SRA Semi Final 2024 – Dogos v Yacare – ARN Guide

It will be a Super Rugby Americas Friday night special in Argentina. The Semi Finals see Buenos Aires and Córdoba playing host to the Semi Final matches. Los Pampas take-on the two-time defending champions, Peñarol while Los Dogos and Yacare will battle-it-out in the second fixture. With the teams from Córdoba and Asunción having split their regular season matches th final four contest promises to be compelling.

REGULAR SEASON FINAL STANDINGS

2nd
3rd

LINEUP CHANGES

4 Lautaro Simes replaces Federico Rolotti
6 Aitor Bildosola replaces Facundo García Hamilton
7 Valentín Cabral moves from 8; replaces Lorenzo Colidio
8 Efraín Elías replaces Valentín Cabral
11 Felipe Mallía replaces Ernesto Giudice

2 Axel Zapata replaces Ignacio Palillo

CAPPED INTERNATIONALS

(0) – N/A
(12) – LE Quinteros, M Garcete, J González, S Urbieta, A López, R Moyano (AR), C Blasco, R Portillo, JJ Heisecke, A Núñez, G Bareiro, J Mussi

NOTABLE ABSENTEES

– N/A
– Juan Manuel Molinuevo, Tomás MacCall

NOTES

• Los Dogos won 8 regular season matches while Yacare won 6.
• The team split their regular season encounters with one win each.
• Los Dogos have the best defense in SRA 2024. The team conceded 227 points and 24 tries.
• Tomás Bartolini scored 9 tries for Los Dogos in the regular season. Mateo Soler scored 8.
• Paraguayan Juan González scored the most tries for Yacare with five.
• Juan Cruz Strada leads SRA for turnover with 14 wins.
• Los Dogos are looking to make it back-to-back SRA finals appearances. The Córdoba side lost the 2023 final against Peñarol.
• Yacare are looking to make history for Paraguayan rugby by reaching a professional final for the first time in the country’s history.

PREDICTION

Los Dogos were the form team in the first third of the season. This changed as the regular season unfolded. The form eroded and Los Dogos’ lost their edge. Yacare were also a team lacking consistency but this was true throughout the campaign. The rest following the final round has enabled complete recovery. ARN projects a Dogos win by +10 points.

LINEUPS

DOGOS
1 Boris Wenger, 2 Tomás Bartolini, 3 Octavio Filippa, 4 Lautaro Simes, 5 Franco Molina (capt.), 6 Aitor Bildosola, 7 Valentín Cabral, 8 Efraín Elías, 9 Agustín Moyano, 10 Julián Hernández, 11 Felipe Mallía, 12 Faustino Sánchez Valarolo, 13 Leonardo Gea Salim, 14 Lautaro Cipriani, 15 Mateo Soler

Replacements: 16 Santos Juárez Estrada, 17 Juan Aguirre, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Lorenzo Colidio, 20 Facundo García Hamilton, 21 Nicolás Viola, 22 Juan Bautista Baronio, 23 Agustín de Vertíz

YACARE
1 Ezequiel Reyes, 2 Axel Zapata, 3 Luis Enrique Quinteros, 4 Lucio Anconetani, 5 Mariano Garcete (capt.), 6 Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel, 7 Felipe Puertas, 8 Nicolás Parada Heit, 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 Camilo Blasco, 18 Rolando Portillo, 19 Juan José Heisecke, 20 Ariel Núñez, 21 Gonzalo Bareiro, 22 Tomás Vanni, 23 Joaquín Mussi

MATCH INFO

Date: Friday, June 07
Kick-Off: 9:30pm (AR); 8:30pm (PY)
Venue: Tala RC (Córdoba, AR)
Weather Forecast:  Partly Cloudy, 16°C, wind N (6 km/h)
Broadcasts: Star +; ESPN

OFFICIALS

Referee: Tomás Bertazza (AR)
Assistant Referees: Gonzalo de Archival (AR); Juan Martínez (AR)
TMO:  Marcelo Pilara (AR)

HEAD-TO-HEAD. Played 4; Dogos 3, Yacare 1. Streak: Yacare 1

Apr 28, 2024 – Yacare 22-19 Dogos (Asunción, PY)
Mar 02, 2024 – Dogos 36-32 Yacare (Córdoba, AR)
May 13, 2023 – Yacare 29-45 Dogos (Asunción, PY)
Feb 17, 2023 – Dogos 30-24 Yacare (Córdoba, AR)