Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Round seven of Super Rugby Americas begins early. The Wednesday fixture sees Los Pampas at home against the unbeaten Peñarol. Quite simply, the Buenos Aires side enter as underdogs against the red-hot Uruguayans.
The under pressure Pampas need to win this match. They have been second best to their Argentine rivals, Los Dogos in Super Rugby Americas 2023. Los Dogos and Peñarol both have five wins to their name while Los Pampas have three.
Vast improvement was shown early on against Yacare on Friday. However, with the second-half being scoreless the Argentines settled for a 22-5 win at the Estadio Heroes de Curupayty. Peñarol are eleven points ahead of Los Pampas at present.
A relatively settled line-up will run-out for Los Pampas. Santiago Ruiz remains in charge at the back of the scrum. He will be joined by six out of the seven men who started against Yacare. The one change sees Lorenzo Colidio selected to start in the second-row with former Pro D2 player Rodrigo Fernández Criado missing out.
Puma Rodrigo Martínez will again play loose head. Ramiro Gurovich, and Javier Coronel join him in the front-row while Federico Lavanini continues to press to join his brother at the top level. He will start alongside de Colidio.
The back-line also sees just one alteration. It comes on the left wing. Lucio Auad has been elevated to the starting line-up. He replaces Tomás Passaro. Captain Juan Pablo Castro remains sidelines as does Pumas scrum-half Elisio Morales. Three key performers start again at scrum-half and in the centers – Mateo Albanese, Manuel Alfaro and Benjamín Elizalde.
A win for the Uruguayans will see Peñarol will go top of Super Rugby Americas. The line-up named is one that certainly wants to win; there has not been player rotation for the trip across the Estuary. Instead, the team named is stronger than that which finished so well against Selknam last weekend.
Pablo Bouza has change three players. Up front Diego Arbelo replaces Ignacio Peculo at tight head prop. This is the only alteration in the forwards. Agustín Morales is the only non-capped forward. He joins Felipe Aliaga in locking the scrum.
Players of tomorrow start as the flankers. Carlos Deus, and Lucas Bianchi are products of the national High Performance Center since Rugby World Cup 2019. They partner Manuel Diana in the back-row. Diana is the leading try-scorer in Super Rugby Americas 2023.
The backs feature two changes from the side that won in Santiago. Juan Manuel Alonso is back on the left wing in place of Alfonso Silva and Guillermo Juan Storace takes over from Juan Andrés Zuccarino at inside center. The later change means Peñarol has gone back from two to one play-maker. Storace is alone among the backs in being uncapped.
The match is the first of its kind. Peñarol have never played a professional rugby match in Argentina. The Uruguayan side played host to Los Jaguares XV in the 2021 and 2022 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) seasons. The teams also played SLAR matches against each other in Chile and Paraguay.
Their clash on Wednesday will be at La Catedral, the iconic rugby venue in Buenos Aires’ northern supurbs and rugby stronghold of San Isidro. Peñarol enter as firm favorites.
TEAMS
PAMPAS
1 Rodrigo Martínez, 2 Ramiro Gurovich, 3 Javier Coronel, 4 Lorenzo Colidio, 5 Federico Lavanini, 6 Nicolás D’Amorim, 7 Jerónimo Ureta, 8 Santiago Ruiz (capt.), 9 Mateo Albanese, 10 Joaquín de la Vega Mendía, 11 Lucio Auad, 12 Manuel Alfaro, 13 Benjamín Elizalde, 14 Iñaki Delguy, 15 Juan Ignacio Landó
Replacements: 16 Valentino Minoyetti, 17 Matías Medrano, 18 Renzo Zanella, 19 Eliseo Fourcade, 20 Manuel Bernstein, 21 Rafael Iriarte, 22 Eliseo Chiavassa, 23 Joaquín Lamas
PENAROL
1 Matías Benítez, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Agustín Morales, 6 Carlos Deus, 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Álvarez, 10 Felipe Etcheverry (capt.), 11 Juan Manuel Alonso, 12 Guillermo Juan Storace, 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Gastón Mieres, 15 Rodrigo Silva
Replacements: 16 Emiliano Faccennini, 17 Mateo Perillo, 18 Ignacio Peculo, 19 Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 20 Manuel Rosmarino, 21 Juan Francisco Torres, 22 Icaro Amarillo, 23 Juan Andrés Zucarino
Date: Wednesday, March 28
Kick-Off: 8pm (AR); 8pm (UY)
Venue: Club Atlético de San Isidro, Buenos Aires
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (AR)
Assistant Referees: Pablo Deluca (AR:); Juan Maio (AR)
TMO: Marcelo Pilara (AR)
HISTORIC RESULTS
May 10, 2022 – Peñarol 32-14 Jaguares XV (Montevideo, UY)
April 02, 2022 – Jaguares XV 20, Peñarol 27 (Ciudad del Este, PY)
April 04, 2021 – Jaguares XV 46, Peñarol 17 (Santiago, CL)
May 01, 2021 – Peñarol 18, Jaguares XV 42 (Montevideo, UY)
April 04, 2021 – Peñarol 28, Jaguares XV 36 (Montevideo, UY)
