ARC Preview – Uruguay vs Chile

The second round of the Americas Rugby Championship begins on Friday evening when Uruguay host Chile at the Estadio Charrúa. Traditionally this might been a competitive match but Los Teros are now 12 spots ahead of Chile on the World Rugby Rankings and have not lost to the Cóndores since May of 2015.

It should be acknowledged that Chile defeated a Uruguay XV in the Sudamericano 6 Naciones last year, a remarkable 22-20 win in Montevideo. This Cóndores selection, however, is considerably weaker with only two returning starters and none of their overseas contingent. Meanwhile Uruguay field a stronger test side bolstered by six starters signed to Major League Rugby contracts.

Their respective results of the opening round are also vastly different. Chile were totally outclassed by the USA, somehow scoring one try but conceding 71 points. Uruguay, on the other hand, showed great composure to overcome an early red card to star player Santiago Arata and score two late tries in a come-from-behind win over Canada.

Teros coach Esteban Meneses has made just four changes to the starting team. Juan Manuel Rodríguez will make his test debut at lock in place of Ignacio Dotti, the only change to the forward pack. He comes from the Trébol de Paysandú club, Uruguayan champions for the first time in 2018. While Rodríguez lacks the height of Dotti, he does provide ballast in the scrum.

Tomás Inciarte starts where he finished in place of Arata at scrumhalf. Out wide Federico Favaro and Rodrigo Silva give way to Toronto Arrows duo Leandro Leivas and Gastón Mieres at wing and fullback respectively. Silva has returned to his MLR club Austin Elite while Favaro is named on the bench.

Match-winning try-scorer Guillermo Pujadas retains his spot as reserve hooker, but there are three new players named on the bench. Joaquín Alonso is set to make his Teros debut as a replacement at scrumhalf, while Manuel Blengio covers flyhalf in place of Andrés De León. Manuel Diana takes the place of Leandro Segredo as back row cover.

Pablo Lemoine has responded to the one-sided defeat with six personnel changes and two positional switches. Half the starting forward pack is changed with four players handed their first test starts. Javier Carrasco and Matías Dittus are the new props, with both coming on as first-half replacements against the USA. Nicolás Ovalle is dropped to the bench and Francisco Pizarro out completely, while uncapped Marcelo Huerta takes a spot on the bench.

Javier Eissmann is a straight swap for Clement Saavedra at lock, and Thomas Orchard comes into the back row on the flank with Ignacio Silva shifting to No8. Jaden Laing is the one relegated to the bench. Eissmann and Orchard bring considerably more height at the lineout, an area exposed against the Eagles last weekend.

In the backs there is a new scrumhalf as Juan Pablo Larenas joins brother José Ignacio in the run-on side. Christian Huerta, brother of Marcelo, moves from outside center to fullback with sevens standout Julio Blanc getting his first start in the midfield. There are in fact three sets of brothers in the match day squad as the Saavedra twins – Clemente and Domingo – are named on the bench.

An interesting selection in the No23 shirt is Pablo Metuaze. The 31-year-old is a highly accomplished sevens player having taken part in two Pan-Am Games competitions but has not been capped in the XV-a-side game since 2011 when he won four caps on the wing during the South American Championship.

[EDIT: There are several late changes to the Chilean side. In the starting lineup Gonzalo Lara is out, so Julio Blanc will now play on the left wing, Pablo Metuaze on the right, and José Ignacio Larenas moves to outside center.

A fourth front rower – Mauricio Gómez – has been added to the bench as has loose forward Camilo Sánchez. Both are uncapped. That makes it seven forwards on the bench though Jaden Laing has played inside center before at Davenport. Scrumhalf Domingo Saavedra is the only specialist backs cover.]

All signs point to a comfortable win for Uruguay. They have the advantage in form, continuity, and recent historical results. Chile can target the lineout with Eissmann, Orchard, and Bastián Burguener all taller than anyone in the Teros lineup, but the scrum is not in their favor. Add in home field advantage and it would be a brave individual who bet against Uruguay having this match wrapped up in plenty of time to give their bench a run.

Kickoff is set for 8:10pm local time, 3:10pm Pacific, 6:10pm 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.

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Mario Sagario, 4 Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 5 Diego Magno, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea, 8 Alejandro Nieto, 9 Tomás Inciarte, 10 Juan Manuel Cat, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Joaquín Prada, 14 Leandro Leivas, 15 Gastón Mieres

Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Facundo Gattas, 18 Juan Echeverría, 19 Gonzalo Soto Mera, 20 Manuel Diana, 21 Joaquín Alonso, 22 Federico Favaro, 23 Manuel Blengio

CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Tomás Dussaillant, 3 Matías Dittus, 4 Bastián Burguener, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Thomas Orchard, 8 Ignacio Silva, 9 Juan Pablo Larenas, 10 Francisco González Moller, 11 Gonzalo Lara, 12 Vicente Ayarza, 13 Julio Blanc, 14 José Ignacio Larenas, 15 Christian Huerta

Replacements: 16 Augusto Böhme, 17 Nicolás Ovalle, 18 Marcelo Huerta, 19 Clemente Saavedra, 20 Jaden Laing, 21 Domingo Saavedra, 22 Francisco Urroz, 23 Pablo Metuaze

CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Tomás Dussaillant, 3 Matías Dittus, 4 Bastián Burguener, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Thomas Orchard, 8 Ignacio Silva, 9 Juan Pablo Larenas, 10 Francisco González Moller, 11 Julio Blanc, 12 Vicente Ayarza, 13 José Ignacio Larenas, 14 Pablo Metuaze, 15 Christian Huerta

Replacements: 16 Augusto Böhme, 17 Nicolás Ovalle, 18 Mauricio Gómez, 19 Marcelo Huerta, 20 Jaden Laing, 21 Clemente Saavedra, 22 Camilo Sánchez, 23 Domingo Saavedra

Date: Friday, February 8
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Kickoff: 20:10 local (15:10 Pacific, 18:10 Eastern)
Referee: Federico Anselmi (UAR)
Broadcasts: ESPN 2 (Brazil), ESPN 3 (South America), FloRugby (USA), TSN.ca (Canada), World Rugby