Barnstorming Tarucas Humble Selknam to open Super Rugby Americas 2026

Los Tarucas were too good for Selknam on Friday evening. Los Tucumanos humbled the Chileans, completing a 41-13 home victory to open Super Rugby Americas (SRA) 2026. The victory involved a barnstorming second-half wherein, Los Tarucas went from leading 8-3 to finishing with a bonus point victory.

There was little in the way of scoring in the opening half. Tomás Salas missed an early penalty kick at goal before landing his second attempt. Ignacio Cerruti then made it 3-3 later in the first quarter.

The first try of the match came from a rolling maul. Ignacio Marquieguez was the scorer for the Northern Argentine side. The 28th minute score was unconverted and neither side added points during the remainder of the half.

The forwards delivered again for Los Tarucas in the second-half. Prop Francisco Moreno powered over from close range for the team’s second try. The lead grew, albeit temporarily, as Augusto Böhme scored for Selknam four minutes later.

Thiago Sbrocco was the stand-out player on the field. The N8 scored twice in the second half, the first of which came late in the third quarter following raises from the forwards. The forwards were then awarded a penalty try to seal victory with plenty of time remaining.

Selknam hit-back with the try of the match on 71 minutes as Cristobal Game touched down in the right corner. The Chileans looked to then run the ball out from inside their own 22. It was a fatal play as Los Tarucas intercepted and Tomás Vanni went over for the home side.

Los Tarucas now turn their attention to the reigning champions, Peñarol. Los Tucumanos travel to Uruguay to face Peñarol in week two at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo. Meanwhile, Selknam return home across the Andes to prepare to face Yacare at Saint George’s College in Santiago.

SCORING

TARUCAS (41)
TRY – I Marquieguez (28′); F Moreno (47′); T Sbrocco 2 (54′, 80′); Penalty Try (67′); T Vanni (77′)
CON – I Cereuti (48′, 55′, 80′); No Kick (67′)
PEN – I Cerruti (16′)
YC – B Estofan (20′)

SELKNAM (13)
TRY – A Böhme (51′); C Game ( 71′)
PEN – T Salas (11′)
YC – A Pedrol (68′)

LINE-UPS

TARUCAS
1 Benjamín Garrido, 2 Raul Guraiib, 3 Francisco Moreno, 4 Ignacio Marquieguez, 5 Luciano Asevedo, 6 Facundo Cardozo, 7 Agustín Sarelli, 8 Thiago Sbrocco, 9 Matías Sauze, 10 Ignacio Cerruti, 11 Mateo Pasquini, 12 Bautista Estofan, 13 Matías Orlando (capt.), 14 Tomás Vanni, 15 Tomás Elizalde

Replacements: 16 José Calderoni, 17 Mariano Muntaner, 18 Rodrigo Navarro, 19 Franco Marini, 20 Miguel Mukdise, 21 Estanislao Pregot, 22 Maximo Ledesma, 23 Pedro Coll

SELKNAM
1 Salvador Lues, 2 Augusto Böhme, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Bruno Sáez, 6 Augusto Villanueva, 7 Alfonso Escobar, 8 Santiago Montagner, 9 Sebastián Bianchi, 10 Tomás Salas, 11 Luca Strabucchi, 12 Nicolás Saab, 13 Domingo Saavedra (capt.), 14 Cristobal Game, 15 Matías Garafulic

Replacements: 16 Jorge Delgado, 17 Norman Aguayo, 18 Alan Pedrol, 19 Agustín Toth, 20 Joaquín Milesi, 21 Clemente Armstrong, 22 Lucas Berti, 23 Marco Alvano

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