The URBA Top 12 is born, but there will be victims because many players will be loaned to Super Rugby Americas

With the same tournament model implemented last season, this Saturday from 3.30pm to 6.00pm. A new season of the Top 12 organized by the Buenos Aires Rugby Union (URBA) begins. and in which one SIC He will defend the title obtained in 2023.

With some absences in the teams that loaned players for the match Super Rugby Americathe Top 12 will offer interesting matches from the first date.

It will also mark the start of the Terzo and Sviluppo tournaments organized by the Buenos Aires union and which complement the First A, B, C and Second, which have already completed two dates.

Among the matches with the greatest expectations, the one that will be played at Villa de Mayo stands out CUBA AND New manWhile SIC will receive Atletico del Rosario. The recently promoted Champagnet AND Regattas They will have their meeting in the first category Former students AND Belgrano, respectively. The date is completed with QUASI-Buenos Aires AND San Luis-Hindu.

Nine of the 12 teams provided 21 players to some of the franchises competing in the league Super Rugby America and will be absent from their clubs until, in principle, date seven. But if the franchise passes the regular phase of the tournament, SIC, CUBA, Alumni, Belgrano, Atlético del Rosario, Regatas, Hindú, Buenos Aires and Newman will only have their men back for the tenth match of the day.

San Isidro Club has loaned four players to Pampas and one to Yacaré XV, a Paraguayan franchise. CUBA contributed three contributions for the Buenos Aires representative, while the Alumni did the same with two more and one for Selknam, from Chile. Hindú, Belgrano and Regatas each have two players in the South American competition, as does Atlético Rosario, who contributed his contribution for the Paraguayan team.

As in 2023, the competition will be divided into two round trips for the regular phase, with qualification for the semi-finals which will pit the first against the fourth and the second against the third, to define the two teams that will define the championship. . .

The four qualifiers will play on a pitch that will be defined in due course by URBA. At the end of the season there will be two direct relegations for the teams in the last two positions. These teams will be replaced by two others from the First A: the champion and the best of a play-off between the second and fifth in the standings.

One after the other, Saturday’s games

The last time they played Alumni – ChampagnatTortuguitas’ team scored 74 to 0. The Marists They haven’t won against that rival in more than 23 years: the last time was 27-16 in 2001.

The Rojiblancos enter the year as runners-up. They lost the last final against SIC in a match fought until the last moment. They had hit the ball by eliminating Newman, who had been the best team of the regular season.

Champagnat returns to the top division after 13 years of absence. He achieved promotion after placing third at the final table with 86 points. In the semi-final they beat Los Tilos and in the final the Matreros. He will play his twelfth season in the top competition in Buenos Aires.

SIC – Atletico del Rosario

With 27 titles in tow, the champion will face the challenge of playing without five of his starters, in the midst of the Super Rugby Americas competition. The defense of the title will begin at home with the rotation challenge. For its part, Atlético had a different year: it managed to maintain the category just before the end of the season and for this reason it also has several references

Despite the disparate nature of their campaigns, in 2023 each played the game in front of them as a guest. The San Isidro team did it in Plaza Jewell by 38 to 12, and the Rosario team did it in Boulogne by 32 to 27.

CUBA-Newmann

It is, a priori, the match that promises the most because both have a series of matches in the decisive moments of the latest tournaments. Newman has won its last three games and Cuba has its last victory in 2022.

The Cardinal will face a match without using Benavídez’s pitch, who is disqualified. The negative aspect for the University is the loss of players in the Major League, which adds to those of Super Rugby.

ALMOST – Buenos Aires

For the San Isidro club the goal is to reach the semi-final of the tournament after several insignificant seasons. After being the revelation of 2022, Buenos Aires had to work hard to reconfirm its participation in the Top 12.

El León has changed coach, but the structure remains the same. He also managed to recover some of the injured members of the team, although he will present a decimated herd. When they met last year, they won their away games.

Regattas – Belgrano Athletic

Regatas is the last Primera A champion, with 120 points he reached his goal five dates before the end of the competition. Upon his return to the elite, he will complete his twenty-first season, with the 2002 season, in which he won second place, as the best in his history.

For Belgrano it is time for change: they have a superior squad made up mainly of young people and will try to reach the semi-finals, an event postponed from 2019. After a good start last season, the team did not qualify for the playoffs.

San Luis – Hindu Club

With the aim of achieving a consistency that it did not have in 2023, a season in which it fought until the end to stay with its classic rival, La Plata, San Luis will try to be a more balanced team in a new season in Top 12.

Hindu’s immediate past is more prosperous, although last year they remained in the semi-finals, eliminated by SIC. The squad does not present any substantial innovations and therefore the Elephant will try to be one of the animators of the competition.