Rugby World Cup 2023 – Argentina vs Chile – ARN Guide

The Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes will be the setting for the battle of the Andes on Saturday. Argentina face Chile in a Rugby World Cup 2023 match. It is Chile’s final match of the competition and Argentina’s third. Los Pumas must win to remain alive in the tournament.

Argentina’s opening performance was a flop. Despite a man advantage, Los Pumas fell to a 27-10 defeat against England in Marseille. Improvement came in the rain in St. Étienne against Samoa. Argentina controlled lineups, scrums and mauls but was still unimpressive in winning 19-10.

 

Michael Cheika has rotated from Samoa to Chile. He has made eleven changes to the starting line-up including an all-new backline and also has a much changed replacements bench. Julián Montoya is among the rested names which sees former Jaguares Super Rugby captain Jerónimo de la Fuente leading Los Pumas.

de la Fuente is playing in his third Rugby World Cup but his first in France 2023. He replaces Santiago Chocobares and plays inside Lucio Cinti who returns for Matías Moroni. de la Fuente previously played against Chile in 2014 with Nicolás Sánchez starting at fly half.

While de la Fuente will captain the team Sánchez will lead out Los Pumas. The 34-year-old will make history by reaching 100 test caps. Playing in his fourth Rugby World Cup, Sánchez debuted against Uruguay in 2010.

Sánchez will join Tomás Cubelli in the halves. It is a double change with Gonzalo Bertranou and Santiago Carreras both replaced. Carreras will be Sánchez’ understudy against Los Cóndores.

Argentina’s back-three sees a veteran and two rookies. Juan Imhoff will play his first world Cup match since the 2015 Semi Final against Australia while Olympic Bronze Medalist Rodrigo Isgró and Highlanders Super Rugby back Martín Bogado get their first taste of playing in a Rugby World Cup.

Fellow former Los Pumas 7’s player Lautaro Bazán Vélez will be the replacement scrum-half with Santiago Carreras, and Juan Cruz Mallía being the other backs on the bench. The trio are all from Córdoba.

Joel Sclavi returns from injury to start up front. He will play at loose head with Eduardo Bello retained at tight head prop. Agustín Creevy replaces Montoya at hooker to earn his 104th cap but his first ever against Chile.

The lineout Rey, Guido Petti retains his spot in the second-row with Pedro Rubiolo starting in place of veteran Matías Alemanno. Rubiolo was a 61st minute replacement against Samoa. In addition to Petti, Juan Martín González will be the other prime lineout target. He moves from N8 to flanker with Facundo Isa starting and Marcos Kremer retaining the 7 shirt.

With Montoya rested there is an opportunity for Ignacio Ruiz to earn his first test cap in a Rugby World Cup. The same applies to Joaquín Oviedo who was an injury replacement for Santiago Grondona. Like González, Ruiz and Oviedo are both former Jaguares XV players from Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR) / Super Rugby Americas.

Chile’s first taste of a Rugby World Cup has seen a team thrown in the deep end to show the world what they have got. Los Cóndores debuted against Japan in Toulouse. Chile competed for a long time but fell away late to lose 42-12. It was similar against Samoa in Bordeaux where Chile lost 43-12. Pool leaders England dominated Los Cóndores 71-0 in Lille.

 

Pablo Lemoine has made eight changes for Los Cóndores. In doing so, Chile will have a stronger side to face Argentina than was the case against England. Martín Sigren will again lead Chile from flanker. He is Chile’s leading ball-carrier with 26 carries thus far in the tournament.

Sigren will be joined by Clemente Saavedra and Raimundo Martínez in the back-row. They replace Ignacio Silva and Alfonso Escobar respectively. Saavedra moves back to flanker from the second-row with Santiago Pedrero joining Javier Eissmann and having his first start of the tournament. Javier Carrasco returns to be the starting loose head in place of Salvador Lues. Augusto Bohme and Matías Dittus again start at hooker and tight head respectively.

Changes to the backs see Marcelo Torrealba returning at scrum-half in place of Benjamín Videla. Iñaki Ayarza is also back with Francisco Urroz mossing out while Santiago Videla will play right wing after receiving from his knock against Samoa. José Ignacio Larenas starts on the left wing and will become the first-ever Chilean to reach 50 caps.

