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Chile play host to Brazil on Wednesday evening in Santiago. The match will be the first South American battle of the year but it is to be a non-capped fixture; the teams will play as Chile XV and Brazil XV. This is the case despite the line-ups being what could easily be first choice in a capped international.
The match follows Chile’s history-making series against the USA. Los Cóndores defeated the Eagles in Denver to win the series on aggregate and qualify for Rugby World Cup 2023. Chile became the third South American country to qualify for the Rugby World Cup and the first new competitor at a Men’s RWC since Russia qualified for RWC 2011.
Brazil have never played in a Rugby World Cup though the team has the means to do so. Indeed, Brazil regularly outperofrmed Chile during the RWC 2015-2019 cycle. Chile had a disorganized set-up during those years but now has a High Performance system that has proven to be highly successful in quick time. Brazil has an eye on something similar.
Brazil’s line-up to face Chile includes Major League Rugby player Wilton Rebolo. He will start at hooker alongside Leonel Moreno in the front-row. Moreno is back in Brazil following time playing rugby in Spain and Italy. The remaining fifteen starting players are all from Os Cobras, Brazil’s professional team than plays in SLAR.
There is regularity across the fowards with Cléber Días, Gabriel Paganini, André Arruda all starting in the forwards and Douglas Rauth, Lucas Tranquez, and Daniel Lima starting in the backs. Victor Silva and Robson Morais join Lima in the back-three.
Chile are captained by Martín Sigren. He is joined by Ignacio Silva to restore the regular flanker duo. Clemente Saavedra moves from second-row to N8 for the match. Saavedra is the one non-Selknam forward starting against the Brazil XV. Some rotation sees Iñaki Gurruchaga named to start at tight head.
The Chilean back-line is more experimental. There is an opportunity for Tomás Salas at fly half. It comes with Santiago Videla providing the second play-maker role from fullback. Martín Dumay also has an opportunity for his country on the right wing. The Spanish-based Nicolás Herreros is back in the mix to play scrtum-half.
The match is the first of two fixtures. The teams will meet again this coming weekend in the southern Chilean city of Temuco.
TEAMS
CHILE XV
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Diego Escobar, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Augusto Sarmiento, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Ignacio Silva, 8 Clemente Saavedra, 9 Nicolás Herreros, 10 Tomás Salas, 11 Lukas Carvalho, 12 José Larenas, 13 Matías Garafulic, 14 Martín Dumay, 15 Santiago Videla
Replacements: 16 Augusto Bohme, 17 Sebastián Otero, 18 Estaban Inostroza, 19 Thomas Orchard, 20 Raimundo Martínez, 21 Santiago Edwards, 22 Marcelo Torrealba, 23 Lucca Avelli
Brazil XV
1 Leonel Moreno, 2 Wilton Rebolo, 3 Henrique Ferreira, 4 Cléber Días, 5 Gabriel Paganini, 6 Adrio de Melo, 7 Matheus Cláudio, 8 André Arruda, 9 Douglas Rauth, 10 Lucas Tranquez, 11 Daniel Lima, 12 Gabriel Zurka, 13 Roberto Tenório, 14 Victor Silva, 15 Robson Morais
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Souza, 17 Brendon Alves, 18 Levy Marinho, 19 Felipe Rosa, 20 Arthur Bergo, 21 Rafael Spago, 22 Guilherme Coghetto, 23 Joel Victor Santos
Date: Wednesday, August 17
Kick-Off: 8:00pm (Santiago; 9:00pm (Brasília)
Venue: Old Grangonian Club (Santiago, CL)
Referee: Damian Schneider (Argentina)
Broadcast: ESPN, Star +
