South American wrap: Chile the winner in a weekend of Test rugby

The Chilean Condors shocked Romania to beat them 40-16 hours before Argentina was well beaten by England; the weekend started with Argentina XV beating Brazil 45-17.

Chile was the big winner of the weekend in South America defeating visiting Romania by a landslide in Santiago, with Pablo Lemoine’s team scoring five tries in one of their best ever performances, and Chile’s biggest win.

Ranked one place above them at the start of the game, Chile was too strong for a Romanian side in the process of rebuilding after qualifying to Rugby World Cup 2027 earlier this year. The winners overtook the losers who are now in the Top 20 for the first time.

Los Cóndores will play against Brazil at the end of July and start of August in the second leg of their qualifying process. The winner of that series will then play against the winner of a series between Uruguay and Paraguay. The winner will secure the ticket to Australia and the loser will play against the team from the Pacific Nations Cup that fails to qualify when the tournament concludes in September.

As markers go, the message sent to future opponents is very clear: Chile is both desperate and ready to return to the Rugby World Cup stage.

France-based Diego Escobar took a pass after a swerving run from flyhalf Rodrigo ‘Yoyo’ Fernández in the second minute to open the scores. After both teams exchanged penalties winger Nicolás Garafulic ran into Lucas Berti’s pass, one of two players to have not come through Super Rugby Americas’ pathway, the regional franchise tournament, for the first of his two tries.
Iñaki Araya, the other player to have never played the regional SRA, scored on the right corner for an early 23-6 lead.

After a Romanian reply, Garafulic gave Escobar’s older brother Alfonso a great flick pass for the flanker to score; the burly winger got his brace seven minutes from fulltime for the important, deserved, win, the first in three attempts against the Oaks.
Romania will play Uruguay and Argentina XV over the next two weeks.

Argentina XV, with players selected from five Super Rugby Americas team were too strong for a Brazilian side that struggled to contain a powerful team with players that know they are in the radar of Puma coach Felipe Contepomi.

Brazil was off the pace and the physicality and should pose no real threat to Chile when they play the first of two games in Sao Paulo.

Leading 24-0 by the end of the first quarter of the game, thanks to tries from flanker Nicolás D’Amorim, after only three minutes, flyhalf and kicker Bautista Farisé, hooker, hooker Juan Manuel Vivas and winger Lautaro Cipriani, the home side broker the Argentina XV defence with the rolling maul for halfback Felipe Gonçalves to reduce the deficit. Right at the end of the half, Farisé got his brace, which he duly converted for a first half lead of 31-5.

Brazil was better in the final forty minutes scoring the first and last try of the half; sandwiched between both five pointers were tries by Juan replacement hooker Ignacio Greising Revol and lanky flanker Aitor Bildosola.

Os Tupis coach Emiliano Caffera faces hard work over the next couple of weeks trying to get his team ready for the big challenge that Chile will pose.

What promised to be the biggest game of the weekend was a bit of a fiasco for Pumas’ fans, who were disappointed to see the side that had beaten the British & Irish Lions two weeks losing, again and for the seventh time on the trot, against an England side devoid of its Lions.

It wasn’t pretty as Argentina was a shadow of the team that played in Dublin a fortnight ago; with a different set of halfbacks, the tempo was slower as distribution was not as quick or efficient as in their previous game. With Tomás Albornoz now the starting XV rested, it was the skillful Santiago Carreras that returned to the number 10 jersey he once owned; despite touches of greatness – the cross kick that led to one of Los Pumas’s tries in the second half one example.

Failing to capitalize on their few first half opportunities – three times they were held up and the decision not to kick two penalties proved to be a mistake, they went to the break 3-0 down having been unable to take any advantage from two English yellow cards.

Three tries in eight minutes after returning from the break broke the Pumas spirit even if they did manage to score two tries by Pablo Matera, who joined Agustín Creevy as the most capped Puma, and lock Pedro Rubiolo.

Inside centre Justo Piccardo confirmed his progress and hopefully Contepomi sees fit to give a starting slot to scrumhalf Simón Benítez Cruz who ignited the team in his first thirty minutes as a capped international. He had played against the Lions but, ridiculously, neither team awarded caps.

Little to cheer for Argentina that will have to find a way to control new centurion George Ford next week after, again, he tormented Argentina.