PHILADELPHIA, PA – All matches in Round 3 of the 2016 Americas Rugby Championship are Saturday evening (EST). For those in the States, the USA v Chile and Uruguay v Argentina XV are confirmed for ESPN3. The Canada v Brazil match will be streamed via Rugby Canada.
By seeming to share a brain, our panel did well in Round 2 (collectively undefeated!), and we are hoping for more of the same in Round 3. None of us will get any closer to current leader Jonathan Wicklow Barberie since we’re all still suffering from like-mindedness. I, for one, will settle for being right and am not sure how close I want to get to ol’ JWB anyway!
Here are our picks and a quick look at the matches in Round 3 of the ARC.
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Canada v Brazil
While Canada is without several important players due to injury, including Gordon McRorie, Brazil is also without David Harvey. Harvey’s 7 from 7 from the tee last weekend is a big reason Brazil stayed in the match against Uruguay until the end. Another Duncan Maguire try for Canada is highly likely. Fingers crossed that Brazil is able to put in another strong performance and take their chances when they are offered and this match stays close and entertaining. 
Kick off: 7:00EST
Location: Westhills Stadium, Langford, BC
Teams
Canada:1. Djustice Sears-Duru 2. Ray Barkwill 3. Jake Ilnicki 4. Paul Ciulini 5. Liam Chisholm 6. Lucas Rumball 7. Alistair Clark 8. Clay Panga 9. Andrew Ferguson 10. Gradyn Bowd 11. Duncan Maguire 12. Nick Blevins 13. Brock Staller 14. Dan Moor 15. Pat Parfrey 16. Eric Howard 17. Hubert Buydens 18. Rob Brouwer 19. Kyle Baillie 20. Michael Hamson 21. Jacob Robinson 22. Joe Dolesau 23. Brett Johnson
Brazil: TBA
Uruguay v Argentina XV
A Uruguay win over Argentina would shake up the table, and this is the match of the round most likely to see an upset. Argentina are dealing with a squad that is fluid, in part because of things like the recent call up of Joaquin Paz to the Jaguars in South Africa. There has not been consistency in the front row for Argentina either, beyond captain Roberto Tejerizo. Meanwhile, Uruguay won penalty tries from scrums against both Canada and Brazil. While acknowledging that the scrum will need to go well for Uruguay, they also played with a lot of ambition against Chile last weekend with ball in hand. Regardless of the final score, this match should produce a few cracking tries.
Kick off: 6:30EST
Location: Campus Stadium, Punta del Este, UY
Teams
Uruguay: 1 Mateo Sanguinetti 2 Germán Kessler 3 Juan Echeverría 4 Diego Magno 5 Mathias Palomeque 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.) 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea 8 Alejandro Nieto 9 Guillermo Lijtenstein 10 Martín Secco 11 Andrés Rocco 12 Andrés Vilaseca 13 Facundo Klappenbach 14 Federico Favaro 15 Santiago Martínez 16 Facundo Gattas 17 Rodolfo de Mula 18 Ignacio Secco 19 Ignacio Dotti 20 Fernando Bascou 21 Manuel Blengio 22 Santiago Arata 23 Pedro Deal
Argentina XV: 1 Roberto Tejerizo (c), 2 Santiago Iglesias Valdez, 3 Cristian Bartoloni, 4 Pedro Ortega, 5 Ignacio Larrague, 6 José Deheza, 7 Lautaro Bávaro, 8 Santiago Portillo, 9 Marcos Bollini, 10 Juan Novillo, 11 Axel Müller, 12 Bautista Ezcurra, 13 Juan Cappiello, 14 Franco Cuaranta, 15 Segundo Tuculet 16 Axel Zapata, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Gonzalo Paulín, 20 Miguel Urtubey, 21 Mauro Perotti, 22 Juan Cruz González, 23 Pedro Mercerat
USA v Chile
Chile played relatively well for most of their match last weekend against Argentina. Ultimately, though, the big scoreline (52-15) fairly respects the gap between those two sides. The USA come into Round 3 yet to lose and with mounting confidence. JP Eloff is a player who did not get off the bench against Argentina, but played with in the second half against Canada. Chile’s set piece has been inconsistent, so there is a real chance for Nate Brakeley to pressure the lineout and for David Tameilau to have some big runs from the base of the scrum.
Kick off: 6:10EST
Location: Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Teams:
USA: 1. Eric Fry 2. Joseph Taufete’e 3. Chris Baumann 4. Ben Landry 5. Brodie Orth 6. Nate Brakeley 7. Todd Clever (C) 8. David Tameilau 9. Tom Bliss 10. JP Eloff 11. Nic Edwards 12. Chad London 13. Lorenzo Thomas 14. Luke Hume 15. Mike Te’o 16. Mike Sosene-Feagai 17. Olive Kilifi 18. Demecus Beach 19. Alec Gletzer 20. Patrick Blair 21. Niku Kruger 22. Ryan Matyas 23. Jake Anderson
Chile: TBA
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