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Los Cóndores will look to continue their winning ways when they host Paraguay at the Estadio Municipal de La Pintana in Santiago on Saturday. They earned redemption for their Americas Rugby Championship loss with a 15-10 win over Brazil in the opening match of the South American ‘A’ Championship last weekend. Next up on their Rugby World Cup Qualification path is Paraguay, who were outclassed by Uruguay in their 45-19 loss but managed to score three tries in the final quarter to salvage some pride.
Injuries have deprived Los Yakarés of Matías Benítez and Alejandro Montiel after the physical match in Asunción. Juan Manuel Gavigán comes into the front row with Omar Rojas switching to loosehead prop from hooker, and Luis Mauger starts beside captain Andrés Nasser at lock.
One further change sees Héctor Gayoso recalled at flyhalf with Sebastián Urbieta shifted to outside centre. Carlos Bareiro drops to the bench where there are further changes with Joaquín Vera, Jorge Riveros, and Martín Ortiz all called up.
Chile have retained almost an identical lineup with only one alteration to the starting team. José Ignacio Larenas is named on the right wing with Felipe Brangier swapping to the reserves. Rodrigo Fernández replaces Francisco Urroz on the bench in the only other change to the match day 23. Maximiliano Hurtado and Alfonso Rioja should make their test debuts after being unused replacements against Brazil.
Paraguay have beaten Chile only once in their 26 tests since 1971, a 25-24 result in 1993. Their last meeting was also in Santiago, with the Cóndores coming away 68-7 winners during last year’s South American ‘A’ Championship. With few changes and new-found confidence from last weekend’s victory, Chile will be heavy favorites to push past Paraguay once more with a showdown against Uruguay for a shot at the World Cup Americas repechage on the horizon.
The match kicks off at 3:45pm local time and will be streamed live (details to be added).
CHILE
1 Ramón Ayarza, 2 Manuel Gurruchaga (capt.), 3 José Tomás Munita, 4 Nikola Bursic, 5 Mario Mayol, 6 Ignacio Silva, 7 Anton Petrowitsch, 8 Benjamín Soto, 9 Jan Hasenlechner, 10 Francisco González Moller, 11 Franco Velarde, 12 Francisco de la Fuente, 13 Matías Nordenflycht, 14 José Ignacio Larenas, 15 Tomás Ianiszewski
Replacements: 16 Tomás Dussaillant, 17 Vittorio Lastra, 18 Maximiliano Hurtado, 19 Manuel Dagnino, 20 Alfonso Rioja, 21 Beltrán Vergara, 22 Rodrigo Fernández, 23 Felipe Brangier
PARAGUAY
1 Omar Rojas, 2 Juan Manuel Gavigán, 3 Álvaro Rojas, 4 Luis Mauger, 5 Andrés Nasser (capt.), 6 Juan Gómez, 7 Carlos Plate, 8 Leonardo Glizt, 9 Gonzalo Bareiro, 10 Héctor Gayoso, 11 Fabrizio Da Rosa, 12 Pablo Espínola, 13 Sebastián Urbieta, 14 Diego Argaña, 15 Horacio Agüero
Replacements: 16 Martín Sitjar, 17 Joaquín Vera, 18 Jorge Riveros, 19 Martín Ortiz, 20 Rodrigo Da Rosa, 21 Gastón Navas, 22 Fabrizio Cabrera, 23 Carlos Bareiro
Date: Saturday, May 20
Venue: Estadio Municipal de La Pintana, Santiago
Kickoff: 15:45 local / Eastern (12:45 Pacific)
Referee: Henrique Platais (CBRu)
Assistants: Sebastián Gijón (UAR) & Juan Manuel Martínez (UAR)
Broadcasts: (live stream to be confirmed)
