Selknam pulled off a stunning home victory over Yacare on Saturday. Played in perfect conditions in Santiago del Chile, Selknam claimed a last-gasp 34-32 win. Victory looked unlikely in the final minutes; yet, the Chileans pulled it off with a late converted try and a difficult penalty landed by Juan Cruz Reyes in the final play of the contest.
The opening half saw the Chilean side dominating the visitors. Selknam ran in four tries while conceding one to lead 24-10 at half-time. The first try came very early with Cristóbal Game scoring. Flanker Alfonso Escobar scored a double as Selknam were comfortably leading 17-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Argentine Matías Muniagurria scored Yacare’s opening try of the match on 26 minutes. Lamas converted to make it a one-score deficit. However, Selknam rebounded with Salvador Lues crashing over for Selknam’s bonus point try.
The second-half was an all-together different rugby contest. Replacement hooker Valentino Marciali, fullback Valentino Quatrocchi and flanker Manuel Todaro all scored tries for Yacare. Lamas added two conversions and with it Yacare were leading 32-24 with Selknam having failed to add to their first-half points.
Selknam needed to find something special and that they did. An impressive sting of passes culminated with captain Domingo Saavedra scoring under the posts. Juan Cruz Reyes converted to make it a 2-point game with five minutes remaining.
As was the case with Saavedra’s try, Chilean points required running the ball out from inside their own 22. Selknam got into the opposition half and looked to break down the right. Arturo López was yellow carded for making contact with the ball while completing a tackle. It gave Reyex an opportunity to kick for victory and he did not let down the home supporters.
The two-point win means Selknam have their first points of the Super Rugby Americas (SRA) season. So too do Yacare who return to Paraguay with two bonus points.
Selknam travel to Uruguay for their week three clash against Peñarol. Yacare make the longest trip in the league by going from Santiago in week two to playing in São Paulo, against Os Cobras, in Week 3. The Paraguayans will be eyeing up their opening victory of SRA 2026.
 SCORING |
SELKNAM (34)
TRY – C Game (2′); A Escobar 2 (14′, 20′); S Lues (35′); D Saavedra (74′)
CON – M Garafulic 2 (15′, 36′); JC Reyes (75′)
YACARE (32)
TRY – M Muniagurria (26′); V Marciali (52′); V Quattrochi (57′); M Todaro (70′)
CON – J Lamas (27′, 53′, 71′)
PEN – J Lamas (11′, 66′)
YC – A Nuñez (65′)
| LINE-UPS |
SELKNAM
1 Norman Aguayo, 2 Augusto Böhme, 3 Baltazar Gurruchaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Agustín Toth, 6 Clemente Armstrong, 7 Alfonso Escobar, 8 Santiago Montagner, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 11 Nicolás Saab, 12 Matías Garafulic, 13 Domingo Savedra (capt.), 14 Cristóbal Game, 15 Marco Alvano
Replacements: 16 Jorge Delgado, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 19 Bruno Sáez, 20 Joaquín Milesi, 21, Lucas Berti 22 Juan Cruz Reyes 23 Augusto Villanueva
YACARE
1 Nicolas Toth, 2 Jordi Chávez, 3 Enrique Quinteros, 4 Mateo Gasparotti, 5 Joaquín Domínguez, 6 Manuel Todaro, 7 Ariel Núñez, 8 Matías Muniagurria, 9 Juan Cruz Strada, 10 Joaquín Lamas, 11 Juan González, 12 Francisco Gaspes, 13 Ramiro Amarilla (capt.), 14 Francisco Calello, 15 Valentino Quatrocchi
Replacements: 16 Valentino Marciali, 17 Camilo Blasco, 18 Gonzalo del Pazo, 19 Juan Sebriano, 20 Juan Mernes, 21 Gonzalo Bareiro, 22 Sebastián Urbieta, 23 Arturo López
| MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
Video: To Follow
| MATCH OFFICIALS |
VS
Referee: Pablo DeLuca (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: : Tomás Ninci (Argentina); Sebastián Toledo (Chile)
The post Selknam Pull Off Stunning Last-Gasp Home Victory over Yacare appeared first on Americas Rugby News.
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