Test Match Preview – Russia vs Chile

History will be made on Saturday as Russia play host to Chile for the first time. In just the second ever test match between the Russia Bears and Los Cóndores,  the teams will battle-it-out at Yug Sports Stadium in Sochi.

The match puts together one competitor from two of the past three Rugby World Cups against, perhaps, the biggest improver since RWC 2019. Russia competed at RWCs 2011 in New Zealand and RWC 2019 in Japan. The latter included facing the Japanese in the tournament opener in Tokyo.

Chile are yet to appear in a Rugby World Cup. 2021 results suggest this could be changed from fact to fiction in 2022. Los Cóndores were magnificent in their recent home test match against Canada. The 33-24 win combined with the earlier last second loss gave the South Americans a 54-46 win on aggregate.

Having eliminated Canada, Chile are now in search of making further history; this time in Russia. Los Cóndores are up against a team that is in danger of missing out on a place in RWC 2023. After five matches Russia are in fourth position  in the European qualifying standings.

Russia’s last test match did not go well. The Bears were beaten 49-12 by Spain. That match was a RWC 2023 qualifier and sees Spain back in contention despite being placed 5th behind Georgia, Romania, Portugal, and Russia at present.

Russia are coached by Lyn Jones. He has been in charge of the Bears since 2018. In his playing days he was a test player. He earned five caps for Wales.

Jones’ team to face Chile includes some surprises; none more so than that of Yenisei-STM center Denis Semikov. He will start in the centers. His call-up comes following his involvement for Russia in the European u20s in Portugal. There are also opportunities for Ivan Chepraga (CSKA), Gleb Farkov (Dynamo) and Pavel Kirillov (Slava) on the bench. The trio are all uncapped.

Chile’s team is strong; Martín Sigren captains a side similar to that which secured a place in the Americas 2 Final against the USA in July 2022. Sigren remains without his regular flanker partner Ignacio Silva. He was injured in the South American section of the Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifiers. He is expected to return for Selknam in the 2022 SLAR.

Having impressed recently, Raimundo Martínez earns a start in the back-row. He and Thomas Orchard will start with Sigren. This sees one of the big performers from the year, Alfonso Escobar featuring from the bench. He together with Augusto Bohme, Salvador Lues, Iñaki Gurruchaga, and Clemente Saavedra ensure that Chile have an 80 minute pack.

The backline sees a start for Nicolás Herreros. He replaces Marcelo Torrealba at scrum-half and starts inside Rodrigo Fernández. This selection by Pablo Lemoine sees Santiago Videla continuing at fullback. He and Fernández will be Chile’s dual play-makers while Matías Garafulic, and Domingo Saavedra go in to the match on the back of outstanding 2021’s for Selknam and Los Cóndores.

RUSSIA
1 Evgeny Mishechkin, 2 Dmitri Parkhomenko, 3 Vladimir Podrezov, 4 Alexander Ilin, 5 German Silenko, 6 Vitali Zhivatov (capt.), 7 Anton Sychev, 8 Nikita Vavilin, 9 Konstantin Uzunov, 10 Ramil Gaisin, 11 Daniil Potikhanov, 12 Kirill Golosnitskiy, 13 Denis Semikov, 14 Andrey Karzanov, 15 Alexey Golov

Replacements: 16 Alexander Ivanov, 17 Valeri Morozov, 18 Anton Drozdov, 19 Egor Zykov, 20 Ivan Chepraga, 21 Denis Barabantsev, 22 Pavel Kirillov, 23 Gleb Farkov

CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Tomás Dussaillant, 3 Matías Dittus, 4 Augusto Sarmiento, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Thomas Orchard, 8 Raimundo Martínez, 9 Nicolás Herreros, 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 11 Iñaki Ayarza, 12 Matías Garafulic, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Nicolás Garafulic, 15 Santiago Videla

Replacements: 16 Augusto Bohme, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 19 Clemente Saavedra, 20 Alfonso Escobar, 21 Marcelo Torrealba, 22 José Larrenas, 23 Pablo Casas

Date: Saturday, 20 November, 2021
Kick-Off: 3:00pm (Sochi); 9:00am (Santiago)
Venue: Yug Sports Stadium, Sochi
Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant Referee 1: Adam Jones (Wales)
Assistant Referee 2: Manuel Bottino (Italy)
TMO: Sean Brickell (Wales)

HISTORIC RESULTS
2017-11-18 – Russia 42, Chile 11 (Hong Kong)