Super Rugby Americas 2024 – Yacare vs American Raptors – ARN Guide

Saturday evening action sees Yacare at home against the American Raptors. The penultimate round of Super Rugby Americas 2024 gives the Paraguayan side a change for revenge. The Raptors upset Yacare in Denver earlier on this season. That match was a true slobber-knocker; the high-scoring thriller was decided by two points. Can the Yacare forwards win the battle up front this time around or will the Raptors complete an unlikely double?

CURRENT STANDINGS

5-0-6 (W2) 3rd

3-0-7 (W1) 6th

LINEUP CHANGES

2 Ignacio Palillo replaces Axel Zapata
3 Luis Enrique Quinteros replaces Rolando Portillo
8 Nicolás Parada Heit replaces Ariel Núñez

3 Facundo Pomponio replaces Koby Baker
4 Javon Camp-Villalovos replaces William Crawford
12 Watson Fikitonga replaces Aki Pulu
15 Cian Barry replaces Rufus McLean

CAPPED INTERNATIONALS

– (13) E Reyes, C Blasco, LE Quinteros, M Garcete, J González, S Urbieta, A López, R Portillo, L Otaño, JJ Heisecke, A Núñez, G Barreiro, R Moyano (AR)
– (5) – D Fortuny (AR); I Mieres (AR); D Magno (UY); R McLean (GB- SCO); Devereaux Ferris (US)

NOTABLE ABSENTEES

– Axel Zapata, Tomás MacCall
– Aki Pulu

NOTES

• Yacare have 36 tries for the season; the Raptors have scored 21.
• Yacare can go six points above Peñarol.
• Juan Cruz Strada leads the SRA turnover statistics with 13.
• Joaquín Lamas has 103 points for the season. He is second behind Joaquín de la Vega Mendía (Pampas).
• Facundo Pomponio returns from his red card suspension.
• Referee Nehuén Jauri Rivero is back from the Rugby Championship u20

PREDICTION

It has been a bumpy road for Yacare. When the team has played well the outcome has mostly been positive. Such has been the season, however, that the team has not always delivered. The Raptors, on the other hand, have been soundly beaten more often and have been competitive less often. The Raptors are firm underdogs heading into Saturday night’s showdown in Asunción. ARN projects a Yacare win by 18+ points.

LINEUPS

YACARE
1 Ezequiel Reyes, 2 Ignacio Palillo, 3 Luis Enrique Quinteros, 4 Lucio Anconetani, 5 Mariano Garcete (capt.), 6 Juan Pérez Rachel, 7 Felipe Puertas 8 Nicolás Parada Heit, 9 Juan Cruz Strada, 10 Joaquín Lamas, 11 Juan González, 12 Sebastián Urbieta, 13 Ramiro Amarilla, 14 Arturo López, 15 Ramiro Moyano

Replacements: 16 Lucas Otãno, 17 Camilo Blasco, 18 Rolando Portillo, 19 Juan José Heisecke, 20 Ariel Núñez 21 Gonzalo Barreiro, 22 Tomás Vanni, 23 Joaquín Mussi

RAPTORS
1 Ma’ake Muti, 2 Diego Fortuny (capt.), 3 Facundo Pomponio, 4 Javon Camp-Villalovos, 5 Mikey Grandy, 6 Shawn Clark, 7 Tommy Clark, 8 Diego Magno, 9 John Lefevre, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 11 Francisco Quinn, 12 Watson Fikitonga, 13 Thomas Morani, 14 Jacob Hidalgo, 15 Rufus McLean

Replacements: 16 Jackson Zabierek, 17 Clay Markoff, 18 Koby Baker, 19 William Crawford, 20 Tavius Sykora-Matthess, 21 Devereaux Ferris, 22 Zach Hall, 23 Patrick Madden

MATCH INFO

Date: Saturday, March 25
Venue: Héroes de Curupayty (Asunción, PY)
Kickoff: 7pm (PY); 5pm (MST)
Weather Forecast: Cloudy, 15°C, wind WSW (15km/h)
Broadcasts: Star +; ESPN

OFFICIALS

Referee: Nehuén Jauri Rivero (AR)
Assistants: Juan Manuel Martínez (AR); Adrian Bogado (PY)
TMO: Marco Demestri (PY)

HISTORY

HEAD-TO-HEAD (2) – Raptors (1); Yacare (2) STREAK – Raptors (1)

Mar 24, 2024 – Raptors 35-33 Yacare (Denver, CO)
May 07, 2023 – Raptors 37-44 Yacare (Denver, CO)
Mar 11, 2023 – Yacare 25-3 Raptors (Asunción, PY)