Super Rugby Americas 2024 – Pampas vs Selknam – ARN Guide

Three rounds remain in Super Rugby Americas 2024. A feature match on Friday sees Buenos Aires side Los Pampas at home against Selknam from Chile. The home side are Semi Final bound while the visitors are fighting to join them.

CURRENT STANDINGS

– 8-1-0 (W6) 1st
– 4-4-1 (L1) 4th

LINE-UP CHANGES

– 2 Ignacio Bottazzini replaces Ramiro Gurovich
– 3 Estanislao Carullo replaces Javier Coronel
– 5 Marcelo Toledo replaces Rodrigo Fernández Criado
– 6 Santiago Montagner replaces Manuel Bernstein
– 9 Simón Benítez Cruz replaces Ignacio Inchauspe 
– 13 Bruno Heit replaces Juan Pablo Castro
– 15 Manuel Nogués replaces Marcos Eliçagaray

– 1 Salvador Lues moves from 3 to 1; replaces Javier Carrasco
– 2 Diego Escobar replaces Tomás Dussaillant
– 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga replaces Salvador Lues
– 4 Federico Albrisi replaces Santiago Pedrero
– 5 Santiago Pedrero moves from 4 to 5; replaces Javier Eissmann
– 9 Marcelo Torrealba replaces Rafael Iriarte
– 10 Rafael Iriarte moves from 9 to 10; replaces Tomás Salas
– 13 Rodrigo Araya replaces Domingo Saavedra

CLUB DEBUTS

– Facundo Scaiano
– Rodrigo Araya; Martín Escobar

SUPER RUGBY AMERICAS DEBUTS

– Facundo Scaiano* (CASI)
– Rodrigo Araya* (COBS); Martín Escobar (COBS)*
* – Pro Debut

CAPPED INTERNATIONALS

(0)
(12) –  S Lues, D Escobar, I Gurruchaga, S Pedrero, A Escobar, C Saavedra, R Martínez, M Torrealba, J Larenas, T Dussaillant, J Eissmann, A Sarmiento

NOTABLE ABSENTEES

– J Coronel, M Bernstein, T Bernasconi, B Elizalde, T Di Biase, E Morales, M Eliçagaray
– B Videla, N Roger (AR), T Salas, M Garafulic, D Saavedra, N Garafulic, F Velarde, L Strabucchi

NOTES

• Ignacio Bottazzini earns his first start for Los Pampas.
• Facundo Scaiano will debut as a replacement prop for Los Pampas.
• With captain Manuel Bernstein out, Joaquín de la Vega Mendía is skipper this week.
• Manuel Nogués will play out of position at fullback. He is a scrum-half by trade.
• Rodrigo Araya debuts for Selknam at outside center. He played u18 for Chile vs Argentina in 2023.
• Martín Escobar, also from COBS, will debut as a replacement.
• Selknam line-ups’s have tended to have a handful of changes at most; this week sees eight.
• Francisco González will referee the match. In July he will be in charge of Paraguay vs Hong Kong.

PREDICTION

Selknam are up against the wall. The Chileans face Los Pampas and Los Dogos over the coming two rounds. They need competition points or Peñarol will overtake them in the race to the play-off’s. Meanwhile, Selknam have sealed their spot and are now playing for a home Semi Final. This is a match which Los Pampas should be pushed early-on in before winning in the second-half. ARN projects a Pampas win by +9 points.

LINEUPS

PAMPAS
1 Javier Corvalán, 2 Ignacio Bottazzini, 3 Estanislao Carullo, 4 Eliseo Fourcade, 5 Marcelo Toledo, 6 Santiago Montagner, 7 Nicolás D’Amorim, 8 Joaquín Moro, 9 Simón Benítez Cruz, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía (capt.), 11 Jerónimo Ulloa, 12 Justo Piccardo, 13 Bruno Heit, 14 Santiago Pernas, 15 Manuel Nogués

Replacements: 16 Ramiro Gurovich, 17 Facundo Scaiano, 18 Javier Coronel, 19 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 20 Eliseo Chiavassa, 21 Ignacio Inchauspe, 22 Juan Pablo Castro, 23 Bernabé López Fleming

SELKNAM
1 Salvador Lues, 2 Diego Escobar, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Federico Albrisi, 5 Santiago Pedrero, 6 Alfonso Escobar, 7 Clemente Saavedra (capt.), 8 Raimundo Martínez, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Rafael Iriarte, 11 José Larenas, 12 Nicolás Saab, 13 Rodrigo Araya, 14 Iñaki Delguy, 15 Felipe Méndez

Replacements: 16 Tomás Dussaillant, 17 Norman Aguayo, 18 Marco López, 19 Javier Eissmann, 20 Augusto Sarmiento, 21 Sebastián Bianchi, 22 Martín Escobar, 23 Andrés Kuzmanic

MATCH INFO

Date: Friday May 10
Venue: Club Newman, Buenos Aires (AR)
Kickoff: 7pm (AR); 8pm (CL)
Weather Forecast: Partly Cloudy, 17°C; wind (7 km/h)
Broadcasts: ESPN; Star +

OFFICIALS

Referee: Francisco González (UY)
Assistants: Gonzalo de Achával (AR); Sergio Alvarenga (PY)
TMO: Lucas Galán (AR)

HISTORY

HEAD-TO-HEAD (3) – Pampas 2, Selknam 1, STREAK Pampas 1
May 16, 2024 – Selknam 16-41 Pampas (Santiago, CL)
May 12, 2023 – Pampas 19-23 Selknam (Buenos Aires, AR)
Feb 25, 2023 – Selknam 34-20 Pampas (Santiago, CL)