Selknam sent a message of intent on Tuesday evening; the Chileans were 64-3 winners over Los Cafeteros Pro. The massive victory comes with just one round of the regular season remaining. Rival teams have been sent a message of intent.
One question was answered for Argentine fans. Franco Molina is a Puma in waiting. The former Jaguares XV and Ceibos second-rower continued his fine season for Selknam. He scored a double, including two of Selknam’s first three tries. The Chilean side went on to score nine tries in the match.
A rapid-fire start saw Molina and Diego Escobar both touching down for tries in the opening four minutes. The first was a break from Molina while Escobar was on the back of a rolling maul. Julián Hernández hit-back for Los Cafeteros Pro. His 17th minute penalty would be the only points scored by the Colombian team all match.
Selknam rebounded to score three more tries before half-time. First, Molina provided a simple support run to score. Second, numbers saw an unmarked Gaspar Moltedo touching down outside. Third, Rodrigo Fernández showed why his skills at fly half are matched by his pace. He ran around the defense to score a well-earned try.
Selknam added four more tries after the interval. Matías Garafulic burst through the defense to set-up the first. He did well to time his pass for Diego Escobar. The hooker then showed superb pace to run in from 24 meters out.
Ernesto Tchimino joined Escobar with two tries. The N8 beat three defenders for his first try. His second came with him playing on the wing. Selknam’s pace to control the break-down enabled quick ball and overlaps. Tchimino was on hand to finish off an impressive team score.
The final score came ten minutes from full-time. Replacement hooker Jorge Delgado followed the example of Escobar. He scored from a rolling-maul to take Selknam past 60 points and to also win by a margin above 60 points.
Selknam are secured of a place in the Semi Finals. They are expected to take-on Los Jaguares XV with Peñarol awaiting the winner of Los Cafeteros Pro vs Olímpia Lions. That match will be the feature game of the final round of the regular season on Sunday.
SCORING
CAFETEROS PRO 3
Pen – J Hernández 1/1 (17′)
YC – JB Mernes (69′)
SELKNAM 64
Try – F Molina 2 (1′, 30′), D Escobar 2 (4′, 48′), G Moltedo (34′), R Fernández (40′), E Tchimino 2 (60′, 66′), J Delgado (70′)
Con – S Videla 3/5 (2′, 31′, 43′); M Torrealba 1/1 (49′); M Garafulic 2/3 (61′)
TEAMS
CAFETEROS PRO
1 Diego Posada, 2 Tomás Bartolini, 3 Brián González, 4 Joaquín Sánchez, 5 Eliseo Fourcade, 6 Bryan Guzmán, 7 Diver Ceballos, 8 Juan Mernes, 9 Marcos Amorisa (capt.), 10 Julián Hernández, 11 Manuel de Marco, 12 Juan Agudelo, 13 Valentín Fernández, 14 Alain Altahona, 15 Andrés Álvarez
Replacements: 16 Boris Wenger, 17 Carlos Angulo, 18 Lucas Fernández, 19 Federico Lavanini, 20 Felipe Puertas, 21 Julián Navarro, 22 Jhojan Ortíz, 23 Manuel Alfaro
SELKNAM
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Diego Escobar, 3 Vittorio Lastra, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Franco Molina, 6 Martín Sigren, 7 Santiago Edwards, 8 Ernesto Tchimino, 9 Lukas Carvallo, 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 11 Clemente Armstrong, 12 Matías Garafulic, 13 Domingo Saavedra (capt.), 14 Gaspar Moltedo, 15 Santiago Videla
Replacements: 16 Jorge Delgado, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Matías Dittus, 19 Thomas Orchard, 20 Joaquín Milesi, 21 Marcelo Torrealba, 22, José Larenas 23 Juan Zuccarino
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Nehuen Jauri Rivero (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Damían Schneider (Argentina); Cauã Ricardo (Brazil)
TMO: Alejandro Longres (Uruguay)