Super Rugby Americas 2024 – Yacare vs Cobras – ARN Guide

An enticing encounter will take place in Asunción, Paraguay o Saturday. Yacare will prepare an unfriendly welcome for Os Cobras. The Héroes de Curupayty crowd will be looking for another fine performance from the Paraguayan franchise. Make no mistake; results do lie, Yacare are Semi Final material. Os Cobras’ first away match of 2024 will be a serious challenge.

CLUB DEBUTS

(0) – Ramiro Moyano (Argentina 36 caps)
(0)

SUPER RUGBY AMERICAS DEBUTS

(0)
(0)
Paganini

CAPPED INTERNATIONALS

(10) – D Cabral (PY); E Quinteros (PY); M Garcete (PY); J González (PY); S Urbieta (PY); A López (PY); JJ Heisecke (PY); A Núñez (PY); D Miño (PY) R Moyano (AR)

(19) – EW Pinheiro; G Oliveira; C Dias; M Cláudio; A Arruda; D Rauth; J Amaral; D Lima; R Tenório; L Massari Temer; A Rodrigues; L Tranquez; H Ferreira; L Marinho; B Donald; A de Melo; P Aparecido; F Gonçalves; L Spago

NOTABLE ABSENTEES

– N Parada Heit (AR); JM Molinuevo (AR); T Mac Call (AR)
– Gabriel Paganini (BR); R Morais (BR); S Luna (BR); A Altahona (CO); A Llano (AR)

NOTES

• The fit-again Mariano Garcete is pack to bolster the Yacare second-row.
• RWC 2019 Pumas winger Ramiro Moyano will debut for the Paraguayans. He has experience with Jaguares, Toulon and Edinburgh.
• Six Yacare changes see not in this weeks starting XV: Rolando Portillo, Lucio Anconetani, Nicolás Parada Heit, Tomás Vanni, Thomas Mac Call, and Juan Manuel Molinuevo.
• Yacare lead the way in rucks with a 96% success rate.
• Josh Reeves has made 7 changes from last week. Brendon Alves, Levy Marinho, Ben Donald, Adrio de Melo, Felipe Gonçalves, Lucas Spago and Alain Altahona have been dropped.
• Os Cobras rank 2nd for scrum success (90%) and also for tackles (82%)
• Yacare outmatches Os Cobras offensively with 98 scored by the Paraguayan side compared to 41 by the Brazilians.
• 12 starters for Os Cobras are Brazilian or eligible. Franco Carrera, Francisco Moreno, and Luciano Gabellieri are Argentines as is replacement José Santucho.
• Emdy Willian Pinheiro has recovered after a scary collision against Selknam.
• Mauro Rossi will make his refereeing debut. Rossi has been assistant in 3 prior SRA matches.

PREDICTION

Os Cobras stated with a bang against Peñarol. The upset home win has been followed by losses in which the Brazilians were outmatched. Yacare, on the other hand, have been playing excellent rugby all season. The Paraguayans at home will be a huge mountain for the Brazilians to climb. Yacare are heavy favorites to win with a bonus point.

LINEUPS

YACARE
1 Ezequiel Reyes, 2 Axel Zapata, 3 Enrique Quinteros, 4 Ignacio Martínez, 5 Mariano Garcete (capt.), 6 Juan Pérez Rachel, 7 Felipe Puertas, 8 Ariel Núñez, 9 Juan Cruz Strada, 10 Joaquín Lamas, 11, Juan González, 12 Sebastián Urbieta, 13 Ramiro Amarilla, 14 Arturo López, 15 Ramiro Moyano

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Palillo, 17 Daniel Cabral, 18 Rodolfo Rivadeneira, 19 Juan José Heisecke, 20 Lucio Anconetani, 21 Diego Miño, 22 Tomás Vanni, 23 Facundo Paiva

COBRAS
1 Luciano Gabellieri, 2 Endy Willian Pinheiro, 3 Francisco Moreno, 4 Franco Carrera, 5 Gabriel Oliveira, 6 Cleber Dias (capt.), 7 Matheus Cláudio, 8 André Arruda, 9 Douglas Rauth, 10 João Amaral, 11 Daniel Lima, 12 Robert Tenório, 13 Lorenzo Massari Temer, 14 Ariel Rodrigues, 15 Lucas Tranquez

Replacements: 16 Henrique Ferreira, 17 Levy Marinho, 18 José Santucho, 19 Ben Donald, 20 Adrio de Melo, 21 Pedro Aparecido, 22 Felipe Gonçalves, 23 Lucas Spago

MATCH INFO

Date: Saturday, March 9
Venue: Héroes de Curupayty, Asunción (PY)
Kickoff: 7pm (PY)
Weather Forecast: Rain 36°C; wind (11-18 km/h)
Broadcasts: ESPN

OFFICIALS

Referee: Mauro Rossi (AR)
Assistants: Adrian Bogado; Jauri Rivero
TMO: Victor Silvero

HISTORY

HEAD-TO-HEAD (4) – Yacare 5, Cobras 1, STREAK Yacare +2
Apr 23, 2023 – Yacare 34-30 Cobras (Asunción, PY)
Mar 05 2023 – Cobras 14-34 Yacare (São Paulo, BR)
May 10, 2022 – Cobras 36-25 Olímpia Lions (Montevideo, UY)
Apr 02, 2022 – Olímpia Lions 42-17 Cobras (Ciudad del Este, PY)
Apr 20, 2021 – Olímpia Lions 19-15 Cobras (Montevideo, UY)
Mar 25, 2021 – Cobras 8-44 Olímpia Lions (Valparaiso, CL)