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The Eagles begin their South American voyage in sunny Santiago on Saturday in Round Four of the Americas Rugby Championship. Greeting them will be Chile, a team struggling to find its identity and without a win in the competition since the 2016 ARC opener against Brazil. The USA, on the other hand, is three-for-three thus far and look set to give the Argentina XV all they can handle next weekend, provided they don’t sleep on the proverbial banana skin first.
It’s hard to say exactly what we’ll see from the Chileans. If there’s one thing they’ve struggled with it’s consistency. Of course it doesn’t help that their lineup seems to be thrown in a hat and pulled at random each week. Despite showing solid defense at times against the Argentines, it’s back to the drawing board for head coach Bernard Charreyre as he makes a dozen changes in all. In their four games they have chosen four different starting scrumhalves, and had four different captains.
Two constants have been in the forwards. It might be a stretch to say that Mario Mayol has been a revelation, but the young second row has certainly shown up to play in every game. He’s an example of a player who would benefit greatly in a professional training environment, with proper physical conditioning. By far the brightest player for Los Cóndores has been Anton Petrowitsch. His contribution was expected, but when it comes time to settle on a ‘best of’ for the tournament, it will take a strong argument to leave him out.
Where Chile really struggled against Argentina was a lack of muscle to get over the gainline. To that end the returns of Nikola Bursic and Simón Pardakhty, and to a lesser extent Manuel Dagnino, will help greatly. Pardakhty smashing into a channel occupied by Ben Cima and JP Eloff does not sound like fun for the Americans, and it will not be a surprise if Bryce Campbell is shifted inside on defense to keep the hammer in line.
The new Chilean backline actually looks considerably more threatening on paper than last week’s nomination. Tomas Ianiszewski will be a contender for quickest player on the park, and the rangy Matías Contreras is a welcome sight after missing the first three matches of the competition. Francisco González Moller did not look pleased to be left on the bench last week and he provided a spark when he came on. The spotlight will thus be on scrumhalf Sergio Bascunan to make the statement that Beltrán Vergara, Jan Hasenlechner, and Juan Pablo Larenas have been unable to conjure.
For the USA the task is simple. Stick to the game plan and get out with a bonus point win. With the talent at their disposal that should not be a massive challenge. While it’s disappointing to lose outstanding second row pair Nate Brakeley and Nick Civetta for these crucial matches, the Chileans will not be cheering at the sight of two 6’8″ (2.03m) behemoths in Matt Jensen and Siaosi Mahoni emerging from the tunnel. Spike Davis is another physical mismatch, and it might be Contreras who is tasked with marking him instead of the comparatively tiny Ianiszewski.
It’s the bench that seals the deal for the Eagles. Hanco Germishuys and David Tameilau are the sort of players who can make a big impact in a short amount of time. Will Magie has already shown his class and exciting debutante Calvin Whiting is waiting to introduce himself to test rugby. Andrew Turner is another newcomer, an Englishman who nobody seems to know anything about.
The Eagles won this same fixture by 64-0 last year. This Chilean side does not resemble that one with only Contreras returning, but that’s an awfully big gap to overcome in the space of a year. There may be a feeling out process early on but the USA must be considered heavy favorites as they aim for a third straight 50-point score.
CHILE
1 Vittorio Lastra, 2 Manuel Gurruchaga (capt.), 3 José Tomás Munita, 4 Mario Mayol, 5 Nikola Bursic, 6 Arturo Seeman, 7 Anton Petrowitsch, 8 Manuel Dagnino, 9 Sergio Bascuñan, 10 Francisco González Moller, 11 Tomás Ianiszewski, 12 Simón Pardakhty, 13 Franco Velarde, 14 Matías Contreras, 15 Pablo Verschae
Replacements: 16 Rodrigo Moya, 17 Sebastián Valech, 18 Ernesto Ugarte, 19 Nelson Calderón, 20 Eduardo Orpis, 21 Beltrán Vergara, 22 Jorge Castillo, 23 Mauricio Urrutia
USA
1 Ben Tarr, 2 James Hilterbrand, 3 Chris Baumann, 4 Matt Jensen, 5 Siaosi Mahoni, 6 Todd Clever, 7 Tony Lamborn, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Shaun Davies, 10 Ben Cima, 11 Nate Augspurger (capt.), 12 JP Eloff, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Spike Davis, 15 Mike Te’o
Replacements: 16 Peter Malcolm, 17 Anthony Purpura, 18 Olive Kilifi, 19 Hanco Germishuys, 20 David Tameilau, 21 Will Magie, 22 Calvin Whiting, 23 Andrew Turner
Date: Saturday, February 25
Venue: Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo, Las Condes
Kickoff: 15:30 local (10:30 Pacific, 13:30 Eastern)
Referee: Ricardo Sant’Anna (CBRu)
Assistants: Frank Méndez (FERUCHI) & Tomás Fernández (FERUCHI)
Broadcasts: ESPN Sur, The Rugby Channel, TSN Go
