Club Rugby

2026 Super Rugby Americas – Round Three summary: Tarucas stay perfect and Pampas bounce back

Round Three began with an all-Argentine clash in Buenos Aires, where hosts Pampas were able to bounce back from their defeat against Dogos to overcome Capibaras 25-20.

by
The Rugby Paper Team
9 March 2026

By Joe Santamaria

Round Three began with an all-Argentine clash in Buenos Aires, where hosts Pampas were able to bounce back from their defeat against Dogos to overcome Capibaras 25-20.

As the Super Rugby Americas season continues to take shape, fans following the action across the tournament will also be keeping an eye on the latest odds and markets through popular betting apps.

The home side Pampas started well in their latest contest and quickly took the lead through hooker Ignacio Bottazzini, who powered over from the back of a maul to continue his strong start to the season.

The visitors grew into the contest and narrowed Pampas’ lead with a penalty midway through the half.

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Pampas bounce back to sink Capibaras

With halftime approaching, it looked as though Pampas would retain their lead until Capibaras struck through a well-worked move that saw electric winger Lautaro Cipriani race through a gap, before offloading to Guido Chesini, who was dragged down just before the line.

Pampas couldn’t reorganise their defence in time, allowing opposition fly-half Ignacio Dogliani the chance to snatch a one-point lead at the break.

Dogliani began the second half as he had ended the first, with a sweetly struck penalty extending Capibaras’ lead.

Pampas managed to strike back through Argentina international Santiago Cordero, who benefited from an overlap on the blindside to dot down on his debut to reclaim the lead.

A third Dogliani penalty wrestled momentum back for the Capibaras, who were looking to become the first franchise in the tournament’s history to win its first three matches.

Another Dogliani penalty meant the visitors led by five heading into the last quarter, before a superb individual score from Pampas winger Santiago Pernas turned the game on its head.

Pernas chased a box kick and showed great awareness to claim the ball under pressure, before an instinctive pivot, and hand-off gave him a free run to the line to score the try of the match.

Evenly matched

It was clear that the two sides were very evenly matched and that small margins would determine the outcome.

Capibaras briefly led again through Dogliani, whose 20-point individual haul ought to have been enough to seal a victory, but it wasn’t to be.

Pampas held their nerve, worked their way up the pitch and forced their opponents into conceding penalties, with fly-half Bautista Farisé only too keen to point at the posts.

For the hosts, the win will go some way to banishing the memories of last week’s all-too-familiar loss to Dogos and remind everyone why they have finished the last two regular seasons at the top of the table.

Capibaras’ disappointment at the loss shows how much they have taken the competition by storm in their debut season, and will no doubt feel they are capable of qualifying for the play-offs at the first attempt.

Tarucas remain unbeaten after Dogos thriller

Tarucas remain the only unbeaten side in this year’s competition after their controversial 29-26 victory over Dogos.

The visitors started brilliantly and took the lead early through scrum-half Nicolás Viola, who ran a great supporting line to capitalise on the break from captain Faustino Sánchez Valarolo.

Tarucas struck back through fly-half Ignacio Cerruti, who knocked over two penalties to bring his team back into the game.

Despite Tarucas’ improvement, Dogos showed a lethal touch to seize back control of the game, with Viola at the heart of proceedings yet again.

Spotting a mismatch up the blindside, the scrum-half fizzed a pass to Facundo Pueyrredón and was on hand for the return ball, grabbing his second try of the game on 22 minutes.

Another Cerruti penalty kept the hosts within touching distance, but Dogos ended the half in the ascendancy.

A powerful roll maul allowed hooker Juan Greissing Revol to score in a move reminiscent of the side’s title-winning 2024 team.

Scrummaging prowess

Heading into halftime 19-12 down, Tarucas knew they had plenty to do if they were to turn the tie around and continue their perfect start to the season.

Tarucas looked to start the second half fast and quickly scored a try through Tomás Elizalde, who looked to have applied downward pressure after a clever kick in behind the Dogos defence.

Replays appeared to show he had knocked the ball on, but there is no TMO in this year’s competition, so the try stood and Tarucas suddenly found themselves with momentum.

Both sides pride themselves on their scrummaging prowess, but Tarucas had the upper hand throughout.

A series of scrum penalties close to the Dogos line eventually led the referee to award the home side a penalty try, which put them in the driver’s seat for the first time.

Desperate for a response, Dogos looked to their forwards to get them back into the game, eventually finding a breakthrough when Enzo Ocampo managed to reach the line after a series of heavy-duty carries.

Julián Hernández converted the try to level the scores heading into the game’s closing stages.

