Sudamérica Preview – Chile vs Uruguay XV

In the feature match of the opening round of the Sudamérica 6 Naciones A Chile play host to the Uruguay XV in Santiago. The two countries join Argentina in being the traditional top three in the continent and the regular three in the former top tier of the competition.

Changing times have seen Brazil overtaking Chile with pressure on the Federación de Rugby de Chile to bridge what is now an evident gap. Uruguay’s progression has also given rise to the Uruguay XV with that team taking to the field this month in the Sudamérica Rugby competition.

Chile’s Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) campaign this year was problematic. Players were missing not only to club duty abroad but also to Los Cóndores 7’s. This left Los Cóndores understrength, a horrendous predicament for the bottom seed in the competition.

Chile’s ARC finished with an 85-10 home defeat against the Argentina XV. The chances of a repeat against the Uruguay XV are extremely low. Chile’s line-up to face the Uruguay XV is stronger than that which faced the Argentina XV.

Of note is the return to the team of Pablo Huete. The French-based second-rower will off important strength to the pack. He is to be joined by Matías Dittus, Javier Eissman, and Martín Sigren as starting forwards who also started against the Argentina XV.

In the backs fly half Santiago Videla has also been retained as have centers Iñaki Ayarza, and José Larenas as well as fullback Christian Huerte.

The Uruguay XV line-up contains no shortage of well-placed names for RWC 2019. Among these are hooker German Kessler; wingers Nicolás Freitas, and Federico Favaro; and regular captain and flanker Juan Manuel Gaminara.

Joining these four in pushing for RWC selected are the remaining players involved. Some are better positioned than others such Manuel Diana, Juan Pedro Rombys, and Leandro Segredo very well positioned.

2019 marks year two in the history of the Uruguay XV. The team was established in as the national ‘next of XV’ as a means of playing below full-strength teams without risking dropping World Rankings points in international competition.

In 2018 the Uruguay XV underperformed. They began by defeating Colombia 26-5 in Medellín but then dropping their matches 22-20 against Chile, and 64-15 against the Argentina XV. Chile had two wins, that against the Uruguay XV and a 97-0 hammering against Paraguay. While these results would suggest Chile are well placed the most likely out come is an Uruguay XV victory. The visitors are favored to win by 15 points.

The Chile Rugby Fan Page will stream the match live.

 

TEAMS

CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Tomás Dussaillant, 3 Matías Dittus, 4 Pablo Huete, 5 Javier Eissman, 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Nicolás Garafulic, 8 Ignacio Silva, 9 Beltrán Vergara, 10 Santiago Videla, 11 Julio Blanc, 12 Iñaki Ayarza, 13 José Larenas, 14 Germán Herrera, 15 Christian Huerta

Replacements: 16 Augusto Bohme, 17 Marcelo Huerta, 18 Nicolás Ovalle, 19 Clemente Saavedra, 20 Thomas Orchard, 21 Francisco Garrido, 22 Juan Pablo Larenas, 23 Francisco Urroz

URUGUAY XV
1 Santiago Bonasso, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Juan Pedro Rombys, 4 Gonzalo Soto Mera, 5 JuanJuan Garese, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.), 7 Leandro Segredo, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Tomás Iniciarte, 10 Matías Davanzo, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Agustín Della Corte, 13 Alfonso Costa, 14 Federico Favaro, 15 Manuel Blengio

Replacements: 16 Joaquín Jaunsolo, 17 Guillermo Pujardas, 18 Faustino Ethcegorry, 19 Maxime Sonneveld, 20 Santiago Civetta, 21 Tomás Ubilla, 22 Juan Pablo Costabile, 23 José Iruleguy

Date: Saturday, May 11
Kick-Off: 7:00pm (Chile), 8:00pm (Uruguay)
Venue: Old Grangonians Club, Santiago del Chile
Referee: Pablo Deluca (Argentina)