Tarucas Edge Towards Semi Finals with big win over Cobras

With a 61-26 road win over Os Cobras on Saturday, Los Tarucas edge towards the Super Rugby Americas (SRA) 2026 Semi Finals. The team based in Tucumán, Argentina recovered after conceding an early try to complete a comprehensive victory in São Paulo.

Os Cobras had all the ball for the first five minutes of the match. Camped deep inside the opposition 22, the Brazilian side came away with the opening try. Prop João Lucas Marino scored with Argentine Julián Leszczynski converting.

The 7-0 Cobras lead was immediately canceled out. From the kick-off, Los Tarucas scored with hooker José Calderón showing the pace of back. His score was converted by Máximo Ledesma who only had one miss all match.

A similar try followed from the next restart. This time Tomás Vanni showed to be faster than former South African 7’s star, Rosko Specman. Vanni kicked through, chased and gathered to score. Ledesma converted for a 14-7 lead.

Os Cobras were unable to catch Los Tarucas but did well to score then next try. Flanker Renato Santos went over but, again, Los Tarucas had an instant response. It came with a lightening hat-trick from winger Mateo Pasquini.

The right winger completed a treble with tries in the 23rd, 29th, and 37th minutes for Los Tarucas. It meant the result was sealed as was the bonus point. This meant that the mission had been accomplished as Los Tucumanos went into the match targeting the maximum five bonus points to give themselves the best opportunity of securing the last remaining vacancy in the SRA play-offs.

The second-half opened with another Tarucas try. Fullback Tomás Elizalde found space to run in a score which, with the conversion by Ledesma, took the Argentine side up to a 42-12 lead.

Replacement Pedro Aparecido made an instant impact. He finished off a slick move from the Cobras backline. It was followed by a try to replacement hooker, Juan Manuel Vivas Estrellas for Los Tarucas. The score was the one try that Ledesma failed to convert.

The final quarter featured three tries with Los Tarucas scoring two of them. Center Bautista Estofan went over in the 62nd minute while replacement Simón Pfister scored the final try of the match. Os Cobras’ last try was scored by replacement second-rower, Gabriel Oliveira. The try by the player known as Furia ensured that Os Cobras came away with a bonus point.

Both teams now turn their attention to Yacare vs Peñarol to finish the round. Peñarol need to win with a bonus point to stay alive while Yacare are in search of points to stay clear of the bottom spot which Os Cobras occupy.

SCORING

COBRAS (26)
TRY – JL Marino (5′); R Santos (20′); P Aparecido (50′); G Oliveira (74′)
CON – J Leszczynski 3 (6′, 51′, 75′)
YC – N Alckmin Ferreira (72′)

TARUCAS (61)
TRY – J Calderón (8′); T Vanni (10′); M Pasquini 3 (23′, 29′, 37′); T Elizalde (47′); JM Vivas Estrella (56′); B Estofan (62′); S Pfister (80′)
CON – M Ledesma 8 (9′, 11′, 24′, 30′, 38′, 48′, 57′, 80′)

LINE-UPS

COBRAS
1 João Lucas Marino, 2 Santiago Bonavento, 3 Leonel Moreno, 4 Cleber Días, 5 Helder Lúcio Souza, 6 Renato Santos, 7 Matheus Cláudio, 8 André Arruda, 9 Zinedine Geraldo Booysen, 10 Julian Leszczynski, 11 Robert Tenório, 12 João do Amaral, 13 Lorenzo Massari Temer (capt.), 14 Tasriq Mynhardt 15 Rosko Specman

Replacements: 16 Austin Creighton, 17 Henrique Ribeiro, 18 Nicolas Alkmin Ferreira, 19 Gabriel Oliveira, 20 Pedro Aparecido, 21 Maiki Santos, 22 Ethan Turner, 23 Dion Dumisani Khumalo

TARUCAS
1 Francisco Palazzi Barrientos, 2 José Calderoni, 3 Francisco Moreno, 4 Ignacio Marquieguez, 5 Luciano Asevedo, 6 Santiago Melitón Heredia, 7 Agustín Sarelli, 8 Thiago Sbrocco, 9 Estanislao Pregot, 10 Máximo Ledesma, 11 Tomás Vanni (capt.), 12 Bautista Estofan, 13 Pedro Coll, 14 Mateo Pasquini, 15 Tomás Elizalde

Replacements: 16 Juan Manuel Vivas Estrella, 17 Benjamin Farias Cerioni, 18 Lorenzo Matias Egea, 19 Joaquin Aguilar, 20 Facundo Cardozo, 21 Santiago Saleme, 22 Stefano Ferro, 23 Simón José Pfister

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Video: To Follow

SRA WEEK 13 – MATCH OFFICIALS

VS
REFEREE: Federico Longobardi (Argentina)
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Gastón Rogé (Argentina); Victor Hugo Barboza (Brazil)