyano (48′)
Con – J Lamas (15′, 42′, 48′)
Pen – J Lamas (11′, 31′)
YC – I Palillo (57′); E Aranda (73′)

LINEUPS

COBRAS
1 Luciano Gabelliere, 2 Endy Willian Pinheiro, 3 Francisco Moreno, 4 Franco Carrera, 5 Gabriel Oliveira, 6 Cleber Días (capt.) 7 Rafael Teixeira, 8 André Arruda, 9 Felipe Gonçalves, 10 Lucas Tranquez, 11 Ariel Rodrigues, 12 Robert Tenório, 13 Lorenzo Massari Temer, 14 Daniel Lima, 15 Agustín Llano

Replacements: 16 Henrique Ferreira, 17 Brendon Alves, 18 Levy Marinho, 19 Gabriel Paganini, 20 Matheus Cláudio, 21 Lucas Spago, 22 João Amaral, 23 Robson Morais

YACARE
1 Camilo Blasco, 2 Ignacio Palillo, 3 Enrique Quinteros, 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 Ramiro Amarilla, 13 Tomás Vanni, 14 Arturo López, 15 Ramiro Moyano

Replacements: 16 Lucas Otaño, 17 Daniel Cabral, 18 Estéfano Aranda, 19 Juan José Heisecke, 20 Nicolás Parada Heit, 21 Gonzalo Bareiro, 22 Sebastián Urbieta, 23 Joaquín Mussi

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

OFFICIALS

Referee: Federico Solari
Assistants: Juan Manuel Martinez; Lucas Saccomanno
TMO: Victor Hugo Barboza