Match Preview – Chile vs Paraguay

Los Cóndores and Los Yacarés clash in Santiago on Saturday evening. The test sides of Chile and Paraguay do so after both winning last weekend. Chile upset the Uruguay XV in Montevideo while Paraguay completed a come-back to knock-over Colombia in Asunción.

Chilean head Coach Mark Cross has named an unchanged forward pack. Rodrigo Moya, Oliver Thompson and José Tomás Munita will again start in the front-row. Pablo Huete and Mario Mayol lock the scrum while Javier Richard, Benjamín Soto and Alfonso Escobar play as the loose forwards.

In the backs Juan Pablo Perrota and Santiago Videla again start in the halves. A new mid-field sees Vicente Ayarza moving from outside to inside center, taking over from Francisco de la Fuente. The outside center position goes to José Ignacio Larenas who moves from the right wing.

At the time of publication Paraguay was yet to finalize its starting line-up and replacements. Notwithstanding the 23 players who will feature in the match have been confirmed.

The roster features no 8 Leonardo Glizt and fly half Sergio Alvarenga. Both players were named in the ARN Team of the Week for their performance against Colombia. The battle between Benjamín Soto and Leonardo Glizt is set to be a highlight of the individual match-ups.

Chile and Paraguay have a detailed history of international competition. Saturday’s fixture will mark the 27th time in which the South American countries have met in a test match. Los Cóndores have dominated Paraguay historically with a record of 26 wins and one loss.

Los Cóndores are expected to add a further win to their resumé over the Paraguayans. Chile’s players are a level above Paraguay’s and their experience in the Americas Rugby Championship will make them even tougher for Paraguay. Chile enter the match as favorites to win by 20 points.

CHILE
15 Tomás Ianiszewski, 14 Lucca Avelli, 13 José Ignacio Larenas, 12 Vicente Ayarza, 11 Italo Zunino, 10 Santiago Videla, 9 Juan Pablo Perrota, 8 Benjamín Soto, 7 Alfonso Escobar, 6 Javier Richard, 5 Mario Mayol, 4 Pablo Huete, 3 José Tomás Munita, 2 Rodrigo Moya, 1 Oliver Thompson

Replacements: 16 Salvador Lues, 17 José Tomás Pérez, 18 Sebastián Otero, 19 Clemente Saavedra, 20 Martín Sigren, 21 Domingo Saavedra, 22 José Tomás Maturana, 23 Nicolás Steinsapir

PARAGUAY ROSTER
Emilio Gorostiaga, César de Brix, Matías Martínez, Juan Inglés, Joaquín Vera, Alvaro Rojas, José Lezcano, Andrés Nasser, Mariano Garcete, Leonardo Glizt, Carlos Plate, Horacio Ocampos, Gonzalo Alvarado, Gastón Navas, Gonzalo Bareiro, Sergio Alvarenga, Sebastián Urbieta, Carlos Bareiro, Santiago Alamo, Diego Argaña, Renato Cardona,Horacio Agüero, Juan González

Venue: Old Grangoinian Club, Santiago
Date: Saturday, May 19
Kick-off: 7:00pm (Santiago)
Referee: Francisco González (Uruguay)