ARC Preview – USA vs Chile

Round 3 of the Americas Rugby Championship begins in California where the USA host Chile at Fullerton Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The trajectories of the two sides following their opening matches are almost exact opposites. Chile fell to Brazil in a close match in Santiago before being outclassed by the Argentina XV in Ushuaia last weekend. The USA are undefeated having upset the Argentines in Los Angeles and outstretched Canada in Sacramento.

As expected the Eagles have said goodbye to a half-dozen professionals as they return to their European clubs. Titi Lamositele, Joe Taufete’e, Nick Civetta, Andrew Durutalo, Will Hooley, and captain Blaine Scully have all departed. Also sitting out the match are Hanco Germishuys and Shaun Davies who make way for an influx of new caps.

Huluholo Mo’ungaloa, James Hilterbrand, and Ben Landry move into the run-on tight five. Mo’ungaloa gets his first test start and there is a new cap on the blindside flank in Psalm Wooching. It marks a remarkable rise for the 24-year-old who less than a year ago switched his focus from football to rugby and up until October had been used as an outside back.

Assuming the captaincy in Scully’s absence is Nate Augspurger, no stranger to the role after leading the Eagles in last year’s victorious campaign. Josh Whippy takes the right wing spot for his first start after a brief cameo off the bench against Canada.

The bench is almost entirely changed with five players set to make their first Eagles appearance. Dylan Fawsitt, Brendan Daly, Malon Al-Jiboori, Ruben de Haas, and Paul Lasike are the uncapped players with Tony Purpura and Ben Cima called up after missing the first two rounds of the competition.

Chile are boosted by the return of NOLA Gold lock Nikola Bursic, one of five changes to the starting roster that faced the Argentina XV. Claudio Iturra swaps jerseys with Marco Díaz after making his debut off the bench in Ushuaia. Neither enjoyed their time in the scrum but the return of Bursic will at least add much-needed bulk to the engine room.

José Tomás Baraona also wins his first start, replacing Benjamin Pizarro at flyhalf, with Javier Lavanderos recalled in the midfield to replace Lucca Avelli. On the right wing Martín Raddatz makes his first ARC appearance and first Cóndores start with only one previous test appearance as a replacement.

Veteran hooker Rodrigo Moya is recalled to the bench where there are three new caps in the waiting. Basilio Díaz, Iñaki de Urruticoechea, and José Tomás Maturana are called for their first senior representative action.

The raft of changes for both sides could affect continuity in the early going, but with perfect playing conditions on the forecast expect the more imposing USA ball carriers to make their mark early and often. With more than half of Chile’s first choice side missing anything other than a dominant Eagles victory would be surprise.

 

USA
1 Huluholo Mo’ungaloa, 2 James Hilterbrand, 3 Dino Waldren, 4 Nate Brakeley, 5 Ben Landry, 6 Psalm Wooching, 7 Tony Lamborn, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Nate Augspurger (capt.), 10 Will Magie, 11 Ryan Matyas, 12 Bryce Campbell, 13 Dylan Audsley, 14 Josh Whippy, 15 Mike Te’o

Replacements: 16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Tony Purpura, 18 Angus MacLellan, 19 Brendan Daly, 20 Malon Al-Jiboori, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Ben Cima, 23 Paul Lasike

CHILE
1 Vittorio Lastra, 2 Tomás Dussaillant, 3 Claudio Iturra, 4 Nikola Bursic, 5 Mario Mayol, 6 Javier Richard (capt.), 7 Alfonso Escobar, 8 Benjamín Soto, 9 Beltrán Vergara, 10 José Tomás Baraona, 11 Ítalo Zunino, 12 Francisco de la Fuente, 13 Javier Lavanderos, 14 Martín Raddatz, 15 Tomás Ianiszewski

Replacements: 16 Rodrigo Moya, 17 Basilio Díaz, 18 Marco Díaz, 19 Thomas Orchard, 20 Iñaki de Urruticoechea, 21 Domingo Saavedra, 22 José Tomás Maturana, 23 Diego Ramírez

 

Date: Saturday, February 17
Venue: Titan Stadium, Fullerton
Kickoff: 14:00 local (17:00 Eastern, 19:00 Chile)
Referee: Chris Assmus (RC)
Broadcasts: The Rugby Channel (USA), TSN2 (Canada), ESPN3 (South America), World Rugby (Stream)