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The first match of the 2019 Americas Rugby Championship takes place in a new venue – the Estadio Santiago Bueras. It is a small stadium found in Maipú, the largest commune of Chile’s capital region of Santiago. There the Cóndores will welcome another bird of prey, the Eagles from the USA.
This will be the first test match in charge of Chile for new coach Pablo Lemoine. He took over the team in August but had only matches against a Sudamérica XV and the Māori in November. Lemoine ran the rule over several new players and saw more in last week’s friendly against the Argentina XV. Nine of those new players are set to win their first cap on Saturday, five coming in the starting lineup.
There are precisely zero test caps spread between the four props selected. Francisco Pizarro and Nicolás Ovalle will start the match with Javier Carrasco and Matías Dittus waiting as substitutes. They would normally look to Javier Richard for experience, but the regular captain is missing and instead it’s 22-year-old Martín Sigren who wears the armband for the first time.
Ignacio Silva is one of only five players with double-digits in caps won. The Cóndores Sevens star starts on the flank with an experiment continuing at No8. Australian-born Jaden Laing plays his club rugby for the Davenport Panthers in Michigan, where he has lined up at prop and inside center. He has surprising agility for a man of his considerable size but his experience at the back of the scrum is extremely limited.
Another gamble sees Christian Huerta at outside center despite playing his club rugby at fullback, while age-grade center Gonzalo Lara is named on the left wing. Vicente Ayarza is a big man at inside center but not in the same category as his opposite. Right wing José Ignacio Larenas is the most experienced international in the team with 33 caps.
Replacement hooker Augusto Böhme made his Condores debut against the Maori. He is one of four graduates of the 2017 u20 cohort on the bench. Uncapped lock Javier Eissmann is another – the tallest man in the team at 6’7″ (2.01m) – and there are two more sevens regulars covering the backs in flyhalf Francisco Urroz and winger Julio Blanc, the latter new to the XVs side.
Gary Gold’s Eagles could not be more opposite. The only new cap in the side is New England Free Jacks captain Tadhg Leader, Irish-born and a Connacht academy graduate. Otherwise this is a near full-strength side that would not look out of place at the World Cup later this year.
There are only three changes from the side that faced Ireland in November. Dino Waldren starts in place of Paul Mullen at tighthead prop, forming a front row comprised entirely of England-based professionals. Mullen swaps to the bench with the starting pack otherwise unchanged.
The most notable alteration is at flyhalf where first choice AJ MacGinty returns from injury. Will Magie moves to fullback to make room with Will Hooley not due to join the team until the North American leg of the ARC. Paul Lasike and Bryce Campbell reprise their fearsome midfield partnership with Marcel Brache starting on the left wing and named captain in the absence of injured Blaine Scully. Gannon Moore fills in on the right wing.
Three players on the bench aside from Leader did not make the trip to Dublin. James Hilterbrand is recalled as reserve hooker at the expense of Dylan Fawsitt, and Nate Brakeley covers lock with no sign of Samu Manoa. Dylan Audsley was called up during the week and fills in for injured San Diego Legion teammate Ryan Matyas.
Chile are currently ranked 29th in the world, the lowest of the ARC sides, while the USA are at their all-time high point of 12th after their superb run in 2018. Last year’s result saw the Eagles winning 45-13 against a far more experienced Cóndores side. Expect this year’s points differential to reflect the enormous gulf in class.
Kickoff is set for 3pm local time, 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern. Live broadcasts will be available on ESPN in South America, FloRugby in the USA, and online at TSN.ca in Canada. Those located elsewhere can watch on the World Rugby website.
CHILE
1 Francisco Pizarro, 2 Tomás Dussaillant, 3 Nicolás Ovalle, 4 Bastián Burguener, 5 Clemente Saavedra, 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Ignacio Silva, 8 Jaden Laing, 9 Domingo Saavedra, 10 Francisco González Moller, 11 Gonzalo Lara, 12 Vicente Ayarza, 13 Christian Huerta, 14 José Ignacio Larenas, 15 Tomás Ianiszewski
Replacements: 16 Augusto Böhme, 17 Javier Carrasco, 18 Matías Dittus, 19 Javier Eissmann, 20 Thomas Orchard, 21 Juan Pablo Larenas, 22 Francisco Urroz, 23 Julio Blanc
USA
1 Titi Lamositele, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 3 Dino Waldren, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Nick Civetta, 6 John Quill, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Shaun Davies, 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Marcel Brache (capt.), 12 Paul Lasike, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Gannon Moore, 15 Will Magie
Replacements: 16 James Hilterbrand, 17 Chance Wenglewski, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Nate Brakeley, 20 David Tameilau, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Tadhg Leader, 23 Dylan Audsley
Date: Saturday, February 2
Venue: Estadio Santiago Bueras, Maipú
Kickoff: 15:00 local (10:00 Pacific, 13:00 Eastern)
Referee: Damián Schneider (UAR)
Broadcasts: ESPN (Brazil), ESPN 3 (South America), FloRugby (USA), TSN.ca (Canada), World Rugby
