ARC Preview – Chile

Just one day to go! The groundbreaking new test rugby tournament begins on Saturday. The bringing together of Rugby World Cup regulars Argentina, Canada, and the USA along with the rapidly developing Uruguay, Brazil, and Chile gives the Americas a legitimate and highly promising platform for rugby to grow throughout the region.

2015 FORM

The significance for Chile in having the opportunity at playing in the Americas Rugby Championship can be comprehended merely from viewing Los Cóndores’ matches in 2015. Opportunities were slim as has been the case year after year. That though all changes now as Chile have five matches in the coming weeks and additional ones as the year unfolds.

Chile’s South American A Championship campaign last April and May saw Los Cóndores playing three times and coming away with a more than satisfactory outcome. Paul Healy coached the side to a perfect three wins from three outings.

First up was Brazil, a side to have surprised Brazil the previous year with a home win in São Paulo. Los Cóndores ensured it was to be a one-off with a comprehensive 32-3 victory in Santiago. A perfect 7 from 7 from Javier Valderrama and tries from Ítalo Zunino and Francisco Hurtado saw Chile comfortably home.

Away to Paraguay, Chile was given a tougher than expected assignment. Valderrama was less accurate, landing 6 of his 9 attempts at goal in a 35-25 victory. Chile’s pack performed well with second-rowers Agustín Fernandez and Matías Cabrera and prop Ramón Ayarza all scoring opening half tries. Scrum half Juan Pablo Perrotta crossed in the second half.

Los Yakáres would go on to defeat Brazil in an away fixture to finish third while Chile would take-on the Rugby World Cup 2015 qualified Uruguay at home in the final round. The boot of Valderrama was contributive again as he kicked 5 from 5 in a 30-15 shock win. Tries by Zunino, Perrotta and Cristián Onetto were crucial as Uruguay scored fewer with one of their two being a penalty try.

The three wins meant Chile won a first ever South American A Championship. Not featuring was Argentina with the Argentina XV instead meeting Paraguay and Uruguay in the CONSUR Cup. Argentina’s two wins meant the Argentina XV was the official South American Champions for 2015.

POST RWC 2015

The year did not end well for Chile and was,  in fact, disastrous. In order to prepare for the ARC, Chile departed on a rare international tour. The two-match trip of Spain in November was the end of the road for Healy. The Australian handed in his resignation to FERUCHI the following month, doing so with heavy criticism over the union’s lack of action and day-to-day activities.

The two matches in Spain were losses. Against the Basque Country in San Sebastián, Healy fielded largely his reserves and the team was defeated 31-14. A full-strength Cóndores lineup was then selected for a test against Spain four days later with Chile being humbled 54-10. The 8 tries to 2 loss was far from ideal preparation for the ARC.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

A host of new names are to play for Chile in the ARC with a number of Chilean from the Spanish tour players left out. Of those retained prop Ramón Ayarza is one of the players to have joined the roster from France. The young front row has many years of international rugby ahead of him. Seven years the older, Sergio de La Fuente is another notable prop.

Chile also has some accomplished centres with Matías Nordenflycht and Leonardo Montoya being two lesser known names to look out for. Nordenflycht made a swift and successful transition from the junior side to Los Cóndores, impressing against Brazil and Paraguay in 2013. In addition to being a strong attacker he is also a quality goal kicker.

With the responsibility of marshaling play Juan Pablo Perrotta will be required to perform at the best of his abilities. In previous matches for Los Cóndores he has proven to be a very capable athlete.

VERDICT

A quick transition sees the new coaching team of Elías Santillán, Sebastián Gajardo, and Bernardo García needing to deliver. They are fortunate to have home matches against both Brazil and Uruguay, the 4th and 6th seeds of the competition. Chile enter between them, as the 5th seed and in all likelihood will finish in this precise position.

Wins against Argentina, Canada, and the USA are on the distant horizon for now but the beauty of the ARC is such that with time Los Cóndores are certain to close the gap. The win over the USA during Rugby World Cup 2003 qualifying is a firm indication as is the strength of the junior program at previous World Rugby Junior World Trophy tournaments. This year Chile entered as favorites against Brazil while in the remaining four fixtures Los Cóndores will be the firm underdog.

