Argentina XV Defeat Paraguay to Open 2026 Americas Rugby Championship

The Argentina XV defeated Paraguay 58-11 on Saturday in Talcahuano, Chile. The match was the opening match of the 2026 Americas Rugby Championship (ARC). Paraguay put up a fight in the first half to be 15-3 down at half-time.

The match was played in the mud. The conditions affected play with an example being Argentina XV captain, Ignacio Dogliani kicking at 0%. An additional example was that early tries came from lineout to maul moves.

Argentina XV Martín Vaca scored a double. His first came after 10 minutes of play. The second was similar with Vaca going close and winger Franco Rossetto on hand to finish it off. Rossetto also scored twice in the match. His second was the final try of the half. It came after a break from Ignacio Dogliani.

Paraguay scored the final points of the opening half. Joaquín Mussi landed a penalty to make it a 15-3 scoreline late in the half.

The second-half began with Dogliani scoring a well-taken try for the Argentines. The frustrated Paraguayans were then punished with Juan Martín Sebriano yellow carded. The numerical advantage played into the hands of the Argentina XV with Vaca scoring again from a lineout to maul and scrum-half, Nicolás Viola scoring his first of a double.

The tired Paraguayans conceded a further four tries. Replacement hooker Juan Ignacio Gresing Revol scored from a lineout to maul while winger Luciano Avaca and center Pedro Coll also both went over in addition to Viola scoring his second.

Viola’s second try was the final score of the match. It came minutes after Paraguayan scrum-half Diego Miño went over for a try of his own. The final score of 58-11 sees the Argentina XV claiming the maximum competition points ahead of remaining matches against the Chile XV and the Uruguay XV.

 

SCORING

ARGENTINA XV (58)
TRY – M Vaca 2 (10′, 52′), F Rossetto 2 (14′, 33′) I Dogliani (43′), N Viola 2 (55′, 77′), JI Greising Revol (62′), L Avaca (66′), P Coll (69′)
CON – F Serpa 4 (56′, 67′, 70′, 78′)

PARAGUAY (11)
TRY – D Miño (74′)
PEN – J Mussi (38′), T Guzmán (46′)
YC – JM Sebriano (51′)

 

TEAMS

ARGENTINA XV
1 Diego Correa, 2 Martín Vaca, 3 Enzo Avaca, 4 Francisco Sluga, 5 Joaquín Domínguez, 6 Ignacio Gandini, 7 Joaquín Pascual Viale, 8 Juan Pedro Bernasconi, 9 Alejo Sugasti, 10 Ignacio Dogliani (capt.), 11 Franco Rossetto, 12 Bautista Estellés, 13 Pedro Coll, 14 Bautista Lescano, 15 Simón Pfister

Replacements: 16 Juan Ignacio Greising Revol, 17 Nicolás Revol Pitt, 18 Bautista Salinas Mallea, 19 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 20 Thiago Sbrocco, 21 Nicolás Viola, 22 Federico Serpa, 23 Luciano Avaca

PARAGUAY
1 José Mazzocotte, 2 Agustín Benítez, 3 Enrique Quinteros, 4 Nahuel Kacerosky, 5 Juan Martín Sebriano, 6 Francisco Bareiro, 7 Ariel Núñez, 8 Leonardo Segovia, 9 Diego Miño, 10 Thomas Guzmán, 11 Juan González, 12 Ramiro Amarilla (capt.), 13 Gianfranco Aranda, 14 Arturo López, 15 Joaquín Mussi

Replacements: 16 Jordi Chávez, 17 Sebastián Ortiz, 18 Marcelo Fretes, 19 Emanuel Cáceres, 20 Carlos Martins, 21 Thiago Fernández Bedoya, 22 Patricio Cabrera, 23 Facundo Paiva

 

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS