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The wonderful backdrop of the Andes were in full view as Chile got their Rugby World Cup 2027 Qualifying campaign off to a magnificent start. Playing in their alternate colors of blue, Los Cóndores were 64-0 winners of Paraguay.
Chile took a while to get they motors roaring. Paraguay’s defense impressed early to stop a raid close to their own try zone. The first try came on 12 minutes after an attack from inside Chilean territory. Scrum-half Benjamín Videla passed off the deck for debutant Nicolás Saab who ran wide and powered his way over.
Chile’s work at the breakdown resulted in penalties. From there, Los Cóndores added to their lead. Augusto Bohme scored Chile’s second and third tries. Both times he did so from lineout to maul moves. The second was inches from the touchline. Santiago Videla converted for a 21-0 lead after 25 minutes.
Chile’s fourth score was one for the video highlight reels. Clemente Armstrong bump off Gianfranco Parodi and cut inside Arturo López. It was followed swiftly by a try to the forwards. Selknam captain Clemente Saavedra wet low to drive over.
Paraguay’s high penalty count led to an official warning. Francisco González followed up by yellow carding hooker Jordi Chavez on 38 minutes for playing the scrum-half. Shortly before the 10 minutes concluded, Chile added their sixth try. Raimundo Martínez scored following a quick lineout. The conversion was wide as was the next following Domingo Saavedra’s try with the center linking with Santiago Videla.
Nicolás Garafulic took Chile to 50 points. He got a neat over-the-head off-load from Domingo Saavedra. Santiago Videla missed the conversion and he had, in fact, been off target with the previous two. He landed his next shot at goal which was nine minutes from full-time after debutant, and man of the match, Ernesto Tchimino ran through a gap to score. Marcelo Torrealba added a try with time up to finish a satisfactory afternoon for the Chileans.
The result has Chile well-placed ahead of their match against Brazil. The winner of Chile vs Brazil on October 06 will join Uruguay in the final round. Two others will contest the Sudamericano 2025 to confirm the South America 1 Qualifier for Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia.
| SCORING |
CHILE (64)
Try – N Saab (12’); A Bohme 2 (17’ 24’); C Armstrong (30’); C Saavedra (34’); R Martínez (48’); D Saavedra (55’); N Garafulic (63’); E Tchimino (71’); Torrealba (80’)
Con – S Videla 7 (13’, 18’, 25’, 31’, 35’ 72’, 80’)
PARAGUAY (0)
YC – J Chavez (38’)
| LINE-UPS |
CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Augusto Bohme, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Bruno Sáez, 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Clemente Saavedra, 8 Ernesto Tchimino, 9 Benjamín Videla, 10 Juan Cruz Reyes, 11 Nicolás Garafulic, 12 Nicolás Saab, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Clemente Armstrong, 15 Santiago Videla
Replacements: 16 Jorge Delgado, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Matías Dittus, 19 José Miguel Contreras, 20 Raimundo Martínez, 21 Joaquín Milesi, 22 Marcelo Torrealba, 23 Tomás Salas
PARAGUAY
1 Daniel Cabral 2 Agustín Benítez, 3 Estefano Aranda, 4 Ignacio Martínez, 5 Camilo Blasco, 6 Alvaro Allo, 7 Ariel Núñez, 8, Mateo Rodríguez, 9 Gonzalo Barreiro, 10 Joaquín Mussi, 11 Juan González, 12 Sebatián Urbieta, 13 Ramiro Amarilla (capt.), 14 Gianfranco Parodi, 15 Arturo Lopez
Replacements: 16 Jordi Chavez, 17 Cesar Perez, 18 Rolando Portillo, 19 Enrique Quinteros, 20 Francisco Bareiro, 21 Rafael Bareiro, 22 Hector Gayoso, 23 Facundo Paiva
| MATCH OFFICIALS |
Referee: Francisco González (Uruguay)
Assistant Referees: Roberto Barreiro (Uruguay); Amén Abi-Saab (Uruguay)
