Chile shock USA to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2023

Chile have done it. Los Cóndores completed a sensational 31-29 upset win over the USA on Saturday afternoon to qualify for their first ever Rugby World Cup. A sold-out crowd at Infinity Park was left shocked as the Chileans overcame a 19-nil deficit to record the historic victory.

Tactical kicking dominated the start of the match. The higher altitude saw kicks from both sides run too long. A spark came from Martin Iosefo, who chipped over the defensive line. Ruben de Haas reached the ball first in-goal and though he couldn’t quite hang on, the scrumhalf managed to tap it back to Iosefo for a cracking score. AJ MacGinty landed the conversion from the sideline.

Mistakes cost Chile dearly, but more importantly their scrum was in big trouble at every put-in. They couldn’t handle even their own put-ins, which handed possession straight back to the Eagles. A long series of attack stretched the Cóndores defense and Iosefo was on the end to score a double, again touching down in the left corner. MacGinty’s kick was identical to the first and sailed through the uprights.

The scrum continued to haunt the Cóndores. It set the platform for Greg Peterson to crash over from close range, but the referee had obstructed a Chilean defender and the try was waved off. Back to the scrum and again Chile were retreating. This time the ball came out to MacGinty and it was an easy run-in for the try. His radar was off this time but the Eagles were 19-nil off and there was no sign of letting up.

An opportunity presented itself when Nick Civetta was binned for a dangerous clearout at a ruck on Salvador Lues. Chile kicked to the corner and went to the maul. The drive stalled but Marcelo Torrealba broke away, running laterally and then swerving through a gap to score under the posts. Santiago Videla added the extras.

Los Cóndores would score another crucial try just before halftime. A bullocking run from Lues up the middle put the Eagles on the back foot, and then Alfonso Escobar linked with Pablo Casas in the midfield. Casas sucked in two defender and offloaded to Matías Garafulic, who raced free to score in the corner. Videla’s conversion made it 19-14 as the two sides headed into the changerooms.

Early in the second half Joe Taufete’e was penalised for tossing away the boot of Matias Dittus. The ill-discipline did not cost points, however, as Videla’s attempt at goal drifted wide. Taufete’e would redeem himself with a try at the other end of the pitch. The giant hooker broke from the back of a maul and ran over Torrealba to grab another five points, with MacGinty’s boot making it seven.

Celebrations were muted for the Eagles, however, as two minutes later Rodrigo Fernandez lit up the game with another superb counter-attack. After beating three defenders he connected with Videla on his outside, who won the race to the corner to score. Videla converted his own try and the score was now just 26-21 to the Eagles.

Iosefo looked for all money to be in for a hat trick when he stepped past Francisco Urroz, but Lues appeared out of nowhere to clatter the Eagles winger into touch and save a certain try. The pressure stayed on, however, and soon after MacGinty knocked over a penalty goal to stretch the USA’s lead with just over 20 minutes to play.

A brief water break followed and Chile came out with more energy. The two centers Casas and Garafulic made ground up the middle, and after moving to within a couple meters of the line Dittus his way through to score the fourth Chilean try. The conversion from Videla was good and suddenly the aggregate deficit was just two points.

Urroz had a long-range attempt at goal from a tricky angle but the flags stayed down. Two kicks then went directly into touch from USA halfbacks MacGinty and Nate Augspurger. A scrum went to Chile and for the first time they took the ascendency with Dittus splintering the Eagles front row. Videla stepped up and slotted the penalty goal to give Chile the lead.

The USA went on a desperate final attack. Martin Sigren looked to have won a turnover at the breakdown, but the referee deemed Javier Carrasco was too slow rolling away. As MacGinty lined up the kick with 79 minutes on the clock, the TMO intervened and showed a neck roll on Sigren in the clearout. The penalty was reversed, Chile won the ensuing lineout, and the ball was punted into touch to end the game.

Chile celebrate the greatest victory in their history, and now take their place as Americas 2 at RWC 2023. They will compete in Pool D against England, Japan, Argentina, and Samoa. The USA have one final chance to qualify as part of the four-team round-robin Repechage tournament in November.

 

SCORING

USA 29
Tries – M. Iosefo 2 (10′, 21′), A. MacGinty (29′), J. Taufete’e (47′)
Cons – A. MacGinty 3/4 (11′, 48′)
Pens – A. MacGinty 1/1 (58′)
YC – N. Civetta (32′)

CHILE 31
Tries – M. Torrealba (33′), M. Garafulic (39′), S. Videla (50′), M. Dittus (63′)
Cons – S. Videla 4/4 (34′, 40′, 51′, 64′)
Pens – S. Videla 1/2 (75′), F. Urroz 0/1

 

TEAMS

USA
1 David Ainu’u (17 Chance Wenglewski 66′), 2 Joe Taufete’e (16 Mikey Sosene-Feagai 55′), 3 Paul Mullen (18 Angus MacLellan 66′), 4 Greg Peterson (19 Siaosi Mahoni 64′), 5 Nick Civetta (20 Jason Damm 57′), 6 Benjamín Bonasso, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Ruben de Haas (22 Nate Augspurger 71′), 10 AJ MacGinty (capt.), 11 Martin Iosefo, 12 Bryce Campbell, 13 Tavite Lopeti, 14 Christian Dyer, 15 Marcel Brache

Not used: 21 Moni Tongu’uiha, 23 Luke Carty

CHILE
1 Salvador Lues (17 Javier Carrasco 59′), 2 Diego Escobar (16 Augusto Böhme 51′), 3 Vittorio Lastra (18 Matías Dittus HT), 4 Thomas Orchard (20 Clemente Saavedra HT), 5 Javier Eissmann (19 Augusto Sarmiento 61′), 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Ignacio Silva (23 Raimundo Martínez 59′), 8 Alfonso Escobar, 9 Marcelo Torrealba (21 Lukas Carvallo 61′), 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 11 Santiago Videla, 12 Pablo Casas, 13 Matías Garafulic, 14 Nicolás Garafulic, 15 Francisco Urroz

Not used: 22 José Ignacio Larenas

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistants: Andrea Piardi (Italy) & Chris Micheletti (Canada)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)

 

Attendance: 5,000