FIXTURES

Feb 6	vs Brazil	Santiago	18:00 Chile, 19:00 Brasilia
Feb 13	vs Argentina	San Juan	18:00 Argentina/Chile
Feb 20	vs USA	Fort Lauderdale	18:00 EST, 20:00 Chile
Feb 27	vs Uruguay	Santiago	18:00 Chile/Uruguay
Mar 5	vs Canada	Santiago	19:00 Chile, 17:00 EST

SQUAD

NAME	POS	HGT	WGT	DOB	CAPS	CLUB
Ayarza, Ramón	PR	1.86 6-1	122 270	Aug 28 1993	4	La Voulte (FR)
Burgos, Felipe	PR	1.78 5-10	103 225	Mar 14 1987	18	Los Troncos
de la Fuente, Sergio	PR	1.86 6-1	119 260	Jul 31 1986	48	Waipu (NZ)
Garruchaga, Iñaki	PR	1.85 6-1	104 230	Oct 31 1995	1	Old Johns
Munita, José Tomás	PR	1.91 6-3	120 265	Aug 11 1992	4	Universidad Católica
Oyarzún, Roberto	PR	1.91 6-3	124 275	Mar 15 1987	6	Northland (NZ)
Sepúlveda, Luis	PR	1.78 5-10	116 255	Jul 13 1982	6	Los Troncos
Venegas, Nicolás	PR	1.76 5-9	105 230	Jan 11 1986	40	Stade Francais
Zamorano, Claudio	PR	1.78 5-10	103 225	Jan 8 1989	9	Stade Francais
Dussaillant, Tomás	HO	1.76 5-9	100 220	Apr 26 1986	0	Old Boys
Garruchaga, Manuel	HO	1.78 5-10	103 225	Apr 3 1983	5	Old Johns
Moya, Rodrigo	HO	1.81 5-11	105 230	Sep 30 1982	0	P.W.C.C.
Álvarez, Ignacio	LO	1.93 6-4	105 230	Jul 23 1988	5	C.O.B.S.
Bassaletti, Felipe	LO	1.93 6-4	110 240	Dec 13 1984	1	Paraná Rowing Club
Cabrera, Matías	LO/FL	1.96 6-5	102 225	Oct 31 1987	6	Cisneros (SP)
Piwonka, Raimundo	LO	1.93 6-4	105 230	Dec 7 1986	1	P.W.C.C.
Niedmann, Cristobal	FL/HO	1.72 5-8	90 200	Dec 9 1992	15	P.W.C.C.
Richard, Javier	FL	1.86 6-1	96 210	Feb 25 1991	4	C.O.B.S.
Silva, Ignacio	FL	1.87 6-2	98 215	Feb 16 1989	14	Stade Francais
Soto, Benjamín	FL/N8	1.82 6-0	98 215	Aug 26 1987	15	Stade Francais
Bursic, Nikola	N8/LO	1.88 6-2	115 255	Aug 12 1993	4	C.O.B.S.
Manas, Matthieu	SH	1.73 5-8	81 180	May 24 1990	3	Stade Francais
Perrotta, Juan Pablo	SH	1.73 5-8	83 180	May 9 1987	22	Universidad Católica
Vergara, Beltrán	SH	1.76 5-9	81 180	Dec 15 1990	0	Old Boys
Onetto, Cristián	FH	1.80 5-11	89 195	Feb 11 1983	60	C.O.B.S.
da la Fuente, Francisco	CE	1.83 6-0	95 210	May 23 1988	12	Bagnères (FR)
Larenas, José Ignacio	CE	1.82 6-0	89 195	Sep 14 1989	11	Universidad Católica
Nordenflycht, Matías	CE	1.86 6-1	100 220	Oct 2 1994	6	C.O.B.S.
Contreras, Matías	WI	1.87 6-2	86 190	Dec 28 1994	5	Alumni
Montoya, Leonardo	WI	1.78 5-10	82 180	Aug 5 1986	2	Rouen (FR)
Zunino, Ítalo	WI	1.77 5-10	84 185	Jun 16 1992	8	C.O.B.S.
Casas, Pablo	FB	1.88 6-2	90 200	Mar 4 1992	1	P.W.C.C.
Chacaltana, Humberto	FB/FH	1.78 5-10	90 200	Jun 23 1986	0	Universidad Católica