Battle Hardened Chile Knock-Over Uruguay in Americas Rugby Championship

In an old-fashioned brutal rugby contest, the Chile XV defeated the Uruguay XV 33-12. The match was an uncapped fixture in the opening round of the 2026 Americas Rugby Championship. It followed the Argentina XV’s win over Paraguay in Talcahuano, Chile.

The match had two problems: (a) it was not capped but should have been and (b) the tension boiled over to see three players red carded in the 62nd minute. The red cards saw hooker Joaquín Myszka send off after a scuffle, which had the potential of being a brawl, broke out. Then both captains were sent-off after a second happened after Uruguay’s Ignacio Dotti barged into Chilean captain Clemente Saavedra.

The first-half was a competitive period with Chile outscoring Uruguay to hold d a 21-12 lead at half-time. Scrum-half Benjamín Videla opened the scoring by breaking clear to score near the posts. The second try put Chile 14-0 up after back-rower Alfonso Escobar scored. Both tries were converted by Santiago Videla who played the match in the unfamiliar position of outside center.

Uruguay hit-back with a try to the aforementioned hooker, Joaquín Myszka. Hie saw was converted by Justo Ferrario to open the second quarter. Both teams added one try each in the second quarter. First, Myszka added a second try before Matías Dittus scored from a pick-and-go for the home side.

The second-half tension boiled over will, in all likelihood, see Joaquín Myszka suspended. The hooker completed an unnecessary and dangerous tackle on Emilio Shea. It remains to be seen whether or not the injury suffered was serious.

Referee Federico Longobardi red carded Myszka for the tackle. He did so by calling both captains and explaining the situation. Ignacio Dotti’s approach to Clemente Saavedra followed and Longobardi had had enough and thus red carded both captains.

The 14-man Chile scored two tries against the 13-man Uruguay. Augusto Bohme and Matías Garafulic went over one each. The scores guaranteed Chile a bonus point while Uruguay new era under Guzmán Barreiro began without any ARC competition points.

 

 

SCORING

CHILE XV (33)
TRY – B Videla (1′), A Escobar (5′), M Dittus (38′), A Bohme (68′), M Garafulic (71′)
CON – S Videla (2′, 6′, 39′, 69′)
YC – I Gurruchaga (33′)
RC – C Saavedra (52′)

URUGUAY XV (12)
TRY – J Myszka 2 (20′, 34)
CON – J Ferrario (21′)
RC – J Myszka (52′), L Bianchi (52′)

TEAMS

CHILE XV
1 Emilio Shea, 2 Augusto Bohme, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Bruno Sáez, 5 Santiago Pedrero, 6 Clemente Saavedra (capt.), 7 Ernesto Tchimino, 8 Alfonso Escobar, 9 Benjamín Videla, 10 Rodrigo Fernandez, 11 Alvaro Marco, 12 Domingo Saavedra, 13 Santiago Videla, 14 Tomas Salas, 15 Matías Garafulic

Replacements: 16 Salvador Lues, 17 Norman Aguayo, 18 Matías Dittus, 19 Max Schlesinger, 20 Joaquín Milesi, 21 Marcelo Torrealba, 22 Felipe Mendez, 23 Clemente Armstrong

URUGUAY XV
1 Mateo Perillo, 2 Joaquín Myszka, 3 Reinaldo Piussi, 4 Ignacio Dotti, 5 Felipe Aliaga, 6 Mateo Sosa, 7 Lucas Bianchi (capt.), 8 Pedro Marsico, 9 Ignacio Rodríguez Bosch, 10 Justo Ferrario, 11 Ignacio Facciolo, 12 Joaquín Suarez, 13 Alfonso Perillo, 14 Juan Manuel Alonso, 15 Ignacio Alvarez Akiki

Replacements: 16 Germán Kiegel, 17 Ignacio Péculo, 18 Faustino Etchegorry, 19 Manuel Ponte, 20 Pedro Suárez, 21 Pedro Hoblog, 22 Francisco Landauer, 23 Manuel Parodi

 

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS