Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
In their first match since their debut Rugby World Cup tournament, Los Cóndores got the win against Hong Kong. Chile ran out 22-17 winners over the Asian opposition in what was the third ranked South American team playing at home against the side well-placed to be Asia’s debutant at Rugby World Cup 2027.
Played at the Estadio Fiscal in Talca, Chile, the test match was a fixture for the future. Referee Gonzalo de Achaval officiated Hong Kong in English and Chile in Spanish. The Argentine looks comfortable and was clear in his explanations to both captains, and indeed, both teams.
The final score suggests a hard-fought win; however, Chile were 22-3 up at half-time. Quite simply, Los Cóndores powerful first half proved sufficient. It saw three tries, two conversions and a penalty. Hong Kong’s first-half score was a penalty.
Miami Sharks utility Santiago Videla opened the scoring. Videla landed a long-range penalty. 3-0 became 8-0 with Videla breaking and combining with Selknam winger Nicolás Garafulic. With sun in his face, Videla missed the relatively straight-forward conversion.
Hong Kong center Nathan de Thierry scored next. He opened the scoring with a penalty. A period of nearly 20 minutes followed in which neither team scored points. Chile went close only to be stopped. Meanwhile, Hong Kong repeatedly tried to un the ball out from deep in their own territory.
Scoring resumed late in the half. Chile came away with two tries. First, Garafulic brushed off on defender and then ran-over another to score. Second, an attacking lineout to maul move saw there phrases with captain Clemente Saavedra over. With it came a 22-03 lead at half-time.
Chile were also the attacking team in the second-half; However, this time execution fell short. In response, Hong Kong came away with two late tries. A speak lineout move saw Chile fooled as James Sawyer ran over to score. Then, six minutes from full-time, captain Joshua Hrstich latched on to a blind-side lineout move to score.
Both teams will play again on Saturday, July 13. Hong Kong travel to Asunción to face Paraguay while Chile travel to the Pacific Ocean coast to face Belgium in Viña del Mar.
| SCORING |
CHILE (22)
Try (3) – N Garafulic 2 (11′, 36′); C Saavedra (40′)
Con (1) – S Videla (37′, 40′)
Pen (1) – S Videla (2′)
HONG KONG (17)
Try (2) – J Sawyer (56′); J Hrstich (74′)
Con (2) – N de Thierry (57′, 76′)
Pen (1) – N de Thierry (17′)
YC (1) – PJ Laidler (40′)
| LINE-UPS |
CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco , 2 Diego Escobar, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Alfonso Escobar, 7 Clemente Saavedra (capt.), 8 Raimundo Martínez, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Tomás Salas, 11 Nicolás Garafulic, 12 Santiago Videla, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Cristóbal Game, 15 Luca Strabucchi
Replacements: 16 Augusto Bohme, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Vittorio Lastra, 19 Martín Sigren, 20 Inti Ubeta, 21 Andrés Kuzmanic, 22 Benjamín Videla, 23 Clemente Armstrong
HONG KONG
1 Rory Cinamond, 2 Calum Scott, 3 Zac Cinamond, 4 Callum McCullough, 5 Patrick Jenkinson, 6 Joshua Hrstich (capt.), 7 James Sawyer, 8 Luke van der Smit, 9 Pat Joe Laidler, 10 Matteo Avitabile, 11 Harry Sayers, 12 Tom Hill, 13 Nathan de Thierry, 14 Sebastian Brien, 15 Matthew Worley
Replacements: 16 Alexander Post, 17 Ben Higgins, 18 Faizal Solomona Penesa, 19 Kyle Sullivan, 20 Tyler McNutt, 21 Pierce Mackinley-West, 22 Jack Combes, 23 Paul Altier
| MATCH OFFICIALS |
Referee: Gonzalo de Achaval (Argentina)
Assistants: Sergio Alvarenga (Paraguay); Francisco Gonzalez (Uruguay)
