Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Chile’s route to securing a place at a Rugby World Cup was historic. Los Cóndores qualified by overcoming opposition from South America and North America. In doing so, Chile is the third Americas competitor confirmed for RWC 2023. Chile joins Argentina and Uruguay while there is no guarantee that a North American team will qualify. The USA have a final opportunity via repechage.
Los Cóndores began their qualifiers in June, 2021. Their first fixture was an elimination match against Colombia at home. The match was cancelled after Tucanes players tested positive. Chile thus advanced to join Uruguay and the winner of Brazil vs Paraguay. Brail won the match 29-0.
The three country South American series was played at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo in July, 2021. It took place nine months after the same venue hosted the 2020 South American ‘A’ Championship. The Chile XV almost upset the Argentina XV and came away with wins over the Brazil XV and Uruguay XV.
The South American qualifiers in July 2021 were also competitive. Chile defeated Brazil 23-13 first up and came close to upsetting Uruguay, losing 15-10. Los Teros were required to come from behind and then to hold out Chile to claim the win. They then advanced to face the North American winners, the USA, while Chile went on to face Canada in October, 2021.
Chile faced Canada away first up. The North Americans won on full-time with a penalty. Game two was in Santiago and Chile were up for the challenge. Los Cóndores produced what was then the biggest win of their history. The 33-24 win combined with the result of game one meant that Chile won 54-46 on aggregate. With it Chile advanced and Canada was officially eliminated. This marked the first time that Canada missed out on a Men’s Rugby World Cup.
The winner of Chile vs Canada would face the loser of the USA vs Uruguay. That team was the North American competitor as Uruguay defeated the USA to qualify for RWC 2023 as Americas 1. The Americas 2 spot would thus go to the winner of Chile vs the USA in July 2022.
Chile’s success against Canada saw them securing a two-match tour of Russia in November 2021. Los Cóndores made further history by defeating the Bears 30-29 and 42-27. The series result underlined Chile as a team going places.
Preparations officially resumed during the 2022 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR). Chile’s professional rugby team, Selknam, was rotated from the first to the second stages of the league. This saw a developmental side competing in the matches in Paraguay. Meanwhile, those missing were not rested but were involved in a training camp.
Selknam preformed well throughout SLAR 2022. They reached the final with a strong performance against the 2021 unbeaten side, Los Jaguares XV. They were beaten in the final but the focus was not on SLAR but the RWC qualifiers. Selknam’s roster was responsible for the vast majority of Chile’s roster.
The warm-up for the USA series took the on-field form of a home match against Scotland ‘A’. It was played two weeks before Los Cóndores home game against the Eagles. Game one was old-fashioned wet-weather rugby. The 22-21 result meant that the Eagles had a one point lead for the return game in Denver.
Chile booked the final place in Pool D of RWC 2023 by defeating the USA 31-29 in Denver. The win was a classic; Chile comeback from 19-0 down and held off a late USA charge to win the match and make Los Cóndores the fifth country from the Americas to play at a Rugby World Cup.
The prize for Chile is a . Chile will play in four different French cities – Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nantes. The fourth of the venues will host the first-ever RWC match between South American countries. Such a possibility has long existed, though in the form of the battle of Rio de La Plata, a la Argentina vs Uruguay not the battle of the Andes.
In addition to facing Argentina, Chile will also take-on England, Japan, and Samoa. All three fixtures will be the first of a kind; Chile has never played a test match against any of them.
Now that Chile has made history it is time for preparations to be established. Chile is now expected to be involved in a historic November 2021 series. This may involve matches against Tier 1 and 2 teams in Europe. It may also see Chile playing on neutral locations.
