Pampas Eliminate Champions Peñarol to Book home SRA Final

The 2024 Super Rugby Americas Final will be played in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Los Pampas earned the right to host the Final after eliminating the two-time defending champions, Peñarol in the first Semi Final on Friday.

The 50-27 win was a fair reflection of the Semi Final; Los Pampas were the better team defensively and offensively. The Argentine side was, nonetheless, made to work hard for the win.

A strong start from Peñarol saw veteran Teros N8 Manuel Diana scoring. He did very well to catch a low pass at his ankles and barge over. The uncapped Ícaro Amarrillo converted. It was the first of three Peñarol tries for the match; Los Pampas score seven.

Fly half Joaquín de la Vega Mendía opened the scoring for the home side. He ran left and was able to trick the defense to score in the corner. His conversion was unsuccessful but he made up for it with a penalty and with it an 8-7 lead after 16 minutes.

From there Los Pampas went about extending their lead as they controlled proceedings for the bulk of the remaining there quarters of the match. Phases resulted in Eliseo Fourcade scoring before Nicolás D’Amorim was stopped meters short after a clean line break. Estanislao Carullo capitalized by scoring from a pick-and-go.

Peñarol’s response did not come until the second-half. Captain Santiago Civetta gave the Uruguayans hope. His score from an attacking maul was quickly obliterated as Ramiro Gurovich. The hooker polished off a set-piece lineout move after combining with Nicolás D’Amorim.

Los Pampas added another as Santiago Pernas scored the second of what were rapid-fire tries. Pernas had fellow winger, Jerónimo Ulloa to thank after he made the break. de la Vega Mendía ran the blindside and linked with Ulloa who broke clear and passed off the floor to Pernas to score under the posts.

Los Pumitas fullback Benjamín Elizalde joins the scoring. He crossed for two lat tries, doing so with Joaquín Myszka scoring in between them for Peñarol. It meant a commanding victory by a difference of 23 points.

PAMPAS (50)
Try (7) – J de la Vega Mendía (12′), E Fourcade (18′), E Carullo (33′), R Gurovich (51′), S Pernas (55′), B Elizalde 2 (65′, 79′)
Con (6) – J de la Vega Mendía (19′, 34′, 52′, 56′, 66′, 80′)
Pen (1) – J de la Vega Mendía (16′)

PENAROL (27)
Try (3) – M Diana (4′), S Civetta (46′), J Myszka (69′)
Con (3)- I Amarillo (5′), I Álvarez 2 (47′, 70′)
Pen (2) – I Amarillo (29′, 43′)

PAMPAS
1 Javier Corvalan, 2 Ramiro Gurovich, 3 Estanislao Carullo, 4 Eliseo Fourcade, 5 Marcelo Toledo, 6 Manuel Berenstein (capt.), 7 Nicolás D’Amorim, 8 Joaquín Moro, 9 Ignacio Inchauspe, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Jerónimo Ulloa, 12 Justo Piccardo, 13 Juan Pablo Castro, 14 Santiago Pernas, 15 Benjamín Elizalde

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Bottazzini, 17 Facundo Scaiano, 18 Javier Coronel, 19 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 20 Santiago Montagner, 21 Simón Benítez Cruz, 22 Manuel Nogués, 23 Bruno Heit

PENAROL
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Leonel Oviedo, 3 Franco Mathias, 4 Lucas Bianchi, 5 Felipe Aliaga, 6 Santiago Civetta (capt.), 7 Carlos Deus, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Ícaro Amarillo, 11 Ignacio Facciolo, 12 Juan Manuel Alonso, 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Gastón Mieres, 15 Ignacio Álvarez

Replacements: 16 Joaquín Myszka, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Horacio de la Mota, 19 Agustín Morales, 20 Tomás Etcheverry, 21 Pedro Hoblog, 22 Juan González, 23 Diego Ardao

Referee: Nehuen Jauri Rivero (AR)
Assistants: Frank Méndez (CL); Juan López (AR)
TMO: Lucas Galán (AR)