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

The last match of the Super Rugby Americas (SRA) 2024 regular season will take place in Santiago del Chile on Saturday. Selknam have home advantage against the American Raptors. The battle will be 5th vs 6th before and after. That is to say, regardless of the results this is how the teams will end their respective SRA campaigns.

CURRENT STANDINGS

4-6-1 (L3) 5th

3-0-8 (L1) 6th

LINEUP CHANGES

9 Marcelo Torrealba moves from 15; replaces Rafael Iriarte
15 Rafael Iriarte moves from 9; replaces Marcelo Torrealba

7 Jackson Zabierek replaces Tommy Clark
9 Devereaux Ferris replaces John Lefevre
10 Rufus McLean moves from 15; replaces Ignacio Mieres
11 Jacob Hidalgo moves from 14; replaces Francisco Quinn
13 Zachary Hall replaces Tomi Morani
14 Daytwon Sheridan replaces Jacob Hidalgo
15 Francisco Quinn moves from 11; replaces Rufus McLean

CAPPED INTERNATIONALS

(15) – S Lues, D Escobar, I Gurrichaga, S Pedrero, J Eissmann, A Escobar, C Saavedra, R Martínez, M Torrealba, J Larenas, D Saavedra, T Dussaillant, J Carrasco, A Sarmiento, I Ubeda
(4) – Diego Fortuny (AR), Diego Magno (UY), Devereaux Ferris (US), Rufus McLean (GB – SCO)

NOTABLE ABSENTEES

– Esteban Inostroza, Benjamín Videla, Tomás Salas, Matías Garafulic, Nicolás Garafulic, Luca Strabucchi
– Ignacio Mieres

NOTES

• Selknam have the worst discipline in SRA 2024 with 151 penalties conceded.
• The Raptors rank last for scrums won % and for tries scored in SRA 2024.
• Simón Donoso and Augusto Sarmiento have 100% tackle completion rates this season.
• Javon Camp-Villalovos is the only player to have been red carded twice this season.
• Diego Magno has indicated that this is his last season of professional rugby. The first Americas player to 100 test caps starts at N8.
• Not for the first time, Argentina XV scrum-half Rafael Iriarte will play out of position. He has played fly half but not fullback where he starts for Selknam. He and Marcelo Torrealba trade positions this week. Selknam is otherwise unchanged.

PREDICTION

Neither team wants to end the season with a defeat. Both missed out on delivering on their season’s aspirations. Disappointment can be partially eased with a strong performance to end the season. It comes less than month before the naming of Chile’s roster for the July Internationals. Quite simply there is a lot left to play for. The weather will cooperate to assist in enabling running rugby. ARN projects a Selknam victory by +11 points.

LINEUPS

SELKNAM
1 Salvador Lues, 2 Diego Escobar, 3 Iñaki Gurrichaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Alfonso Escobar, 7 Clemente Saavedra (capt.), 8 Raimundo Martínez, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Nicolás Roger, 11 José Ignacio Larenas, 12 Nicolás Saab, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Iñaki Delguy, 15 Rafael Iriarte

Replacements: 16 Tomás Dussaillant, 17 Javier Carrasco, 18 Baltazar Gurruchaga, 19 Augusto Sarmiento, 20 Federico Albrisi, 21 Sebastián Bianchi, 22 Rodrigo Araya, 23 Into Ubeda

AMERICAN RAPTORS
1 Ma’aki Muti, 2 Diego Fortuny (capt.), 3 Facundo Pomponio, 4 Javon Camp-Villalovos, 5 Mikey Grandy, 6 Shawn Clark, 7 Jackson Zabierek, 8 Diego Magno, 9 Devereaux Ferris, 10 Rufus McLean, 11 Jacob Hidalgo, 12 Watson Filikitonga, 13 Zachary Hall, 14 Daytwon Sheridan, 15 Francisco Quinn

Replacements: 16 Clay Markoff, 17 Koby Baker, 18 William Crawford, 19 Tommy Clark, 20 Alexander Vanikolo, 21 John Lefevre, 22 Tomi Morani, 23 Patrick Madden

MATCH INFO

Date: Saturday, May 25
Venue: Old Grangonian Club (Santiago, CL)
Kickoff: 2pm (CL); 12pm (MST)
Weather Forecast: Mostly Cloudy 12°C, wind S (8 km/h)
Broadcasts: Star +; ESPN

OFFICIALS

Referee: Mauro Rossi (AR)
Assistants: Sebastián Toledo; Jeremias Volante
TMO: Luis Contreras

HISTORY

HEAD-TO-HEAD (3) – Raptors (1); Selknam (2) STREAK – Selknam(1)
Apr 07, 2024 – Raptors 07-26 Selknam (Denver, CO)
Apr 22, 2023 – Raptors 26-22 Selknam (Denver, CO)
Feb 18, 2023 – Selknam 45-10 Raptors (Santiago, CL)