International Match – Italy XV vs Chile – ARN Guide

International rugby takes on a new shape on Friday as the Italy XV play host to Chile. The uncapped fixture sees the Italian next-of-XV playing against the Chilean test team. It is the first such meeting and comes several months after the historic first-ever Italy vs Chile test match.

Friday’s match will be played at the Stadio Tommaso Fattori in L’Aquila. The late afternoon kick-off means it will be a 1pm kick-off in Santiago del Chile. The match will be broadcast live by TVN on Youtube.

 

WORLD RANKINGS

Current World Ranking: 10 (79.81)

Current World Ranking: 18 (66.72)

 

ITALY XV

1 Destiny Ugiagbe Aminu (Benetton)
2 Nicholas Gasperini (Benetton)
3 Marcos Francesco Gallorini (Benetton)
4 Matteo Canali  (Zebre Parma)
5 Alex Mattioli (Racing 92, FR)
6 Giulio Marini (Benetton)
7 Jacopo Botturi (Petrarca)
8 Giacomo Ferrari (Zebre Parma)
9 Lorenzo Citton (Petrarca)
10 Simone Brisighella (Valorugby Emilia)
11 Fabrizio Daniel Ciardullo-Oro  (Viadana 1970)
12 Damiano Mazza (Zebre Parma)
13 Marco Zanon (Zebre Parma)
14 Marco Scalabrin (Petrarca)
15 Mirko Belloni  (Zebre Parma)

Replacements:
16 Valerio Siciliano (Brive, FR)
17 Luca Franceschetto  (Zebre Parma)
18 Paolo Buonfiglio (Zebre Parma)
19 Pietro Turrisi (Racing 92, FR)
20 Alessandro Ortombina  (Zebre Parma)
21 Nicolo’ Casilio (Valorugby Emilia)
22 Giovanni Montemauri (Zebre Parma)
23 François Carlo Mey (Soyaux Angoulême, FR)

 

TEST CAPS

Marco Zanon (21)
Mirko Belloni  (2)
Matteo Canali (2)
Paolo Buonfiglio (1)

 

CHILE

1 Salvador Lues (Selknam)
2 Augusto Bohme (Selknam)
3 Iñaki Gurruchaga (Selknam)
4 Santiago Pedrero (Selknam)
5 Bruno Sáez (Selknam)
6 Clemente Saavedra (Selknam)
7 Alfonso Escobar (Selknam)
8 Ernesto Tchimino (Selknam)
9 Marcelo Torrealba (Selknam)
10 Rodrigo Fernández (Selknam)
11 Clemente Armstrong (Selknam)
12 Domingo Saavedra (Selknam)
13 Nicolás Saab (Selknam)
14 Cristóbal Game (Selknam)
15 Matías Garafulic (Selknam)

Replacements:
16 Normán Aguayo (Selknam)
17 Emilio Shea (Selknam)
18 Baltazar Gurruchaga (Selknam)
19 Santiago Valenzuela (Selknam)
20 José Miguel Contreras (Issoire, FR)
21 Sebastián Bianchi (Selknam)
22 Juan Cruz Reyes (Selknam)
23 Federico Kennedy (Selknam)

 

TEST CAPS

Clemente Saavedra (39)
Augusto Böhme (37)
Domingo Saavedra (37)
Alfonso Escobar (35)
Rodrigo Fernández (34)
Salvador Lues (33)
Iñaki Gurruchaga (28)
Matías Garafulic (26)
Santiago Pedrero (24)
Marcelo Torrealba (22)
Cristóbal Game (12)
Juan Cruz Reyes (12)
Bruno Sáez (11)
Ernesto Tchimino (11)
Nicolás Saab (9)
Normán Aguayo (6)
Clemente Armstrong (4)
Santiago Valenzuela (1)
José Miguel Contreras (1)
Sebastián Bianchi (1)

 

NOTABLE ABSENTEES

– Italy compete in the Six Nations this weekend. The team to face England can be seen by clicking here.

– Javier Carrasco (LH), Diego Escobar, (HK), Matías Dittus (TH), Vittorio Lastra (TH), Javier Eissmann (LO), Raimundo Martínez (FL), Martín Sigren (FL), Marcelo Torrealba (SH), Benjamín Videla (SH), Tomás Salas (FH), Santiago Videla (CE), Iñaki Ayarza (FB).

 

NOTES

• It is the second such match for Chile against the next-of-XV of a Six Nations team in recent years. Chile faced Scotland XV in November 2024.
• The timing of the match means Selknam will field a highly depleted line-up against Peñarol this weekend.
• Rodrigo Fernández is back for Selknam in Chile following several seasons playing in Italy.
• Federico Kennedy and Emilio Shea will play for Chile for the first-time.
• Marcelo Torrealba and José Miguel Contreras return after sustaining injuries in 2025.
• Clemente Armstrong starts on the wing six days after playing flanker for Selknam in SRA.
• José Miguel Contreras joins Selknam players in Los Cóndores. Chile are otherwise without professional players based abroad.

 

PREDICTION

The match serves as development purposes for both Italy and Chile. On the one hand, Italy have the opportunity to expand their player base as the clock counts down to Rugby World Cup 2027. On the other hand, Chile gets to play against players in consideration for places in a Tier 1 test side. The Nations Championship prevents this possibility from otherwise happening in 2026. Italy enter with 14 players from the United Rugby Championship URC) or Top 14. The remainder are Pro D2 or Italian Serie players. This is a notably advantage over Chile’s line-up and a contributing factor as to why the Italy XV enter as favorites.

 

MATCH INFO

Date: Friday, March 06
Venue: Stadio Tommaso Fattori, L’Aquila (IT)
Kickoff: 5:00pm (Italy); 1:00pm (Chile)
Weather Forecast: Cloudy; 12°C; Wind: 10 km/h
Broadcasts: TVN Youtube

 

HISTORY VS

November, 22, 2025 – Italy 34-19 Chile (Genoa, IT)