New Initiative begins in Chile: Super 4 Rugby

A new initiative has begun in Chile. Today marked the beginning of Super 4 Rugby. The elite domestic competition geographically divides the country into four regions: North (Norte), Central (Centro), Coastal (Costa), and South (Sur).

The first round of matches were played in San Carlos de Apoquindo. Players were brought together to compete in the High Performance Center, a facility that is designed to produce talent for Los Cóndores.

 

Game one was between Centro and Sur. Centro were comfortable 28-16 winners. The metropolitan team controlled play for the most part. Sur responded late in the game, but it was too late to alter the outcome.

Centro featured a powerful lineup with nine senior Cóndores in the starting lineup, among them flanker Anton Petrowitsch and center Vicente Ayarza. Sur counted three capped players in the backline including the Neira brothers with prop Sebastián Otero the only international up front.

CHILE CENTRO
1 Esteban Inostroza, 2 Raimundo Martínez, 3 José Tomás Munita, 4 José Joaquín Manterola, 5 Maximiliano Silva, 6 Anton Petrowitsch, 7 Diego Pinochet, 8 Mathias Claps, 9 Juan Pablo Larenas, 10 Benjamín Baraona, 11 Cristóbal Atenas, 12 Vicente Ayarza, 13 Felipe Berry, 14 Humberto Chacaltana, 15 Christian Huerta

Replacements: 16 Marcelo Huerta, 17 Benjamín Frías, 18 Rufino Costa, 19 Joseph Uauy, 20 Camilo Zepeda, 21 Gabriel Lubejtic, 22 Renan Salas, 23 Agustín Morandé, 24 Vicente Almeida, 25 Ignacio Giacamán, 26 Nicolás Ovalle

CHILE SUR
1 Sebastián Otero, 2 Tomás Sánchez, 3 Sergio Aguilera, 4 Axel Scheel, 5 Marco Valenzuela, 6 Benjamín Soto Besamat, 7 Lucca Marchini, 8 Alfonso Célis, 9 Juan Del Rio, 10 Andrés Célis, 11 Sebastián Montoya, 12 Francisco Neira, 13 Daniel Jamett, 14 Joaquín Diban, 15 Felipe Neira

Replacements: 16 César Cortes, 17 Eric Hansen, 18 Baltazar Gurruchaga, 19 Ernesto Saelzer, 20 Martín Acevedo, 21 Hermes Didier, 22 Felipe Méndez, 23 Cristóbal Game, 24 Jean Reculé, 25 Cristóbal Mainguyague, 26 Norman Aguayo

 

Game two was a nail-biter; Norte were 26-25 winners over Costa. The match was between High Performance players from the respective regions. There were a high number of u20s players involved.

Notable prospects for Norte are hooker Diego Escobar and flyhalf Lucas Sandoval. Costa started two Cóndores in lock Bastián Burguener and fullback Pedro Verschae, with three others in the bench in hooker Martín Mendoza, prop Marco Díaz, and center Javier Lavanderos.

CHILE NORTE
1 Juan Pablo Duhalde, 2 Diego Escobar, 3 Marcos Araya, 4 Manuel Ripamonti, 5 Maximiliano Leiva, 6 Joaquín Vidal, 7 Agustín Pérez, 8 Joaquín Milesi (capt.), 9 Lukas Carvallo, 10 Lucas Sandoval, 11 Vicente Urbina, 12 Juan Noriega, 13 Clemente Armstrong, 14 Andro Kovacic, 15 Thomas Winkler

Replacements: 16 Simón Donoso, 17 Sebastián Castro, 18 Enrique Rivera, 19 Jaime Paredes, 20 Agustín Fernández, 21 Andrés Kuzmanic, 22 Baltazar Jana, 23 Davor Kovacevic, 24 Tomás Álvarado, 25 Martín Bezanilla, 26 José Alcerreca

CHILE COSTA
1 Martín Comas, 2 Tomas Court, 3 Cristóbal Rodríguez, 4 Bastián Burguener, 5 Thomas Dhamen, 6 Nicolás Sabaleta, 7 Sebastián Viñales, 8 Joaquín Troncoso (capt.), 9 Juan Pablo Metuaze, 10 Matías Verschae, 11 Earving Velarde, 12 Rodrigo Gajardo, 13 Julián Troncoso, 14 Diego Padellaro, 15 Pedro Verschae

Replacements: 16 Martín Mendoza, 17 Marco Díaz, 18 Carlos Buschmann, 19 Mathew Faille, 20 Esteban Karmy, 21 Juan Bascuñan, 22 Javier Lavanderos, 23 Joaquín Meyer, 24 Benjamín Castro, 25 Martín Karmy, 26 Diego Pérez