Would-be Rugby World Cup side push Uruguay in qualifier first-leg

The Estadio Municipal de la Pintana in Chile hosted the first leg of the Sudamérica Rugby World Cup qualifier, a tense affair between Chile and Uruguay, with the Teros emerging 28-16 winners.

Pablo Lemoine’s side were able to call on Racing 92’s Diego Escobar and US Agen’s Javier Eissmann, while Rodolfo Ambrosio’s Uruguay featured Castres scrum-half Santiago Arata and Oyonnax lock Manuel Leindekar.

The visitors opened the scoring as centre Felipe Pérez crashed over from close range to give his team an early lead.

In the 18th minute, Santiago Videla landed Chile’s first points from the tee, but their fightback was short-lived when back row Raimundo Martínez was sent to the sin bin. Playing against 14 men, Uruguay took control and added a second try through Germán Kessler, with Felipe Etcheverry converting.

Just before the break, Chile enjoyed their best spell of the game, scoring ten points in the final quarter of the first half. Matías Garafulic powered through Uruguay’s defence to score, with Videla adding the extras, having already landed a penalty minutes earlier.

Although Chile briefly led after the restart, the Teros soon reasserted themselves and turned pressure into points, crossing for two more tries.

Arata guided a maul over the line, the scrum-half grounding for his side’s third try. Replacement outside back Ignacio Álvarez then found space out wide to dodge a couple of tackles and push the lead to 28-16 with twenty minutes remaining.

The Cóndores worked hard to rally, but their long-time rivals held firm, denying Lemoine’s men any further points, even when reduced to 13 players in the closing stages.

Chile now head to Montevideo for the return leg at Estadio Charrúa on September 6. The aggregate winner will qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, with the loser facing the fourth-placed Pacific Nations team for a final chance to reach finals in Australia.