Powerful Selknam romp past Raptors in Santiago

Selknam powered to a strong home victory over the American Raptors on Saturday in Santiago. Selknam were easily the better of the two teams and romped to a 45-10 victory. A good crowd was on hand to see what was some quality rugby. Selknam certainly gave those in attendance reason to return. It is positive news in the build up to Chile’s debut at the Rugby World Cup.

Selknam started with a bang. Following a superb clearance kick from Fransisco Urroz, Selknam had good field position to launch an attack. Captain Santiago Videla made a half break and off-loaded to his center partner who scored. Matías Garafulic ran around to enable a guaranteed 7 points.

The American Raptors mid-field defense simply gave way to the Selknam centers. Improvement game swiftly and the Raptors were able to kit-back ten minutes later. Former Puma Lucas González Amorosino got them on the board with a penalty.

Both teams pressured over the following few minutes. The back-and-forth ended emphatically with Joaquín Miesi showing Pablo Lemoine that he wants a place on his roster for the World Cup. Miesi barged over for two tries from attacking scrums. Selknam were 19-3 ahead and already looking like winners after 33 minutes of play.

The American Raptors needed to score early. What transpired was a poor opening to the second half; Ramiro Moyano was yellow carded for a neck roll. A patient Selknam capitalized one minute before his return. Veteran Nacho Silva made a good break and off-loaded to Tomás Dussaillant. Smart recycling combined with a pick-and-go score by Raimundo Martínez.

The try of the match followed. From a set-piece the Chileans scored a try that started in their own half. The single-phase try saw the ball spun to create an overlap with winger Nicolás Garafulic getting around Moyano for the score.

The American Raptors were down and out. Their discipline let then down again with Seimou Smith yellow carded. The Chileans responded with their sixth try of the match. Replacement hooker Diego Escobar got over after several charges from his fellow forwards.

The American Raptors did well to respond with a consolation try. Argentine hooker Franco Palillo touched the ball down at the foot of the post for the try. Line Late added a simple conversion to make it 38-10 with five minutes remaining.

It was Selknam’s match, though, and Joaquín Milesi ended the match with a hat-trick. In what was a man of the match performance, Milesi powered over for the third time to complete a seven tries to one victory.

Selknam will also play at home in round two. The Chileans will take-on Los Pampas next Saturday. The American Raptors travel from the South American Pacific to the Atlantic to face Peñarol in Montevideo on Friday.

 

SCORING

SELKNAM 45
Try – M Garafulic (7′), J Milesi 3 (24′, 33′, 80′), R Martínez (54′), N Garafulic (57′), D Escobar (65′)
Con – S Videla 5 (7′, 34′, 55′, 66′, 80′)

AMERICAN RAPTORS 10
Try – F Palillo (74′)
Con – L Latu (75′)
Pen – L González Amorosino (17′)
YC – R Moyano 43′, S Smith (61′)

 

TEAMS

SELKNAM
1 Salvador Lues, 2 Tomás Dusaillant, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Pablo Huete, 6 Clemente Saavedra, 7 Ignacio Silva, 8 Joaquín Miesi, 9 Benjamín Videla, 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 11 Gaspar Moltedo, 12 Santiago Videla (capt.), 13 Matías Garafulic, 14 Nicolás Garafulic, 15 Francisco Urroz

Replacements: 16 Diego Escobar, 17 Javier Carrasco, 18 Lucas Bordigoni, 19 Bruno Sáez, 20 Raimundo Martínez, 21 Lukas Carvallo, 22 José Ignacio Larenas, 23 Pablo Casas

 

AMERICAN RAPTORS
1 Ma’ake Muti, 2 Sione Fineuikai, 3 Juan Echeverría, 4 Mikey Grandy (capt.), 5 William Crawford, 6 Shawn Clark, 7 Ronan Murphy, 8 Diego Magno, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Lucas González Amorosino, 11 Seimou Smith, 12 Cassh Maluia, 13 Dominick Iacovino, 14 Ryan James, 15 Ramiro Moyano

Replacements: 16 Franco Palillo, 17 Payton Telea-Ilalio, 18 Sebastián Otero, 19 Max Dacey, 20 Tommy Clark, 21 Ethan McVeigh, 22 Line Latu, 23 Watson Filikitonga

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Gonzalo de Achával (ARG)
Assistant Referees: Juan Manuel Martínez (ARG); Sebastián Toledo (CHL)
TMO: Ignacio Calle (CHL)