Argentina and Chile compete in international competition annually. They do so at age group levels, Rugby Sevens and in Senior Men’s. Matches between Argentina and Chile date back to 1936. Many Pumas debuted against Chile. One example, as pictured below, is Felipe Contepomi. He debuted against Chile in 1998 a year before playing in his first World Cup.

Since 2016 matches have been with the Argentina XV rather than Los Pumas. For this reason matches have been uncapped in recent years.

In terms of capped test matches, there have been thirty-nine previous matches between Los Pumas and Los Cóndores. Argentina has an unbeaten record against Chile in these matches. There have been many non-capped matches including Chile’s 25-24 home win over the Argentina XV in 2021. It was a warm-up match ahead of Chile’s historic win over Canada to advance in World Cup Qualifiers.

Nantes is new to Chile but it has previously been a hunting ground for Los Pumas. France played host to three test matches against Argentina in the city. Les Blues won 29-9 in 1988 and 34-14 in 1998. Los Pumas were 24-20 winners over France in Nantes in 1992.

 

TEAMS

ARGENTINA
1 Joel Sclavi, 2 Agustín Creevy, 3 Eduardo Bello, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Juan Martín González, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Facundo Isa, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Juan Imhoff, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente (capt.), 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 15 Martín Bogado

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Joaquín Oviedo, 21 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Juan Cruz Mallía

CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Augusto Bohme, 3 Matías Dittus, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Clemente Saavedra, 8 Raimundo Martínez, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 11 José Ignacio Larenas, 12 Matías Garafulic, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Santiago Videla, 15 Iñaki Ayarza

Replacements: 16 Tomás Dussaillant, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Esteban Inostroza, 19 Augusto Sarmiento, 20 Alfonso Escobar, 21 Ignacio Silva, 22 Nicolas Herreros, 23 Francisco Urroz

 

RWC 2023 – ARGENTINA VS CHILE
Date: Saturday, September 30
Kick-Off: 3:00pm (FR); 10:00am (AR); 9:00am (CL)
Venue: Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes (FR)
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner (Australia); James Doleman (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

 

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HISTORIC RESULTS
2014-05-25 – Chile 12-73 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
2013-05-01 – Argentina 85-10 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
2012-05-26 – Chile 06-59 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
2011-05-22 – Argentina 61-06 Chile (Puerto Iguazú, AR)
2010-05-23 – Chile 09-48 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
2009-05-20 – Argentina 89-06 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
2008-11-08 – Chile 03-71 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
2007-12-15 – Argentina 79-08 Chile (San Juan, AR)
2006-07-01 – Chile 13-60 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
2005-05-08 – Argentina 48-13 Chile (Buenos Aires, AR)
2004-04-25 – Chile 03-45 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
2003-04-30 – Argentina 49-03 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
2002-05-04 – Argentina 57-13 Chile (Mendoza, AR)
2001-11-17 – Chile 23-42 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
2000-11-16 – Argentina 18-16 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
1998-10-10 – Chile 17-25 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
1997-10-10 – Argentina 50-10 Chile (Mendoza, AR)
1995-09-30 – Chile 03-78 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
1993-10-11 – Argentina 70-07 Chile (Buenos Aires, AR)
1991-08-15 – Chile 06-41 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
1989-10-10 – Argentina 36-09 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
1987-10-03 – Chile 09-47 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
1985-09-19 – Argentina 59-06 Chile (Asunción, PY)
1983-07-16 – Argentina 46-06 Chile (Buenos Aires, AR)
1979-10-06 – Chile 15-34 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
1977-10-30 – Argentina 25-10 Chile (Tucumán, AR)
1975-09-28 – Argentina 45-03 Chile (Asunción, PY)
1973-10-21 – Argentina 60-03 Chile (São Paulo, BR)
1971-10-10 – Argentina 20-3 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
1969-10-11 – Chile 0-54 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
1967-09-30 – Argentina 18-0 Chile (Buenos Aires, AR)
1965-09-16 – Chile 11-23 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
1964-08-20 – Argentina 30-08 Chile (São Paulo, BR)
1961-10-08 – Argentina 11-03 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
1958-09-18 – Chile 0-14 Argentina (Santiago, CL)
1951-09-16 – Argentina 13-03 Chile (Buenos Aires, AR)
1938-09-16 – Argentina 33-03 Chile (Tucumán, AR)
1936-09-27 – Chile 03-31 Argentina (Valparáiso, CL)
1936-09-20 – Chile 0-29 Argentina (Valparáiso, CL)