February 24, 2017
Argentina XV vs. Brazil: Americas Rugby Championship Preview
Doug Coil
Argentina XV will host Brazil in the fourth leg of the Americas Rugby Championship this Saturday, February 25 at the Estadio Municipal Augustín Pichot in Ushuaia. The kickoff in at 5:40pm local time (3:40pm EST) The match will be streamed on ESPN3 at 3:40pm EST in the USA. It is also available on ESPN Sur, ESPN Brazil, and TSN Go.
Argentina XV Head Coach Felipe Contepomi has rotated his lineup from last week’s win over Chile, as only lock Ignacio Larrague and Juan Cruz González, who shifts from flyhalf to fullback remain.
Several Jaguares from Super Rugby have been included in this match. These include Ignacio Larrague who started at lock against Chile last week and Segundo Tuculet at center. Tuculet played against Canada and Uruguay.
Reserves will include Facundo Gigena, who will be playing in his first ARC 2017 match at loosehead prop, and outside back Emiliano Boffelli. Emiliano started for the Jaguares prior to a knee injury during the 2016 Super Rugby season and he will gain his first international test cap should he appear int he match.
The front row will include props Franco Brarda and Alejo Brem, while Marcelo Brandi will be the hooker. Joining Larrague at lock is Pedro Ortega, while in the back row is Mariano Romanini and Lautaro Bavaro, who will captain the side at flanker, and No.8 Tomás de la Vega.
In the backs are the scoring halfback combination of Sebastián Cancelliere at scrumhalf and Domingo Miotti at flyhalf. Cancelliere scored a hat trick against uruguay during week two. The centers are Tomás Granella and Segundo Tuculet, while the outside backs are Franco Cuaranta and Germán Schulz at wing and Juan Cruz González at fullback.
The reserves include Gaspar Baldunciel at hooker, Facundo Gigena and Santiago Medrano at prop. Franco Molina and Rodrigo Bruni are the other forwards, while the backs include Lauaro Bazán Vélez, Juan Cappiello, and Emiliano Boffelli.
Francisco Gorrissen was injured against Chile last week, while Fernando Luna and Bautista Delguy have joined up with the Pumas 7s squad for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series that begins next weekend in Las Vegas.
Brazil
Brazil head coach Rodolfo Ambrosio has made six changes from last week’s loss against Uruguay. The larger Uruguay forwards proved to be challenging in the scrums and five of the changes made this week will be in the forwards. Only Wilton Rebolo at loosehead prop, Diego López at lock and Nick Smith, who captains the side at No.8 remain.
Joining Rebolo in the front row is hooker Yan Rosetti, who returns as a starter after missing the Uruguay match after a minor injury. Caíque Silva will gain his first start of the ARC 2017 at tighthead prop. Gabriel Paganini will join López at lock and should help with the lineout. João Luiz da Ros and André Arruda return as flankers and Nick Smith will lead the Tupis from No.8
In the backs, there was one change at wing with Ariel Rodrigues gaining his first start. The other backs remain the same with the halfback combination of Matheus Cruz and Josh Reeves, Moisés Duque and Felipe Sancery are the centers, De Wet van Nieker joins Rodrigues at wing and Daniel Sancery is at fullback.
Last week against Uruguay, Brazil kicked away much of its possession, which allowed Uruguay to attack. Josh Reeves was often involved with clearance kicks. If this trend continues, it could be a long match for the Tupis.
With ball in hand Moisés Duque is a shifty runner and often combines with he Sancery brothers, Felipe and Daniel. Duque is also an accurate kicker, but Brazil will need to put tries on the board if they hope to compete with Argentina.
Argentina XV v Brazil: 1 Franco Brarda 2 Marcelo Brandi 3 Alejo Brem 4 Pedro Ortega 5 Ignacio Larrague 6 Mariano Romanini 7 Lautaro Bavaro (Capt.) 8 Tomás de la Vega 9 Sebastián Cancelliere 10 Domingo Miotti 11 Franco Cuaranta 12 Tomás Granella 13 Segundo Tuculet 14 Germán Schulz 15 Juan Cruz González 16 Gaspar Baldunciel, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Lauaro Bazán Vélez, 22 Juan Cappiello, 23 Emiliano Boffelli.
Brazil v Argentina XV: 1 Wilton Rebolo 2 Yan Rosetti 3 Caíque Silva 4 Gabriel Paganini 5 Diego López 6 João Luiz da Ros 7 André Arruda 8 Nick Smith (capt.) 9 Matheus Cruz 10 Josh Reeves 11 De Wet van Niekerk 12 Moisés Duque 13 Felipe Sancery 14 Ariel Rodrigues 15 Daniel Sancery 16 Daniel Danielewicz,17 Vitor Ancina 18 Pedro Bengaló 19 Lucas Piero 20 Matheus Daniel 21 Beukes Cremer 22 Luan Smanio 23 Robert Tenório
Argentina XV – Americas Rugby Championship
- v. Canada – W 20-6
- v. Uruguay– W 57-12
- v. Chile– W45-10
- v. Brazil – Saturday, Feb. 25, Estadio Municipal
- v. USA – Saturday, March 4, Estadio Municipal
Brazil – Americas Rugby Championship
- v. Chile – W 17-3
- v. USA– L 51-3
- v. Uruguay– L25-12, Feb. 18
- v. Argentina XV – Saturday, Feb. 25, Estadio Municipal
- v. Canada – Saturday, March 3
2017 Americas Rugby Championship Standings (through three rounds):
- Argentina – 14 points
- USA – 14 points
- Canada – 6 points
- Uruguay – 6 points
- Brazil – 4 points
- Chile – 0 points
