SLAR 2022 – Selknam vs Peñarol – ARN Guide

Joint SLAR 2022 leaders, Selknam and Peñarol will square-off in Ciudad del Este on Friday. Their match-up is to be their first since the SLAR 2021 Semi Final wherein the Uruguayan side were 17-14 winners in Montevideo.

Chile’s all-important home-and-away series against the USA is the center of attention for Chilean rugby. This is on display in the team named to face Peñarol. With a training regime presently taking place in southern Chile, many Selknam regulars are absent from the match-day 23 to face the Uruguayans.

Selknam are led by the experienced Ignacio Silva. He is a regular in the test team, Los Cóndores, at flanker. Injury in 2021 saw his involvement restricted. He is thus presently not with those in Chile preparing for the Eagles. He will join SLAR rookiers Santiago Edwards and Ernesto Tchimino in the back-row.

Additional new names are spread across Selknam’s line-up. Up front there is a start for Sebastián Otero at loose head prop while Franco Pechia, and Vittorio Lastra get opportunities again at hooker and tight head. Santiago Pedrero locks the scrum alongisde fomer Jaguares XV and Ceibos second-rower Franco Molina.

The backline is almost not recognizable when placed alongside teams from prior Selknam SLAR fixtures in 2022. Benjamín Videla starts at scrum-half with Tomás Alvarado making his debut at fly half. Cristobal Game and Baltazar Jana have their first opportunities in a run-on professional team as the wingers as do Lucas Fertonani, and Clemente Armstrong in the centers. There is continuation in the form of Francisco Urroz at fullback.

Peñarol go in to the match with a front-line list of players. It starts up front with test players Matías Benítez, Guillermo Pujadas, and  Juan Echeverría starting together in the front-row. Regular test players Manuel Ardao and Santiago Civetta also both start in the back-row.

The aforementioned Teros are all names expected to feature at RWC 2023. The remaining starting forwards are Eric Dosantos, Nahuel Milan, and Lucas Bianchi. Dosantos and Bianchie are both products since RWC 2019 while Milan is the one Argentine starting for Peñarol.

Dosantos and Bianchi are emerging players who are working their way up the ranks to challenge veterans for places in the test line-up. This is similar to the starting halves of Tomás Inciarte, and Felipe Etcheverry; however, a difference is that both backs went to RWC 2019.

Andrés Vilaseca will again lead the team from inside center and will be partnered by Felipe Arcos Pérez in the mid-field. The back-three sees veteran Federico Favaro joining post RWC 2019 names in Mateo Viñals and José Iruleguy. All of them, like every name aside from Milan, are in the frame for RWC 2023 selection.

Friday’s fixture will be the first of two regular season fixtures between Selknam and Peñarol in 2022. It is to be the fifth fixture overall. The teams have split the previous matches; both sides have two wins and two losses, or a 2-2 overall record.

Three of the four previous matches between Selknam and Peñarol have been decided by less than one score. The one excepction was a 10 point victory by Selknam in SLAR 2021. That was the only one of the four matches, between the sides, that was not played in Uruguay.

TEAMS

SELKNAM
1 Sebastián Otero, 2 Franco Pechia, 3 Vittorio Lastra, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Franco Molina, 6 Santiago Edwards, 7 Ignacio Silva (capt.), 8 Ernesto Tchimino, 9 Benjamín Videla, 10 Tomás Alvarado, 11 Baltazar Jana, 12 Lucas Fertonani, 13 Clemente Armstrong, 14 Cristobal Game, 15 Francisco Urroz

Replacements: 16 Jorge Delgado, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Esteban Inostroza, 19 Vicente Fernández, 20 Joaquín Milesi, 21 Lukas Carvallo, 22 Luca Strabucchi, 23 Gaspar Moltedo

PEÑAROL
1 Matías Benítez, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Eric Dosantos, 5 Nahuel Milan, 6 Lucas Bianchi, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Ardao, 9 Tomás Inciarte, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Mateo Viñals, 12 Andrés Vilaseca (capt.), 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Federico Favaro, 15 José Iruleguy

Replacements: 16 Emiliano Faccennini, 17 Mateo Perilo, 18 Mathias Franco, 19 Tomás Etcheverry, 20 Carlos Deus, 21 Santiago Álvarez, 22 Nicolás Roger, 23 Rodrigo Silva

Date: Friday, April 08, 2022
Venue: Estadio 3 de Febero, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
Kickoff: 4:00pm (Asunción, Santiago), 5:00pm (Montevideo, Santiago)
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Francisco González (Uruguay); Andrés Bogado (Paraguay)
TMO: Nehuen Jauri Rivero (Argentina)
Broadcast: ESPN (America Latina), ESPN (Brazil), Star +

HISTORICAL RESULTS
2021-05-08 – Peñarol 17, Selknam 14 (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay)
2021-04-26 – Peñarol 17, Selknam 27 (Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay)
2021-03-30 – Selknam 22, Peñarol 26 (Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile)
2020-03-04 – Peñarol 14, Selknam 13 (Estadio Charrúa, Montvideo, Uruguay)