A big first half showing from Los Tarucas proved to be sufficient against Yacare on Saturday. Played at the neutral location of the Estadio Aranduroga Rugby Club in Corrientes, Argentina, Los Tarucas ran in four rapid-fire first-half tries to have the bonus point early. They then failed to add points as Yacare came back in the second-half.

Los Tarucas led the contest 28-3 at half-time. Los Tucumanos did so after running-in four tries in the opening 22 minutes. The only Yacare score of the half was a 16th minute penalty from fly half Joaquín Lamas.

The opening try of the match was a penalty try. It came after a penalty was awarded and Los Tucumanos kicked for the corner. Lamas had been yellow carded for a knock-on while attempting an interception.

Lamas’ penalty came after both the penalty try as well as a score by second-rower Ignacio Marquieguez. Fellow Tarucas second-rower, Luciano Acevedo then scored shortly after Lamas’ penalty.

The blitz continued with winger Juan Pablo José Pfister scoring to secure a try-scoring bonus point for Los Tarucas on 22 minutes. The question was how many points would Los Tarucas win by? The answer was ultimately by six as Yacare did not concede further points.

The next score was seven minutes into the second half as replacement Juan Bautista Mernes went over. When the impressive Juan Cruz Strada darted over from scrum-half, the match was brought back to life. Yacare went about innovating and a cross-kick from Lamas found Arturo López who wrong-footed the defense to score four minutes from full-time.

The 28-22 final score means that Yacare claimed, yet again, a losing bonus point. Despite being 0-5 thus fart in Super Rugby Americas (SRA) 2026, Yacare are now tied with Os Cobras on 5 competition points.

Los Tarucas claimed the full 5 competition points on offer and with it they overtake Los Capibaras. The Tucumán-based side will have a prime opportunity at further points next weekend as they face Os Cobras at Tucumán’s Estadio Héctor Cabrera. Yacare travel to Montevideo to face Peñarol.

 

SCORING


YACARE (22)
TRY – JB Mernes (47′); JC Strada (66′); A López (76′)
CON – J Lamas (48′, 67′)
PEN – J Lamas (16′)
RC – N Toth (74′)


TARUCAS (28)
TRY – Penalty Try (3′); I Marquieguez (13′); L Asevedo (18′); JPJ  Pfister (21′)
CON – No Kick (3′); I Cerutti 3 (14′, 19′, 22′)
YC – M Muntaner (31′); F Cardoso (54′); P Coll (68′)

 

LINE-UPS


YACARE
1 Nicolás Toth, 2 Jordi Chávez, 3 Gonzalo del Pazo, 4 Lautaro González Las Heras, 5 Joaquín Domínguez, 6 Mateo Gasparotti, 7 Ariel Núñez, 8 Manuel Todaro, 9 Juan Cruz Strada, 10 Joaquín Lamas, 11 Arturo López, 12 Sebastian Urbieta, 13 Ramiro Amarilla (capt.), 14 Facundo Paiva, 15 Franco Calello

Replacements: 16 Matías Benítez, 17 Camilo Blasco, 18 Luis Enrique Quinteros, 19 Juan Bautista Mernes, 20 Francisco Luis Bareiro, 21 Gonzalo Bareiro, 22 Francisco Gaspes, 23 Valentino Quattrochi


TARUCAS
1 Mariano Muntaner, 2 Juan Manuel Vivas, 3 Rodrigo Navarro, 4 Ignacio Marquieguez, 5 Luciano Acevedo, 6 Facundo Cardozo, 7 Miguel Mukdize, 8 Thiago Sbrocco, 9 Matías Sauze, 10 Ignacio Cerutti, 11 Mateo Pasquini, 12 Pedro Coll, 13 Matías Orlando (capt.), 14 Juan Pablo José Pfister, 15 Tomás Elizalde

Replacements: 16 José Calderón, 17 Benjamín Garrido, 18 Francisco Moreno, 19 Franco Marini, 20 Tomás Dande, 21 Estanislao Pregot, 22 Simón Pfister, 23 Bautista Estofan

 

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Video: To Follow

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

VS
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Federico Longobardi (Argentina); Sergio Alvarenga (Paraguay)