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Chile has confirmed their starting team to take on Canada in the fifth and final round of the Americas Rugby Championship, to take place at the Estadio Municipal de la Pintana in Santiago. Los Cóndores currently sit at the bottom of the table and will need a win or two bonus points to have any hope of moving ahead of Brazil. Six changes have been named to the team, five in the forwards.
Ramón Ayarza heads up an all-new front row as he returns from club duty in France to reclaim the no1 jersey he last wore in the opening round of the tournament. Manuel Garruchaga and José Tomás Munita each start for the first time in the competition, having previously appeared as substitutes. Ignacio Álvarez also gets his first look at the run-on side, starting at lock with Nikola Bursic moving to his favoured no8 spot and captain Benjamín Soto sliding to side of the scrum.
The only change in the backs sees veteran scrumhalf Juan Pablo Perrotta preferred to incumbent Beltrán Vergara, who finds himself among the reserves for the first time in the tournament. Chile have opted for a 6-2 split on the bench, with versatile second or back row Francisco Hurtado set to make his ARC debut and Humberto Chacaltana tasked with covering across the backline.
Kickoff will take place at 7pm local time, 5pm EST. The match will be streamed live on by Chilean broadcaster CDO, which can be watched for a fee.
CHILE vs Canada
1 Ramón Ayarza 2 Manuel Gurruchaga 3 José Tomás Munita 4 Ignacio Álvarez 5 Raimundo Piwonka 6 Benjamín Soto (capt.) 7 Javier Richard 8 Nikola Bursic 9 Juan Pablo Perrotta 10 Cristián Onetto 11 Ítalo Zunino 12 Francisco de la Fuente 13 Matías Nordenflycht 14 José Ignacio Larenas 15 Leonardo Montoya
16 Rodrigo Moya 17 Nicolás Venegas 18 Luis Sepúlveda 19 Cristóbal Niedmann 20 Francisco Hurtado 21 Ignacio Silva 22 Beltrán Vergara 23 Humberto Chacaltana
