SLAR Preview: Peñarol vs Selknam

History will be made on Wednesday. Peñarol vs Selknam will kick-off the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR), South America’s professional rugby competition. The inaugural fixture will be an Uruguayan vs Chilean fixture and will take place on Wednesday at the home of Los Teros, the Estadio Charrúa.

¡Este es el equipo de Peñarol para el partido inaugural de la Superliga Americana de Rugby! El miércoles a partir de las 20:30 horas en el Estadio Charrúa, el Carbonero se enfrenta a Selknam de Chile

Both teams are coached by former RWC players who have also coached at RWCs in some capacity.  Former Puma Pablo Bouza is in charge of Peñarol while former Uruguayan Pablo Leimoine coaches Selknam.

Bouza has named a similar line-up to the side that defeated Corinthians last week in a warm-up fixture. The front-row sees Uruguayan props Mateo Sanguinetti, and Diego Arbelo packing down with namibian RWC hooker Obert Nortje.

Veteran N8 Alejandro Nieto will lead the side in his new position of second-row. This is similar to Bouza’s playing days; he was moved between the positions for Los Pumas. Neto will be joined by South African Louis Conradie, who is to be the key line-out target.

Completing the starting formation will be a back-row of Manuel Ardao, 7 Juanjuan Garese and Santiago Civetta. This sees Maxime Sonneveld named on the bench. He was outstanding for Peñarol against Corinthians.

In the backs Santiago Arata and South African Bradley Thain form the halves combination. The former is a special attraction for Peñarol. He will play his season after playing Major League Rugby for the Houston SaberCats and before moving to the Top 14 to play for Castres in August.

Uruguay’s reserve centers from RWC 2019, Agustín Della Corte and Tomás Inciarte start together in the mid-field. While in the back-three first choice winger Nicolás Freitas and RWC outside-back Federico Favaro both start. Portugal’s Raffaele Storti completes the line-up on the left wing.

Lemoine also has a multinational side. And Like Peñarol, it is also predominantly made-up of home players. The front-five forwards are all Chileans. Javier Carrasco, Tomás Dussaillant and Matías Dittu will pack-down in the front-row with Clemente Saavedra and Javier Eissmann locking the scrum.

Ignacio Silva will captain Selknam from flanker. He is to be joined in the back-row by the highly promising 23-year-old, Martín Sigren and Argentine Rodrigo Bruno at N8. Bruno is a former Puma and has also previously played professional rugby in Italy.

The backs will see an Argentine-Chilean halves combination. Patricio Baronio starts at scrum-half inside Santiago Videla. There will also be an intercontinental presence with Tonga’s Latiume Fosita starting in the mid-field. The RWC 2015 and 2019 Tongan partners Domingo Saavedra in the centers.

Selknam’s back-three has plenty of speed. Julio Blanc start on the left wing, Lucca Avelli on the right wing and Franisco Urroz will play fullback.

The respective benches also contain notable names. The replacement second-rowers are Colombia’s Diver Ceballos and Mario Mayol. The Chilean has been a top performer for Los Cóndores over a sustained period. Selknam also have Fiji’s Vesi Rarawa and Argentine Ignacio Albornoz among their replacements.

Peñarol enter the historic clash as favorites. The Estadio Charrúa facilities are world class and the team is well prepared with the base being players from RWC 2019. ARN projects a Peñarol victory by 18 points.

 

TEAMS

PENAROL
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Obert Nortje, 3 Diego Arbelo, 4 Alejandro Nieto (capt.), 5 Louis Conradie, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Juan Garese, 8 Santiago Civetta, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Bradley Thain, 11 Raffaele Storti, 12 Agustín Della Corte, 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Nicolás Freitas, 15 Federico Favaro

Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Mauro Genco, 18 Ignacio Péculo, 19 Diver Ceballos, 20 Maxime Sonneveld, 21 Alfredo Pueyrredón, 22 Felipe Etcheverry, 23 Baltazar Amaya

SELKNAM
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Tomás Dussaillant, 3 Matías Dittus, 4 Clemente Saavedra, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Ignacio Silva (capt.), 7 Martín Sigren, 8 Rodrigo Bruno, 9 Patricio Baronio, 10 Santiago Videla, 11 Julio Blanc, 12 Latiume Fosita, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Lucca Avelli, 15 Francisco Urroz

Replacements: 16 Augusto Böhme, 17 Vesi Rarawa, 18 Esteban Viale, 19 Mario Mayol, 20 Nicolás Garafulic, 21 Bautista Stávile, 22 Beltran Vergara, 23 Ignacio Albornoz

Date: Wednesday, March 04
Kick-Off: 8:30pm (Uruguay), 7:30pm (Chile)
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Referee: Nehuén Jauri Rivero (Argentina)
Broadcasts: ESPN+ (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay), Vera+ and VTV (Uruguay).