February 9, 2017
Argentina XV v Uruguay Preview: Americas Rugby Championship
Doug Coil
The second round of the Americas Rugby Championship will take place on Saturday February 11 with Argentina XV playing Uruguay at Estadio Villa Mitre, Bahía Blanca at 7.10pm (local time). The other matches have USA facing Brazil at Dell Diamond, Round Rock, (Austin) Texas at 6.10pm CT and Canada facing Chile at Westhills Stadium, Langford, BC. at 5.10pm PT.
In the first round, Argentina XV beat Canada 20-6, the USA won 29-23 over Uruguay and Brazil beat Chile 17-3. For a recap of the matches read Recap Round 1 .
The standings after round one find Argentina, the USA and Brazil with 4 points, Uruguay 1 point, and Canada and Chile with 0 points.
Argentina XV v Uruguay
During the week the Argentina XV had a training squad of 26 players ahead of the match against Uruguay at Bahía Blanca on Saturday. Head coach Felipe Contepomi made 7 changes in his starting XV from the match against Canada. He replaced his entire from row with Francisco Ferronato at loosehead prop, Marcelo Brandi at hooker and Santiago Medrano at tighthead prop. The later two were replacements during that match. Ignacio Larrague enters at lock and Mariano Romanini at flanker.
In the backs, Julián DomÍnguez will be at one wing and Segundo Tuculet will at the other. Tuculet was a replacement in the match against Canada. Juan Cappiello will move from wing to inside center.
Axel Zapata and Alejo Brem also are part of the roster as replacements, as a hooker and prop, respectively.
It was a low scoring match for Argentina XV in Canada. Replacements Santiago Medrano and Segundo Tuculet came off the bench to score the only tries of the match. They were rewarded joining the starting XV against Uruguay. Domingo Miotti slotted two penalties and conversions in the match that was played in snowy conditions.
Uruguay has made 5 changes in their starting XV and including 2 replacements from the match against the USA. New starters include Martín Espiga at hooker and Gonzalo Soto at flanker, while Diego Magno will start at lock instead of being a replacement. The wings have also been changed with Nicholás Freitas and Francisco Berchesi starting. Berchesi came on as a replacement against the USA.
Against the USA ties were scored by Facundo Gattas, who started at hooker and is on the bench against Argentina XV and captain Alejandro Nieto. Germán Albanell added three penalty kicks and two conversions.
The referee for the match will be Kurt Weaver from the United States.
Argentina XV v Uruguay: 1 Francisco Ferronato 2 Marcelo Brandi 3 Santiago Medrano 4 Pedro Ortega 5 Ignacio Larrague 6 Mariano Romanini 7 Lautaro Bavaro (c) 8 Tomás de la Vega 9 Sebastián Cancelliere 10 Domingo Miotti 11 Julián DomÍnguez 12 Santiago Álvarez 13 Juan Cappiello 14 Segundo Tuculet 15 Bautista Delguy 16 Axel Zapata 17 Eduardo Bello 18 Alejo Brem 19 Franco Molina 20 Santiago Montagner 21 Lautaro Bazán Vélez 22 Tomás Granella 23 Fernando Luna Head coach Felipe Contepomi, Ass’ts: Ignacio, Fernández Lobbe & Diego Teravasio
Uruguay v. Argentina XV 1. Mateo Sanguinetti 2. Martín Espiga 3. Juan Echeverría 4. Ignacio Dotti 5. Diego Ayala 6. Rodolfo Garese 7. Gonzalo Soto 8. Alejandro Nieto (C) 9. Santiago Arata 10. Germán Albanell 11. Francisco Berchesi 12. Juan de Freitas 13. Juan Manuel Cat 14. Nicholás Freitas 15. Rodrigo Silva 16. Facundo Gattas 17. Matías Benítez 18. Felipe Inciarte 19.Diego Ayala 20. Manuel Diana 21. Guillermo Lijtenstein 22. Lucas Durán 23. Ignacio García
