Match Preview – Canada vs Chile

One team will walk away from Westhills Stadium with their first win of the Americas Rugby Championship on Saturday where Canada host Chile. Unless, of course, they end in a draw. Last week’s match at the same venue was played the worst conditions seen in a test match in recent memory. Thankfully it appears the weather gods have been satiated, with a reasonably mild day expected tomorrow, but it will still be short of ideal.

If the weather does cooperate as forecast, we could see some actual rugby played, which would be a welcome sight to the poor souls who braved the storm last weekend and are keen to do so again. Conditions aside neither team impressed in their opening round matches, with a total of nine points scored between the two and not a single try.

Mark Anscombe might have found cause to forgive his team, and perhaps even thank them for taking the field at all given the circumstances. That said he has still opted to make five changes to his starting lineup. Experienced Wolf Pack duo Clay Panga and Carl Pocock are left out completely, with hooker Eric Howard consigned to the bench after struggling with his lineout throwing against Argentina and Rob Brouwer swapped for Djustice Sears-Duru. Gradyn Bowd comes in from the cold to start at flyhalf with Robbie Povey a reserve this week. Benoît Pifféro gets the nod in Howard’s place, with Ollie Nott summoned to the back row and Brock Staller shifted to fullback to allow Guiseppe du Toit to lineup in the midfield.

The addition of Nott changes the complexion of the loose forwards, with Lucas Rumball sliding to his most effective position of blindside flank and similarly Admir Cejvanovic at his preferred no8 position. Rumball and Nott have been partnered together on the flanks before, at u20 level, where they complimented each other nicely. Rumball revels in the dirty work while Nott plays fast and loose. Cejvanovic will be tasked with getting over the gainline from the scrum, which he generally does very well.

After being away from the team for almost a year, Bowd will get his chance to fend off the surging Povey, whose game management skills look more refined than Bowd’s did last year. There will be a familiar face at no12 in the form of du Toit, another UVic man and himself a competent flyhalf with a siege gun boot. He has added muscle to his frame and will act as a second distributor with Nick Blevins the classic battering ram outside him.

Los Cóndores will have had a different sort of week. Bernard Charreyre would not have been satisfied with the effort in São Paulo and has benched his captain Claudio Zamorano in response. His halfbacks have also received the axe, with Beltrán Vergara and Francisco González Moller dropped completely. Flanker Cristobal Niedmann has been dumped with no8 Manuel Dagnino only on the bench due to Nicanor Machuca’s untimely injury. Added to that are injuries to starting hooker Tomás Dussaillant and star midfielder Matías Nordenflycht.

Vittorio Lastra will replace Zamorano at loosehead. The 20-year-old has shown promise but this is a major step up to face 130kg (285lbs) plus of Matt Tierney, who boasts recent Top 14 experience. Recovering the captaincy is Benjamín Soto who performed well as Chile’s skipper last year. He will be joined by debutante Arturo Seeman on the flank, a completely different type of flanker than the stocky Niedmann, tall and wiry like fellow flanker Anton Petrowitsch.

The new halfbacks are Jan Hasenlechner and Francisco Cruz. Hasenlechner had a brief run as first choice halfback in 2014 but has only a couple replacement appearances since. Cruz is returning from three years in the international wilderness. Charreyre seems to be looking for inspiration from anywhere at this point.

One area that does look stronger than a week ago is the backline. Losing Nordenflycht is a major blow but the return of Simón Pardakhty from France could not have come sooner. Pardakhty is an ultra-physical steamroller of a centre, a converted loose forward who prefers to take route one with ball in hand. Canada may look to man-mark him with Blevins, or even direct Rumball to slow him down. José Ignacio Larenas is a steady player outside him but it’s Pardakhty who will require the most attention.

Another to keep an eye on is left wing Tomás Ianiszewski, who has genuine winger’s pace and a good feel for support lines. Franco Velarde has been shifted to wing from the midfield and Pedro Verschae moved back to fullback. They are all attack-minded selections but they have to get the ball first or their effect will be minimal.

Canada obliterated Chile by a score of 64-13 in Santiago last year. Given the conditions that seems a very lofty target but they will still be heavily favored to put up a score at home. Chile are short some of their best players and on paper lack the firepower to give Canada more than intermittent problems. Look for Canada to try and get in behind the Chilean defense with hard lines and offloads. If their handling succeeds, there is a real chance to put up a score.

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru, 2 Benoît Pifféro, 3 Matt Tierney, 4 Conor Keys, 5 Liam Chisholm, 6 Lucas Rumball, 7 Ollie Nott, 8 Admir Cejvanovic, 9 Gordon McRorie (capt.), 10 Gradyn Bowd, 11 Taylor Paris, 12 Guiseppe du Toit, 13 Nick Blevins, 14 Dan Moor, 15 Brock Staller

Replacements: 16 Eric Howard, 17 Rob Brouwer, 18 Cole Keith, 19 Reegan O’Gorman, 20 Matt Beukeboom, 21 Phil Mack, 22 Robbie Povey, 23 George Barton

CHILE
1 Vittorio Lastra, 2 Rodrigo Moya, 3 José Tomás Munita, 4 Nikola Bursic, 5 Mario Mayol, 6 Arturo Seeman, 7 Anton Petrowitsch, 8 Benjamín Soto (capt.), 9 Jan Hasenlechner, 10 Francisco Cruz, 11 Tomás Ianiszewski, 12 Simón Pardakhty, 13 José Ignacio Larenas, 14 Franco Velarde, 15 Pedro Verschae

Replacements: 16 Martín Mendoza, 17 Claudio Zamorano, 18 Gonzalo Martínez, 19 Manuel Dagnino, 20 Eduardo Orpis, 21 Juan Pablo Larenas, 22 Jorge Castillo, 23 Rodrigo Fernández

Date: Saturday, February 11
Venue: Westhills Stadium, Langford
Kickoff: 17:00 local (20:00 Eastern, 22:00 Chile)
Referee: Derek Summers (USAR)
Assistants: Doug Hamre (RC) & Robin Kaluzniak (RC)
Broadcasts: TSN GO