World Cup Radar – CHILE – January 25, 2023

In less than nine months time Los Cóndores will be competing at Rugby World Cup. RWC 2023 will be the first involving Chile. The South Americans are the first new competitor since Russia qualified for RWC 2011. Chile’s involvement is hugely significant for the sport in the country and in South America. It was made possible by eliminating Canada and sending the USA to repechage.

Chile will play in Pool D of RWC 2023. The group has RWC 2003 champions England, RWC 2019 hosts Japan, RWC 2007 and 2015 Semi Finalists Argentina and RWC 1991 and 1995 Quarter Finalists Samoa. In short, Chile is up against established powers with reputable accomplishments on their résumé’s.

Selecting Chile’s 33-man roster for the World Cup is unique. Pablo Lemoine has a tendency to move players across positions. Santiago Videla and Rodrigo Fernández traded places from fly half and fullback, Clemente Saavedra played lock, flanker and N8 in 2022 and Matías Garafulic and Pablo Casas have played wing and center.

The qualifying wins over Canada and the USA, highlighted this; Los Cóndores play to a game plan that is fine-tuned from one match to the next. The calmness in how this was done from wet and winter of Santiago to the heat and summer of Denver against the USA was exceptional.

 

Click here to access Chile’s complete list of senior training rosters and overseas professionals.

 

The following table notes the rankings of players across all positions. This has been organized based on the patterns of selection under Pablo Lemoine in addition to patterns of selection for Selknam.

 

#	1st Choice	2nd Choice	3rd Choice
1	Javier Carrasco	Salvador Lues	Sebastián Otero
2	Diego Escobar	Augusto Böhme	Tomás Dussaillant
3	Matías Dittus	Vittorio Lastra	Iñaki Gurruchaga
4	Clemente Saavedra	Pablo Huete	Augusto Sarmiento
5	Javier Eissmann	Santiago Pedrero	Agustín Fernández
6	Martín Sigren (capt.)	Santiago Edwards	Maximiliano Silva
7	Thomas Orchard	Ignacio Silva	Ernesto Tchimino
8	Alfonso Escobar	Raimundo Martínez	Joaquín Milesi
9	Marcelo Torrealba	Lukas Carvallo	Nicolás Herreros
10	Rodrigo Fernández	Diego Warnken	Tomás Álvarado
11	Pablo Casas	Gaspar Moltedo	Baltazar Jana
12	Iñaki Ayarza	José Larenas	Clemente Armstrong
13	Matías Garafulic	Domingo Saavedra	Cristóbal Game
14	Nicolás Garafulic	Franco Velarde	Julio Blanc
15	Santiago Videla	Francisco Urroz	Luca Strabucchi

The table lists 45 players. This is more than the number that will compete at the World Cup. The size is intentional as it was utilized so as to attempt to identify players who would be added to the roster due to an injury either before or during the World Cup.

Rosters at RWC 2023 will consist of 33 players. This is an increase from 31 from the previous tournament. The 33 players that ARN projects for Chile’s roster are those in the color blue above. The remaining names can be considered non-traveling replacements. Thus, an injury to a blue name would see the next listed name selected.

Two immediate points of note surround flanker and fly half. Santiago Edwards and Diego Warnken are listed as second choice but are not on the 33-man roster. This is because of probable rotation within the roster. First, Clemente Saavedra and Nicolás Garafulic can play back-row and two of the three N8s cover flanker. Second, Santiago Videla and Francisco Urroz cover fly half and both are reliable goal-kickers as is Matías Garafulic.

 

PROJECTED XV

#

PLAYER

CLUB

POS

CAPS

1	Salvador Lues	COBS / Selknam	LH	9
2	Diego Escobar	COBS / Selknam	HK	4
3	Vittorio Lastra	Old Macks / Selknam	TH	22
4	Thomas Orchard	Old Lions / Selknam	LO	19
5	Javier Eissmann	Uni Católica / Selknam	LO	12
6	Martín Sigren (capt.)	Doncaster Knights (UK)	FL	25
7	Ignacio Silva	PWCC / Selknam	FL	36
8	Alfonso Escobar	COBS / Selknam	N8	16
9	Lukas Carvallo	PWCC / Selknam	SH	5
10	Rodrigo Fernández	COBS / Selknam	FH	21
11	Pablo Casas	PWCC	WI	14
12	Matías Garafulic	COBS / Selknam	CE	10
13	Domingo Saavedra	Old Boys / Selknam	CE	23
14	Nicolás Garafulic	COBS / Selknam	WI	18
15	Santiago Videla	Old Boys / Selknam	FB	23

The projected XV is that which ARN projects to face Japan. Los Cóndores will begin their World Cup against the no 1 Asian side on September 10 in Toulouse. It should be noted that there are changes to the first XV compared to the first choice players as listed in blue.

The changes represent ARN’s understanding of how Pablo Lemoine will approach Chile’s first and second matches. ARN expects Chile to opt for a mobile line-up against Japan and a solid pack against Samoa. Such an approach happened against the USA with a mobile team playing in Denver and winning.

Thomas Orchard started the match in Denver. He played second-row rather than flanker. Salvador Lues and Vittorio Lastra were the props. this had the larger players who had started in Santiago to prodide second-half impact.

Martín Sigren will be captain and ought to also do so against Samoa, Argentina, and England. ARN projects him to have the services of the sniping Lukas Cavallo at scrum-half. Two play-makers are listed in the XV with Rodrigo Fernández at fly half and Santiago Videla at fullback.

 

PROJECTED OTHER XV

#	PLAYER	CLUB	POS	CAPS
1	Javier Carrasco	Old Reds / Selknam	LH	17
2	Tomás Dussaillant	Old Boys / Selknam	HK	36
3	Matías Dittus	Périgueux (FR)	TH	19
4	Pablo Huete	Old Boys	LO	28
5	Javier Eissmann	Uni Católica / Selknam	LO	19
6	Martín Sigren	Doncaster Knights (UK)	FL	25
7	Clemente Saavedra	Old Boys / Selknam	FL	18
8	Alfonso Escobar	COBS / Selknam	N8	16
9	Marcelo Torrealba	Old Boys / Selknam	SH	10
10	Rodrigo Fernández	COBS / Selknam	FH	21
11	Pablo Casas	PWCC	WI	14
12	Iñaki Ayarza	Charente (FR)	CE	12
13	Matías Garafulic	COBS / Selknam	CE	10
14	Nicolás Garafulic	COBS / Selknam	WI	18
15	Francisco Urroz	Old Reds / Selknam	FB	9

Chile’s scrum has caused rivals including Uruguay and the Argentina XV problems. Javier Carrasco and Matías Dittus are solid in this area. They and Tomás Dussaillant are a changed front-row from that listed to start against Japan. The second-row is also bulkier with Javier Eissmann and Pablo Huete locking the scrum and Clemennte Saavedra listed at flanker.

In search of a battle involving less flair and more muscle there are also changes in the backs. Marcelo Torrealba is the organizer at scrum-half with Iñaki Ayarza and Matías Garafulic giving Los Cóndores a combative mid-field. Francisco Urroz is the defensive option at fullback.