Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
2016 is to be a year like no other for rugby in the Americas with Chile being a significant benefactor. The tiresome struggle to secure regular international competition outside of South America is now over. With it Chile’s chances of realizing the dream of playing on the global stage will accelerate. To get the ball rolling Forward Thinking looks into Chile Qualifying for a Rugby World Cup.
World Cup History
Despite never having qualified for a Rugby World Cup Chile has been close on more than one occasion. Beginning in time for 1995 Chile has been involved in Rugby World Cup qualifiers. The first campaign saw a tight win over Paraguay but Los Condores were ultimately eliminated.
A changed structure for the 1999 tournament meant Chile began against Caribbean nations Bermuda and Trinidad & Tobago. Comfortable victories meant Los Condores advanced to face Paraguay and Uruguay, defeating the former 54-6 and losing to the later 20-14. Even though there was less than a try between the sides defeat meant elimination for Chile while Uruguay would go all the way, debuting in Rugby World Cup 1999.
Further changes to the structure for Rugby World Cup 2003 qualifying saw Chile defeating Brazil and Paraguay by big margins to join Canada, Uruguay and the USA in a home-and-away tournament. Los Condores won two and lost four matches to finish with an identical record to that of the USA.
Played from June to October of 2002 Canada won 5 games, losing only to Uruguay by the scoreline of 25-23 in Montevideo. Of note is that Chile defeated both Uruguay and the USA but in finishing fourth on points differential to the USA, Chile was eliminated. It was tight with the Eagles finishing on -32 compared to Los Condores on -51.
With Argentina missing out on a Quarter Final at Rugby World Cup 2003, Los Pumas needed to qualify for the 2007 tournament. As such the highly competitive format used for 2003 qualifying in the Americas was scrapped. Chile saw off Brazil and Paraguay to join Argentina and Uruguay in a three-way South American final. Los Condores were convincingly beaten with Uruguay’s 43-15 win being larger than the six and nine point home wins in the 2003 and 1999 qualification campaigns.
A 79-3 win over Brazil in Rugby World Cup 2011 qualifying was impressive but was quickly forgotten as Uruguay won 46-9 in Santiago to eliminate Chile. Four years on a 38-22 home win over the Tupis was only good enough for second as Uruguay won 23-9 to see off Chile.
What the overall record shows is that while the the winning margins have fluctuated Uruguay remains comparatively ahead now when looking back to Rugby World Cup 1999. Not only closing but ending this gap is now at the forefront of Chile’s requirements to qualify for a future Rugby World Cup.
General International Performances
The drop off since the Rugby World Cup 2003 qualifying campaign falls in line with the general international performances of Los Condores during the same time period. Chile has managed two wins against Uruguay during this period. The 21-18 and 30-15 wins in 2011 and 2015 were joined by a 30-24 win over Georgia in 2004 as the victories against Rugby World Cup 2015 competitors.
An encouraging 41-16 loss against Fiji in Santiago in 2003 stands alone. Remaining intercontinental results saw losses of 28-9 and 31-19 against Portugal in 2004 and 2005, 30-25, 26-3 and 54-10 against Spain in 2008, 2013 and 2015 and a 32-30 loss against Tonga in 2010.
The narrow loss against teh Pacific Island nation was not against Tonga’s strongest lineup but was a notable fixture considering, above all, Uruguay was unable to host the same match at the time on financial grounds. It was Los Condores’ only fixture of 2010 outside of the South American Championship. Indeed in five other years during this period Chile had no intercontinental opposition and in 2006, 2009 and 2010 played only two matches per year.
Opening Doors
Which brings us to there here and now, the Americas Rugby Championship. For Chile it is a guarantee of five test matches a year, a number only reached on three occasions since 2003. It is a dream come true for FERUCHI just as it is for the players. It is the basis from which Chile can reach new heights.
Doors will open in rugby and marketing terms with Los Condores being exposed to greater coverage than ever before. The union will benefit from a new found revenue stream to invest back into the game. Chile’s Rugby Sevens captain Francisco González Moller was open in criticizing the structure to me in 2015 and he is far from being alone with Paul Healy having recently resigned in protest as Head Coach and documenting his decision to Americas Rugby News.
Decision making is now required to maximize the golden opportunity presenting itself to Chile. The High Performance Center in Uruguay provides guidelines for what can and, ought to be considered. Uruguay’s progress on the field to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2015 was significantly aided by off-field activities.
Capitalizing
To ensure Los Teros can do it all over again and qualify for Japan 2015 the URU is in talks with World Rugby to obtain increased funding, becoming increasingly self-sufficient and become an official Tier 2 union. Chile is a long way behind but needed be for too long. The country has some 18,500 registered players, compared to 10,548 in Uruguay in 2014, and the sport is played nationwide.
With a population of 17.5 million there are more than four times as many Chileans are there are Uruguayans. Moreover Santiago is centrally located, making it ideally suited to the construction of a fully-functioning High Performance Center.
Making this a reality must be the focus of FERUCHI. It will enable the transformation of quality young players into international level players, something lacking in Chile. Such has been the gap from junior to senior representation level that Chile has a good record at the Junior World Trophy including wins over World Cup participants Canada, Japan, Namibia, Portugal, Romania and Russia.
Such results from the senior men’s side can be achieved too. For this to happen a structure must be implemented and now is the time to act. Getting Chile back into the Argentine National Provincial Championship is another step to take. It can provide Chile’s top domestic players with required competition similar to that of the Uruguay XV. Indeed Paraguay’s involvement this year is an indication of Argentina’s willingness to integrate.
Playing in a Rugby World Cup can happen but only with action. 2019 is an unlikely target, 2023 a more than realistic one if action is taken.
