Rugby: When four's a crowd

Liceo, Los Tordos, Marista and Mendoza RC will seek the two tickets to the grand final of the Regional rugby tournament where the Gold Cup is at stake.

Weather permitting, there will be a doubleheader at the Los Tordos club facilities. The first match, starting at 2 PM, will feature the blue and red team against Los Conejos, followed by Marista, the Torneo del Interior "A" champion, against Liceo, the TDI "B" runner-up.

In the last round of matches of the so-called Final Four tournament, in zone "A" Los Tordos beat UN San Juan 33 to 13 and Liceo defeated Teqüé 34 to 14.

In zone "B" Marista beat Mendoza RC by 25 to 7 and San Juan RC defeated the Banco Mendoza team by 33 to 27.

The positions in this reduced tournament were as follows, in Zone "A": 1st Los Tordos 44 points; 2nd Liceo 25; 3rd Un San Juan 20 and 4th Teqüé 5.

On the other hand, in the "B" pairing: Marista was first with 40 units, second Mendoza RC with 25; third was San Juan RC with 19 and closed the group the fifteen of Banco Mendoza with 12 units.

This Saturday is the Top 12 final, and SIC will play Cardenal Newman. It starts at 4:40 PM. Remember that the champion will face Marista in the National Club Tournament.

After a spectacular performance, Cardenal Newman has reached the URBA semifinals again after a 17-year absence. For the first time, and after eleven semifinal appearances, the Bordó team advanced to a second final thanks to their 41-24 victory over Belgrano Athletic.

The only time Newman advanced past this stage was in the 2008 season, after a 6-6 draw against SIC, a result that propelled them to the final due to their higher ranking in the regular season. In the decisive match, they lost to Hindú Club, 22-10.

The other finalist is SIC, after winning the 142nd edition of the San Isidro derby, defeating CASI 13-9. SIC will be in another final, their 13th since this format was implemented in 1998. The Boulogne club equaled Hindú Club's record of 13 finals since that time, the last one in 2022.