Los Dogos are the first team confirmed for the Super Rugby Americas (SRA) 2026 Semi Finals. The Córdoba side defeated Selknam 35-28 away in Santiago, Chile on Saturday to guarantee themselves a spot in the final four.
The contest in Santiago was a slobberknocker. The teams entered the match positioned 4th (Selknam) and 2nd (Dogos). The rugby played underlined that the two teams are in fine form this season.
The contest was tight throughout; Los Dogos held a 15-7 half-time lead. It was built on an early try to fullback Mateo Soler, a late first-half try by winger Ernesto Giúdice and one conversion and one penalty from Facundo Rodríguez.
The opening try saw Rodríguez attracting defenders before passing off a difficult angle to Soler who ran into space to score. As pretty as it was, there was a better one to follow as Manuel Bustamante collected the ball from the floor, brushed off a tackled and spun around another to score for Selknam.
Los Dogos’ second try featured multiple hands and plenty of pace. Soler provided the assist for Giúdice to score in the left corner.
The second-half started with a bang. After Bustamante was tackled meters short, Lucas Berti passed inside to Matías Garafulic who timed his charge well to dot the ball down in the try zone. With it the scores were 15-14 after 42 minutes.
Los Dogos responded with a great run from center Agustín Segura. The Argentina XV representative sliced through and passed off the floor. Two further passes followed with scrum-half Nicolás Viola being on hand to score for the visitors.
Next came Soler for his second try of the afternoon. His time at fullback demonstrated that he has the gift of bingo the support runner in the right place at the right time. Seven minutes later he was involved as Facundo Pueyrredón scored in the right corner.
Los Dogos were seemingly home; however, 16 minutes remained. Selknam won the final quarter by scoring two tries and conceding the aforementioned score by Pueyrredón in addition to a penalty from Rodriguez five minutes from full-time.
The Chileans fight-back saw Rodrigo Fernández setting-up a try for replacement Clemente Armstrong in the left corner. When replacement front-rower Salvador Lues scored for a pick-and-go Selknam ended relatively happy as they came away with two bonus points.
 SCORING |
SELKNAM (28)
TRY – M Bustamante (25′); M Garafulic (41′); C Armstrong (68′); S Lues (80′)
CON – M Garafulic 4 (26′, 42′, 69′, 80′)
YC – I Gurruchaga (70′)
DOGOS (35)
TRY – M Soler 2 (22′, 56′); E Giúdice (31′); N Viola (47′); F Pueyrredón (64′)
CON – F Rodríguez (23′, 48′)
PEN – F Rodríguez 2 (16′, 35′)
YC – L Simes (67′)
| LINE-UPS |
SELKNAM
1 Emilio Shea, 2 Augusto Bohme, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Agustín Toth, 6 Clemente Saavedra (capt.), 7 Ernesto Tchimino, 8 Santiago Montagner, 9 Lucas Berti, 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 11 Nicolás Saab, 12 Matías Garafulic, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Manuel Bustamante, 15 Cristobal Game
Replacements: 16 Salvador Lues, 17 Javier Carrasco, 18 Norman Aguayo, 19 Bruno Sáez Cerda, 20 Raimundo Martínez, 21 Juan Sebastián Bianchi, 22 Alfonso Escobar, 23 Clemente Armstrong
DOGOS
1 Nicolás Revol, 2 Juan Ignacio Greising Revol, 3 Octavio Filippa, 4 Lautaro Simes, 5 Enzo Ocampo, 6 Augusto Cugnini, 7 Valentin Cabral (capt.), 8 Genaro Fissore, 9 Nicolás Viola, 10 Facundo Rodríguez, 11 Facundo Pueyrredón, 12 Faustino Sánchez Valarolo, 13 Agustín Segura, 14 Ernesto Giúdice, 15 Martín Soler
Replacements: 16 Tomás Montilla, 17 Juan Aguirre, 18 Ezequiel Bustos López, 19 Lucio Willington, 20 Gastón Garayzabal, 21 Genaro Podesta, 22 Mauricio Kember, 23 Manuel Carrara
| MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
| MATCH OFFICIALS |
VS
Referee: Nehuen Jauri Rivero (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Sebastián Toledo (Chile); Cauã Ricardo (Brazil)