With the same tournament model that was implemented last season, this Saturday from 3:30 p.m.
a new season of the Top 12 begins, organized by the Buenos Aires Rugby Union (URBA)
and in which
SIC
will defend the title obtained in 2023.
With some absences in the teams that loaned players for the
Super Rugby Americas
dispute , the Top 12 will deliver attractive matches from the first date.
It will also be the beginning of the Third and Development tournaments organized by the Buenos Aires union and which complete the First A, B, C and Second, which have already completed two dates.
Among the most anticipated matches, the one that will be played in Villa de Mayo between CUBA
and
Newman
stands out
, while
SIC
will host
Atlético del Rosario
. The recently promoted
Champagnat
and
Regatas
will have their reunion in the category against
Alumni
and
Belgrano
, respectively. The date is completed with
CASI-Buenos Aires
and
San Luis-Hindú
.
Nine of the 12 teams provided 21 players to some of the franchises competing in the
Super Rugby Americas
and will be absent from their clubs until, in principle, date seven. But if the franchise overcomes the regular phase of the tournament, SIC, CUBA, Alumni, Belgrano, Atlético del Rosario, Regatas, Hindú, Buenos Aires and Newman will only recover their men for the tenth game of the fixture.
San Isidro Club loaned four players to Pampas and one to Yacaré XV, a Paraguayan franchise. CUBA contributed three for the Buenos Aires representative team, while Alumni did the same with another two and one for Selknam, from Chile. Hindú, Belgrano and Regatas each have two players in the South American competition, as does Atlético del Rosario, which contributed its own for the Paraguayan team.
The players in the preview of the official presentation photo of the URBA tournaments.
As in 2023, the competition will be divided into two round-trip rounds for the regular phase, with qualification for the semifinals that 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 court that will be defined by the URBA in due course. At the end of the season there will be two direct relegations for the teams that are in the last two positions. These teams will be replaced by two others from First A: the champion and the best of a playoff between second and fifth in the table.
One by one, Saturday's games
The last time they played
Alumni – Champagnat
, the Tortuguitas team beat them 74 to 0.
The Marists
have not won against that rival for more than 23 years: the last time was 27 to 16 in 2001.
The Rojiblancos face 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, which had been the best team in the regular season.
Champagnat returns to the top division after 13 years of absence. He achieved promotion after finishing third in the final table with 86 points. In the semifinals they beat Los Tilos and in the final they beat Matreros. They will play their twelfth season in the top competition in Buenos Aires.
SIC - Atlético del Rosario
With 27 titles in tow, the champion will have the challenge of playing without five of its starters, in the middle of the Super Rugby Americas competition. With the challenge of rotation, the defense of the title will begin at home. For its part, Atlético had a different year: it managed to retain the category shortly before the end of the season and for this season it also has several of its references
Despite the disparate nature of their campaigns, in 2023 each one played the game that faced them as a visitor. 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 – Newman
It is, a priori, the match that promises the most because both have a string of games in the defining moments of the last tournaments. Newman won the last three games and Cuba achieved its last victory in 2022.
The Cardinal will face a round without using its Benavídez court, suspended. The negative aspect for Universitario is the loss of players in the Major League, which is added to those in Super Rugby.
ALMOST - Buenos Aires
For the San Isidro club, the goal is to reach the semifinal of the tournament after several inconsequential seasons. After being the revelation in 2022, Buenos Aires had to work hard to revalidate its participation in the Top 12.
El León changed its head coach, but the same structure continues. He also managed to recover some of the injured members of the squad, although he will present a decimated pack. When they met last year, they won the away games.
Regattas - Belgrano Athletic
Regatas is the last champion of Primera A, with 120 points they achieved the goal five dates before the end of the competition. On its return to the elite, it will complete its twenty-first season, with the 2002 campaign, in which it won runner-up, as the best in its history.
For Belgrano it is time for a change: it has a superior squad made up mostly of young people and will try to reach the semifinals, an event that has been postponed since 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 for permanence until the end with its classic rival, La Plata, San Luis will seek to be a more balanced team in a new season in the Top 12.
Hindú's immediate past is more prosperous, although last year it remained in the semifinals, eliminated by SIC. The squad does not present substantial changes and therefore the Elephant will seek to be one of the entertainers of the competition.