Chile down Brazil in ARC Opener

The first ever Americas Rugby Championship fixture is now over. Chile hosted Brazil in Santiago, completing a tight 25-22 win. With it Los Cóndores can breathe a sigh of relief as the prospect of collecting the inaugural wooden spoon is now all but over.

Chile went into the Americas Rugby Championship under greater pressure to deliver. The controversy that had surrounded FERUCHI following the resignation of Paul Healy in December meant the team had everything to lose against Brazil. Signs of disorganization were clear, especially in the second half as Brazil fought back to come within one try of an upset.

A strong start from the home side resulted in an early 3-0 lead. Outside center Matías Nordenflycht landed his first of two opening half penalties in the 4th minute. Brazil, though hit back straight away with fullback Daniel Sancery crossing for the game’s first try in the 7th minute. With David Harvey’s conversion on target the Tupis went 7-3 ahead.

The well-workers try was to be Brazil’s only score of the opening half. A well-organized Los Cóndores side was able to get the better of Brazil in both the set-piece and broken play to take the lead.

Before Chile scored a penalty from Nordenflycht cut the deficit to 1 point. Chile then gained confidence and was able to turn pressure into points with left winger Ítalo Zunino giving his side the lead before a 40th minute score through French based center Francisco de la Fuente saw Chile in control at the interval.

A great line break from Daniel Sancery got Brazil close and his brother, Felipe finished the job, scoring in the 45th minute. The conversion attempt of the left-footed Harvey was wide, making it a 20-12 ballgame.

Nordenflycht had converted both first half tries but when called upon to attempt a long-range penalty in the 52nd minute he missed. Four minutes later he was off-target again this time with a wide conversion. José Ignacio Larenas’ breakaway try gave Chile a 25-12 advantage. The try came from further good work from Nordenflycht who broke the line and offloaded to Leonardo Montoya who put Larenas in the clear.

Still fighting for a win Brazil pushed hard to get back into Chilean territory and won a penalty which Harvey landed. The 59th minute three-pointer made it 25-15. A missed opportunity 10 minutes later was forgiven as Brazil’s best player today, Daniel Sancery again broke the line.

From a loose pass the fullback ran 80 meters before passing to Lucas Tranquez who dived over in the corner. The fortunate try was converted by Harvey to set-up an enthralling final. Chile did not do themselves any favors as poor ball-handling and sloppy play in general handed Brazil numerous opportunities in the final minutes.

A nervous Cóndores side held on to complete the win but know that their careless passing game in the second half put be corrected as it will be punished by the opposition in the coming rounds. Chile now travel across the border to face the Argentina XV in San Juan while Brazil fly home to host Uruguay next Friday in São Paulo.

 

SCORING

CHILE 25
Tries – Í. Zunino (23′), F. de la Fuente (39′), J. Larenas (54′)
Cons – M. Nordenflycht 2/3 (24′, 40′)
Pens – M. Nordenflycht 2/3 (4′, 17′)

BRAZIL 22
Tries – D. Sancery (7′), F. Sancery (45′), L. Tranquez (68′)
Cons – D. Harvey 2/3 (8′, 69′)
Pens – D. Harvey 1/3 (58′)

 

TEAMS

CHILE
1 Ramón Ayarza (17 Claudio Zamorano 73′), 2 Rodrigo Moya (16 Tomás Dusaillant 51′), 3 Sergio de la Fuente (18 Luis Sepúlveda 51′), 4 Nikola Bursic (19 Raimundo Piwonka 65′), 5 Matías Cabrera, 6 Cristóbal Niedmann (Ignacio Silva 55′), 7 Javier Richard, 8 Benjamín Soto (capt.), 9 Beltrán Vergara, 10 Cristián Onetto, 11 Ítalo Zunino (23 Pablo Casas 71′), 12 Francisco de la Fuente, 13 Matías Nordenflycht, 14 José Ignacio Larenas, 15 Leonardo Montoya

Not Used: 21 Juan Pablo Perrotta, 22 Matías Contreras

BRAZIL
1 Wilton Rebolo (17 Lucas Abud 45′), 2 Daniel Danielewicz (16 Yan Rosetti 45′), 3 Jardel Vettorato (18 Vitor Ancina 78′), 4 Lucas Piero, 5 Luiz Vieira (19 Felipe Tissot 56′), 6 Mark Jackson, 7 João Luiz da Ros (capt.), 8 Nick Smith (20 Arthur Bergo HT), 9 Beukes Cremer (21 Laurent Bourda-Couhet 44′), 10 David Harvey, 11 Lucas Tranquez, 12 Moisés Duque (23 Martin Schaefer 56′) 13 Felipe Sancery, 14 Stefano Giantorno (22 Lucas Duque 72′), 15 Daniel Sancery

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Joaquín Montes (URU)
Assistants: Francisco Saavedra (CBRu) & Frank Méndez (CBRu)

 

Attendance: 1,850