Pampas Begin SRA Season Strongly with road win over Yacare

Los Pampas enjoyed a positive start to Super Rugby Americas (SRA) 2026. The Buenos Aires side held a 22-3 half-time lead and ultimately completed a 30-17 road win over Yacare in Asunción, Paraguay on Saturday.

The visitors made their intent clear early and were rewarded. Hooker Ignacio Bottazzini crossed for the opening try on four minutes, doing so after breaking off the tail of a rolling-maul. Bautista Farisé converted from wide.

Farisé failed to convert from a similar location four minutes later. Debutants Tobías Wade and Felipe Ledesma combined with the fullback breaking the line from inside his own half. He finished off the move to score a try that showed why he was a regular and impressive performer for Los Pumas 7’s.

Joaquín Lamas opened Yacare’s scoring but only before Los Pampas went further ahead with their third try. It was a second to Bottazzini who scored from a maul following an attacking lineout. Farisé converted on 29 minutes in the final scoring act of the half.

Yacare needed to overcome a 22-3 deficit in the second half. They started strongly with Argentine center Francisco Gaspes scoring on 43 minutes. Lamas converted to make it a 12 point difference. Meanwhile, Los Pampas had opportunities but failed to capitalize in the third quarter.

With scrums being a concern, Yacare held on and added to their scoring with scrum-half Juan Cruz Strada scoring beside the posts. Fullback Valentino Quatrocci converted and suddenly the game was alive.

Los Pampas did not panic and added points on 56 minutes with a penalty to Farisé. The Buenos Aires side also improved their defense so that they did not let in further tries. Yacare were having discipline concerns astro second-half yellow cards hurt them.

With time up, Los Pampas looked to seal the win and do so with a bonus point. N8 Juan Pedro Bernasconi succeeded in scoring in the left corner. With it the mission was accomplished.

Los Pampas play host to Los Dogos in next week. The match at La Catedral is a SRA classic. Yacare fly to Santiago to face Selknam, a side that was also beaten in the opening round of the SRA season.

YACARE (17)
TRY – F Gaspes (43′); JC Strada (65′)
CON – J Lamas (44′); V Quatrocci (66′)
PEN – J Lamas (27′)
YC – A Núñez (37′); J Lamas (59′); G del Pazo (78′)

PAMPAS (30)
TRY – I Bottazzini 2 (4′, 28′); T Wade (8′); JP Bernasconi (80′)
CON – B Farisé (5′, 29′)
PEN – B Farisé 2 (37′, 56′)
YC – R Fernández Criado (39′); A Fraga (43′)

YACARE
1 Nicolas Toth, 2 Jordi Chávez, 3 Enrique Quinteros, 4 Mateo Gasparotti, 5 Matías Munigurría, 6 Manuel Todaro, 7 Ariel Núñez, 8 Juan Mernes, 9 Juan Cruz Strada, 10 Joaquín Lamas, 11 Juan González, 12 Francisco Gaspes, 13 Ramiro Amarilla (capt.), 14 Francisco Calello, 15 Valentino Quatrocci

Replacements: 16 César Pérez, 17 Valentino Marciali, 18 Gonzalo Del Pazo, 19 Joaquín Domínguez, 20 Juan Sebriano, 21 Gonzalo Bareiro, 22 Sebastián Urbieta, 23 Arturo López

PAMPAS
1 Matías Medrano, 2 Ignacio Bottazzini, 3 Ramiro Berardi Calvo, 4 Augusto Cabano Wall, 5 Rodrigo Fernández Criado, 6 Juan Cruz Pérez Rachel, 7 Faustino Santarelli, 8 Juan Pedro Bernasconi, 9 Lucas Marguery, 10 Bautista Farisé, 11 Jerónimo Ulloa, 12 Felipe Ledesma, 13 Agustín Fraga, 14 Santiago Pernas, 15 Tobías Wade

Replacements: 16 Francisco Lusarreta, 17 Valentín Vicente Vidal, 18 Marcos Camerlinckx, 19 Francisco Sluga, 20 Juan Penoucos, 21 Alejo Lavayén, 22 Estanislao Renthel, 23 Nahuel Clausen

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