Public pressure wins the day to give World Cup hopefuls '16th man'

Chile will be cheered on by a sold-out, 20,000 crowd in Viña del Mar this Saturday as they bid to qualify for their second consecutive men’s Rugby World Cup tournament.

Initially, the capacity of Estadio Sausalito had been restricted to 12,000 for the second leg of the RWC 2027 qualifier against Samoa due to security concerns.

The crunch winner-takes-all game clashes with the FIFA U20 Football World Cup, which is being hosted by Chile, placing an extra demand on police numbers.

However, the local authorities have bowed to public pressure and have agreed to allow the ground to be full to capacity.

Eager to see Los Cóndores make it to Australia, fans have snapped up the extra tickets as interest in the team continues to grow.

Saturday’s crowd will be the second-largest in the team’s history. Fourteen months ago, the attendance for Chile’s game against Scotland, a 52-11 defeat at Estadio Nacional in Santiago, was 28,000.

The first leg of the Sudamerica/Pacific play-off, played last week in Salt Lake City, ended all-square at 32-32, after Samoa mounted a late fightback from 32-13 down, so it is all to play for this weekend.

The winner on aggregate will secure the 23rd ticket to RWC 2027, while the loser will participate in the Final Qualification Tournament in Dubai in November, alongside Belgium, Namibia and either Brazil or Paraguay.

The match will be shown live in North and South America on Disney+ and on RugbyPass TV in all other territories.