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With a big win over Yacare on Friday, Los Capibaras are on their way to the Super Rugby Americas (SRA) 2026 Semi Finals. In their rookie campaign, the team representing El Litoral have strengthened SRA by adding a new dimension and an additional tough team for existing franchises to face.
Paraguay’s professional team, Yacare are previous SRA Semi Finalists but the team was no match for the rookie team in Santa Fe on Friday evening. Los Capibaras had a bonus point victory wrapped up inside the opening half. en route to completing a 53-21 victory.
Right winger Lautaro Cipriani was the star with a rapid-fire hat-trick for Los Capibaras. He was the scorer of Los Capibaras’ first and second tries. Both came early on in the contest. The first saw Franco Rossetto throwing a loop pass over the defense for the winger to score. The second came after breaks from Bernardo Lis, and Guido Chesini which had a mis-match with Cipriani marked by a prop.
Yacare responded through a rampaging Manuel Todaro. A well-timed pass from Joaquín Lamas gave the flanker enough time to put in a power play and muscle his way into the try zone. Lamas converted to bring life back to the contest.
The try was not a turning point, however. Los Capibaras demonstrated ruthlessness with four tries in sixteen minutes. The first saw Cipriani completing his hat-trick. The winger caught the ball mid-air while diving forward to latch-onto a cross-kick from Ignacio Dogliani.
A penalty try followed as the Yacare scrum was outplayed. Circumstances deteriorated for the Paraguayan side as the team received two yellow cards in the second quarter of play.
Meanwhile, Jerónimo Gomez Vara, and Felipe Villagrán combined with the latter scoring for Los Capibaras. Only for Gino Dicapua and Franco Rossetto to then combine for another.
The second-half started with a further Capibaras try. Enzo Avaca powered over for a stereo-typical tight head prop’s try. Dogliani converted and then slotted a penalty six minutes later.
Yacare needed three tries in the half to come away with a try-scoring bonus point. They were close as the team managed two. First, Agustín Benítez went low to score from close range. Second, Juan González finished off an enterprising try for Yacare in one of the best tries of the evening.
Los Capibaras closed out the scoring with a team try down the right side. Replacement fullback Francisco Lluch came away with the score.
With the win, Los Capibaras temporarily move above Los Pampas to occupy 2nd position. The Buenos Aires side can move back to 2nd by winning on Monday. Either way, the team from El Litoral is marching towards the Semi Finals.
 SCORING |
CAPIBARAS (53)
TRY – L Cipriani 3 (7′, 10′, 22′); Penalty Try (27′); F Villagrán (24′); F Rosetto (37′); E Avaca (43′); F Lluch (72′)
CON – I Dogliani 4 (11′, 25′, 38′, 44′); No Kick (27′)
PEN – I Dogliani (49′)
YC – F Villagrán (52′)
YACARE (21)
TRY – M Todaro (18′); A Benítez (58′); J González (68′)
CON – J Lamas 3 (19′, 59′, 69′)
YC – G del Pazo (15′, 27′)
RC – R Amarilla (50′); G del Pazo (55′)
| LINE-UPS |
CAPIBARAS
1 Diego Correa, 2 Bernardo Lis, 3 Enzo Avaca, 4 Lorenzo Colidio, 5 Lucas Bur, 6 Jerónimo Gomez Vara, 7 Felipe Villagrán, 8 Ignacio Gandini (capt.), 9 Alejo Sugasti, 10 Ignacio Dogliani, 11 Gino Dicapua, 12 Guido Chesini, 13 Bruno Heit, 14 Lautaro Cipriani, 15 Franco Rossetto
Replacements: 16 Martin Vaca, 17 Juan Ignacio Rodriguez, 18 Ignacio Orsetti, 19 Ignacio Gallo, 20 Bautista Grenon, 21 Juan Lovell, 22 Juan Bautista Baronio, 23 Francisco Lluch
YACARE
1 Nicolas Toth, 2 Agustin Benitez, 3 Gonzalo Del Pazo, 4 Mateo Gasparoti, 5 Joaquin Domínguez, 6 Ariel Nuñez, 7 Manuel Todaro, 8 Juan Mernes, 9 Juan Cruz Strada, 10 Joaquin Lamas, 11 Juan González, 12 Fran Gaspes, 13 Ramiro Amarilla (capt.), 14 Arturo López, 15 Valentino Quattrocchi
Replacements: 16 Gaston Salvi, 17 Cesar Perez, 18 Enrique Quinteros, 19 Nahuel Kacerosky, 20 Matias Muniagurria, 21 Gonzalo Bareiro, 22 Joaquin Mussi, 23 Francisco Calello
| MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
| MATCH OFFICIALS |
VS
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Joaquín Zapata (Argentina); Esteban Filipanics (Argentina)
