Argentina XV v USA Men’s Eagles Preview: Americas Rugby Championship
Doug Coil
The final Americas Rugby Championship match between Argentina XV and the USA Men’s Eagles will decide the 2017 title. Both teams enter the match with 4-0 records and are tied in the standings with 19 points. The match is being played at Estadio Municipal, Comodoro Rivadavia with a kick-off at 5.10PM local time, 3:10pm ET and will be broadcast live on the The Rugby Channel.
The Eagles have been on an offensive tear since their narrow win over Uruguay. In the last three matches they have scored over 50 points against Brazil, Canada and Chile. Argentina after a narrow win against Canada, have had dominant wins over Uruguay, Chile and Brazil.
Eagles Head Coach John Mitchell has made three changes to the starting XV, since last week’s win over Chile. Nate Augspurger will captain the squad for the second consecutive week. Todd Clever is out with a hamstring injury, so John Quill was recalled for this match. He will be joined in the back row with Tony Lamborn and Cam Dolan.
In the front row there are two changes with Tony Purpura at loosehead prop and James Hilterbrand at hooker. Chris Baumann has started all five matches at tighthead prop. The locks will remain the same with Matt Jensen and Siaosi Mahoni.
In the backs, Will Magie will be the flyhalf and combine with scrumhalf Shaun Davies. Ben Cima shifts to fullback and Mike Te’o to wing. JP Eloff and Bryce Campbell will start as centers for the fourth consecutive match.
Argentina
The match against the USA will decide the Americas Rugby Championship 2017 title. With this in mind, the Argentina XV has fortified their squad bringing in Super Rugby player Gabriel Ascárate at fullback.
During the 2017 ARC, their has continued to be a player rotation and this week continues that trend. The entire front row has been changed with Francisco Ferronato, Gaspar Baldunciel, and Santiago Medrano starting. The locks remain the same in Pedro Ortega and Ignacio Larrague. The back row includes Lautaro Bavaro, who will captain the side at flanker. He is joined by Francisco Gorrissen, who returns from an injury. Tomás de la Vega returns at No.8.
The halfback combination of Sebastián Cancelliere and Domingo Miotti represent scoring threats. They are joined by wing Germán Schulz as retaining their positions. Ascárate will be the fullback and Julián Dominguez the other wing. Bruno Devoto and Santiago Álvarez will man the centers.
USA Men’s Eagles v Argentina XV: 1 Anthony Purpura, 2 James Hilterbrand, 3 Chris Baumann, 4 Matt Jensen, 5 Siaosi Mahoni, 6 John Quill, 7 Tony Lamborn, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Shaun Davies, 10 Will Magie, 11 Nate Augspurger (capt.), 12 JP Eloff, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Mike Te’o, 15 Ben Cima 16 Peter Malcolm, 17 Ben Tarr, 18 Olive Kilifi, 19 Hanco Germishuys, 20 David Tameilau, 21 Calvin Whiting, 22 Ryan Matyas, 23 Spike Davis
Argentina XV v USA: 1 Francisco Ferronato, 2 Gaspar Baldunciel, 3 Santiago Medrano, 4 Pedro Ortega, 5 Ignacio Larrague, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 7 Lautaro Bavaro (capt.), 8 Tomás de la Vega, 9 Sebastián Cancelliere, 10 Domingo Miotti, 11 Julián Domínguez, 12 Bruno Devoto, 13 Santiago Álvarez, 14 Germán Schulz, 15 Gabriel Ascárate 16 Marcelo Brandi, 17 Franco Brarda, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Santiago Montagner, 21 Lautaro Bazán, 22 Juan Cruz González, 23 Franco Cuaranta
USA Eagles – Americas Rugby Championship
- v. Uruguay – W 29-23
- v. Brazil – W 51-3
- v. Canada – W 51-34
- v. Chile – W57-9
- v. Argentina XV – Saturday, March 4
Argentina XV – Americas Rugby Championship
- v. Canada – W 20-6
- v. Uruguay– W 57-12
- v. Chile– W45-10
- v. Brazil – W79-7
- v. USA – Saturday, March 4, Estadio Municipal
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2017 Americas Rugby Championship Standings (through 4 rounds):
- Argentina – 19 points
- USA – 19 points
- Uruguay – 9 points
- Canada – 7 points
- Brazil – 4 points
- Chile – 0 points
