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Chile produced a marvelous display of rugby today to humble Paraguay in Santiago. The 66-7 victory saw Los Cóndores’ back to their best and sends alarm bells to Paraguay as the threat of relegation to the South American ‘B’ Championship.
Chile were quickly out of the blocks. Los Cóndores made smart work of overpowering Los Yacarés, underlining the relative strength of the sides in relation to the experience of one of the two in the Americas Rugby Championship.
The match was over before half time. So impressive were Los Cóndores that they went to the break leading 54-7. Felipe Brangier, Benjamín Soto, Franco Velarde, José Munita and José Ignacio Larenas all crossed for tries before Los Yacarés were able to open their account.
Paraguay’s score came from fly half Héctor Gayoso. He converted his own try and his opposite was also on target. In what was a fine performance, Francisco González Moller landed seven first half conversions for Chile.
Gayoso’s contribution came in the 30th minute. It would be the one high point in an otherwise unimpressive afternoon. It was responded to by Larenas. Having already scored once, the Universidad Católica flier scored further first half tries to complete a rare opening half hat-trick.
Los Cóndores returned from the changing rooms a different side. Having scored eight opening half tries they dropped their level to score twice in the second half. The tries were scored by Ignacio Silva and Soto, the latter scoring his second of the match.
The result keeps the dream of Japan 2019 alive for Chile. Combined with last weekend’s win over Brazil it means Chile are 2-0 in the Rugby World Cup qualifiers. Next weekend they travel to Montevideo to face Uruguay. The winner will advance to the final round of Americas qualifiers against the runner-up of Canada and the USA.
SCORING
CHILE 66
Tries – F. Brangier 2 (4’, 23’), B. Soto 2 (10’, 64’), F. Velarde (13’), J. Munita (17’), J. Larenas 3 (20’, 35’, 39’), I. Silva (47’)
Cons – F. Gonzalez Moller 8/10 (5’, 14’, 19’, 21’, 24’, 36’, 40’, 48’)
PARAGUAY 7
Tries – H. Gayoso (29’)
Cons – H. Gayoso 1/1 (30’)
Yellow cards – H. Agüero (64’), Á. Rojas (66’)
TEAMS
CHILE
1 Ramón Ayarza (17 Vittorio Lastra 65’), 2 Manuel Gurruchaga (capt.) (16 Tomás Dussaillant 56’), 3 José Tomás Munita (18 Maximiliano Hurtado 48’), 4 Nikola Bursic, 5 Mario Mayol (19 Manuel Dagnino 67’), 6 Ignacio Silva, 7 Anton Petrowitsch (20 Alfonso Rioja 48’), 8 Benjamín Soto, 9 Jan Hasenlechner (21 Beltrán Vergara 43’), 10 Francisco González Moller, 11 Franco Velarde (22 Tomás Ianiszewski 62’), 12 José Ignacio Larenas, 13 Matías Nordenflycht, 14 Felipe Brangier, 15 Rodrigo Fernández (23 Matías Contreras 67’)
PARAGUAY
1 Omar Rojas, 2 Juan Manuel Gavigán (17 Joaquín Vera 52’), 3 Álvaro Rojas, 4 Luis Mauger (18 Jorge Riveros 45’ {16 Martín Sitjar 68’-78’)), 5 Andrés Nasser (capt.), 6 Juan Gómez (19 Martín Ortiz 45’), 7 Carlos Plate, 8 Leonardo Glizt, 9 Gastón Navas, 10 Héctor Gayoso (22 Fabrizio Cabrera 45’), 11 Fabrizio Da Rosa, 12 Pablo Espínola, 13 Sebastián Urbieta (20 Rodrigo Da Rosa 52’), 14 Diego Argaña (23 Carlos Bareiro 56’), 15 Horacio Agüero
Not used: 21 Gonzalo Bareiro
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Henrique Platais (CBRu)
Assistants: Sebastián Gijón (UAR) & Juan Manuel Martínez (UAR)