Another scrum penalty gave Cerruti the chance to pull Tarucas ahead with a penalty that he duly slotted. Dogos turned down the chance of a draw when they elected to kick to the corner from a penalty with the clock in the red.

Tarucas managed to force a knock-on and celebrated wildly at the final whistle, having overcome last year’s finalists.

Peñarol up and running against Selknam

Defending champions Peñarol finally secured their first win of the season in an entertaining clash against much-changed Selknam that ended 40-27.

The visitors arrived in Montevideo missing around 30 players due to the fixture between Chile and Italy XV the previous day, and head coach Jake Mangin will be pleased with the performance of many youngsters, even in defeat.

Hooker Joaquín Myszka grabbed the game’s first try with ten minutes played after a strong maul from Peñarol took him all the way to the white line.

Selknam fly-half and captain for the day, Tomás Salas, got the Chileans on the board with a penalty, but Peñarol quickly struck again through Myszka in near-identical fashion.

In a tightly contested first half, the forwards dominated proceedings. Selknam’s first try of the game also came from a maul just before halftime, with Alan Pedrol the beneficiary.

Open affair

Salas couldn’t add the conversion from out wide, but his side was still very much in the game, trailing 14-8 at the break.

The second half was a far more open affair from the off as the backs finally started getting involved. Peñarol’s Alfonso Perillo extended his team’s lead after Selknam failed to deal with a high ball, with the centre gladly capitalising on the chaos by racing over from close range.

Within minutes, Selknam returned the favour with their own try, finished by teenage winger Santiago Wood after a deft chip from scrum-half Lucas Berti.

With the game opening up and gaps starting to emerge, Peñarol were able to take control of the game, largely due to the performance of fly-half Justo Ferrario.

After fielding a kick, Ferrario set off at speed and burst through the Selknam defence to set up a score for replacement Tomás Baca Castex.

Hosts smell blood

The hosts smelled blood and added further scores through Sebastián Pérez and Ferrario himself to secure the victory that had eluded them in the first two rounds.

With victory beyond them, Selknam deserve credit for staying in the fight and were rewarded with a try-bonus point that could prove crucial come the end of the season.

Berti’s fine performance was rewarded with a try after Peñarol coughed up the ball cheaply, allowing the scrum-half to hack the ball ahead and score.

Selknam’s fourth try came from a turnover deep in Peñarol’s half that allowed Berti to put replacement Tomas Baguley away.

The hosts will be delighted to get their season up and running, knowing they are already playing catch-up and will need to improve quickly if they are to make a meaningful defence of their title.

For Selknam, one win from three may look disappointing on paper, but there were promising signs in the defeat, and they have plenty of international experience to come back into the side ahead of Round Four.

Cobras claim dramatic first win since 2024

Cobras achieved their first victory since April 2024 when they overcame Yacare 21-19 in São Paulo.

The game was played in challenging conditions, with heavy rainfall making expansive rugby impossible.

The hosts started well and took the lead early through hooker Santiago Bonavento, who powered over from close range.

Yacare’s scrum gave them a foothold in the game and eventually yielded their first points on the 30-minute mark, when referee Mauro Rossi awarded them a penalty try.

Within minutes, Yacare had a second try after a brilliant attacking move that saw winger Juan González put through a hole after some clever deception from the Yacare backline.

González was dragged down inches short of the line, but scrum-half Juan Cruz Strada was on hand to finish off the move that will have delighted head coach Ramiro Peman, especially given the conditions.

Cobras didn’t panic, despite the Yacare onslaught, and fought their way back into the game.

Two well-taken Joao Amaral penalties ensured they trailed by just a single point at the break, with a first victory in nearly two years still firmly within their reach.

Tense

With neither side able to add to their tally for the first 30 minutes of the second half, the atmosphere remained tense.

Cobras replacement Julián Leszczynski eventually put his side ahead with a penalty with less than ten minutes left to play, but the result was still in the balance.

Cobras had possession late in the game and were looking for a try to put the game beyond doubt.

A Yacare defender slipped at a pivotal moment, allowing Cobras to surge towards the Yacare line.

After a series of phases, a looping pass allowed Cobras blindside Adrio de Melo to score in the corner and put the team seven points clear with just two minutes left on the clock.

The drama wasn’t over, however, as Yacare looked to snatch a draw with the clock in the red.

They kicked to the corner from a penalty and managed to set up a maul that surged towards the Cobras line.

Not even the most desperate defence could prevent Yacare flanker Matías Muniagurria from scoring, but the conversion attempt was wide of the mark, and the Cobras players celebrated wildly.