Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Chilean ace fly half Rodrigo Fernández is on the move in Italy. Fernández has signed to play for Colorno. It sees him moving Southwest to the club from Petrarca.
Fernández was the regular starting fly half for Petrarca last season and before that started for Chile at Rugby World Cup 2023. The France hosted Rugby World Cup was Chile’s first. Fernández scored Chile’s first World Cup try, doing so against Japan in Toulouse. He also started in all of Chile’s the matches which were against Samoa in Bordeaux, England in Lille and Argentina in Nantes.
Fernández scored the World Rugby Try of the Year in 2022. He won the award in November 2022. It capped off a truly remarkable year for Fernández and for Chile. Los Cóndores qualified for the Rugby World Cup for the first time.
Fernández was involved in tries through Chile’s Rugby World Cup Qualifiers. However, the Try which saw him winning the award was actually in a losing effort. Chile lost 22-21 against the USA in Santiago. Chile needed to win away by two or more to qualify which they managed to accomplish in Denver.
Chile’s successful qualification for Rugby World Cup 2023 sent the USA to repechage. The result meant that the USA joined Canada in missing out on playing at the World Cup while South America have a record three competitors. Rugby World Cup 2023 featured Chile, Uruguay and Argentina but no North Americans.
Had the USA been able to perform better at home against Chile then perhaps everything would have been different. Fernández was a big part of the USA’s shock loss to Chile in Denver. Los Cóndores completed a sensational 31-29 upset with Fernández making the plays from fly half.
Fernández was also named by Americas Rugby news as the scorer of the Americas’ best try from 2021. It was also in a World Cup Qualifier, this time against Canada. It was the match that saw Chile advancing while eliminating Canada.
Fernández is from the COBS club in Santiago del Chile. Seven COBS players were named on Chile’s roster for the World Cup. He played Rugby Sevens for Chile before joining Selknam, Chile’s professional team that plays in Super Rugby Americas. Colorno is his third professional club.
