PHILADELPHIA, PA – Round 2 of the 2016 Americas Rugby Championship starts Friday evening. For those in the States, all 3 matches will be streamed on ESPN3. Our panel takes this round’s stab at prognostication. We started poorly in Round 1, with only Johnathan Wicklow Barberie managing to go 2-1. This weekend, we are of one mind, which makes me question the sanity of all involved.
Here are our picks and a quick look at the matches in Round 2 of the ARC.
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Brazil v Uruguay
Brazil had their chance against Chile last weekend. Having missed that chance, they will be underdogs for the rest of the tournament. While Uruguay was handled comfortably enough by Canada, they still showed the power in the forwards that lets them remain favorites for this match. Uruguay scored a penalty try from a scrum against Canada, and Brazil’s scrum was inconsistent against Chile. Uruguay will be without two starters from Round 1, but should still be able to muscle out the win.
Kick off: Friday, 5:00PM EST
Location: Arena Barueri, Sao Paulo
Teams
Brazil: 1 Wilton Rebolo 2 Yan Rosetti 3 Jardel Vettorato 4 Lucas Piero Moraes 5 Luis Vieira 6 Mark Jackson 7 Cleber Días 8 Joao Da Ros (cap) 9 Lucas Duque 10 David Harvey 11 Lucas Muller 12 Moisés Duque 13 Felipe Sancery 14 Guilherme Coghetto 15 Daniel Sancery. Reserves: 16 Daniel Danielewicz 17 Caique Silva 18 Vitor Ancina 19 Felipe Tissot 20 Nicholas Smith 21 Mateus Tavares 22 Laurent Couhet 23 Yan Machado
Uruguay: 1 Mateo Sanguinetti 2 Carlos Arboleya 3 Juan Echeverría 4 Franco Lamanna 5 Diego Magno 6 Gonzalo Soto 7 Matías Beer 8 Alejandro Nieto (cap) 9 Guillermo Lietjenstein 10 Rodrigo Silva 11 Federico Favaro 12 Andrés Vilaseca 13 Pedro Deal 14 Leandro Leivas 15 Santiago Martínez. Reserves: 16 Germán Kessler 17 Facundo Gattas 18 Ignacio Secco 19 Ignacio Dotti 20 Lukas Lacoste 21 Santiago Arata 22 Martín Secco 23 Alberto Román
Argentina XV v Chile
The primary goal for Argentina in the ARC is player development, testing the players in their system. As a consequence, it is not a surprise that the Argentina squad to face Chile will be much different from the side that played USA last weekend. There are 10 changes to the starting 15, many forced by players traveling to South Africa with the Jaguars. Chile will need to be ruthless in their finishing if they are going to push Argentina in this match.
Kick off: Saturday, 5:00PM EST
Location: Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario, San Juan
Teams:
Argentina XV: 1 Roberto Tejerizo (cap) 2 Axel Zapata 3 Enrique Pieretto 4 Pedro Ortega 5 Marcos Kremer 6 José Deheza 7 Lautaro Bávaro 8 Miguel Urtubey 9 Lautaro Bazán Vélez 10 Bautista Ezcurra 11 Segundo Tuculet 12 Joaquín Paz 13 Santiago Álvarez Fourcade 14 Rodrigo Etchart 15 Pedro Mercerat. Reserves: 16 Franco Brarda 17 Ignacio Calles 18 Eduardo Bello 19 Ignacio Calas 20 Santiago Portillo 21 Mario Perotti 22 Juan León Novillo 23 Juan Cappiello
Chile: 1 Claudio Zamorano 2 Rodrio Moya 3 Luis Sepúlveda 4 Nikola Bursic 5 Raimundo Piwonka 6 Cristobal Niedman 7 Javier Richard 8 Benjamín Soto (cap) 9 Beltrán Vergara 10 Cristian Onetto 11 Ítalo Zunino 12 Francisco de la Fuente 13 Matías Nordenflycht 14 José Ignacio Larenas 15 Leonardo Montoya. Reserves: 16 Tomás Dussaillant 17 Nicolás Venegas 18 José Manuel Munita 19 Felipe Bassaletti 20 Ignacio Silva 21 Matthieu Manas 22 Pablo Casas 23 Matías Contreras
USA v Canada
Canada is coming off a good win and makes only one injury-related change to their starting 15. The USA, meanwhile, lose Cam Dolan, Blaine Scully, Takudzwa Ngwenya, and Greg Peterson. The advantage in squad cohesion should help Canada. The Eagles looked sharp at times against Argentina, but struggled to consistently play as 15. Both sides have reasons to be pleased with their Round 1 performance, but it is Canada who currently top the table. This will be a good chance to see how much of the new optimism under coach John Mitchell is warranted.
Kick off: Saturday, 7:00PM EST
Location Dell Diamond Stadium, Austin, TX
Teams:
Canada 1. Hubert Buydens (c) 2. Ray Barkwill 3. Jake Ilnicki 4. Paul Ciulini 5. Callum Morrison 6. Lucas Rumball 7. Alistair Clark 8. Clay Panga 9. Gordon McRorie 10. Gradyn Bowd 11. Dan Moor 12. Nick Blevins 13. Mozac Samson 14. Phil Mackenzie 15. Pat Parfrey Reserves 16. Eric Howard 17. Djustice Sears-Duru 18. Rob Brouwer 19. Kyle Baillie 20. Liam Chisholm 21. Michael Hamson 22. Andrew Ferguson 23. Duncan Maguire
USA: 1. Eric Fry 2. Mike Sosene-Feagai 3. Chris Baumann 4. Brodie Orth 5. Ben Landry 6. Nate Brakeley 7. Todd Clever (C) 8. David Tameilau 9. Mike Te’o 10. James Bird 11. Kingsley McGowan 12. Lemoto Filikitonga 13. Chad London 14. Luke Hume 15. Jake Anderson Reserves 16. Joseph Taufete’e 17. Olive Kilifi 18. James Hilterbrand 19. Patrick Blair 20. Alec Gletzer 21. Niku Kruger 22. JP Eloff 23. Mike Garrity
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