Chile hosted Argentina XV on Saturday at Talcahuano in Concepción. Argentian Xv left with a 45-10 bonus point win and now have a 3-0 record in the Americas Rugby Championship and 14 points in the standings.

Chile coaches Mark Cross and Raúl Marín took over the coaching duties while Head Coach Bernard Charreyre was with the Chilean women’s Rugby 7’s team at the Sudamérica Women’s Rugby Sevens. Charreyre will be back this week as they prepare for the United States.

Recap

With Argentina XV defending inside their 22, Argentina executed a box kick, but were penalized for being offsides. Chile elected to go for points and Jorge Castillo slotted the ball for a 3-0 Chile lead at the 8th minute.

Argentina was kicking away early possession, but off an attack from a scrum, the ball went wide and a Lautaro Bazán pop pass to Juan Cappiello resulted in a try.  Juan Cruz González then converted for a 7-3 lead. (16′)

Soon after their was a pause in the action, as Gonzalo Martínez was stretchered off the pitch after an inadvertent kick to the jaw.

Chile was also guilty of kicking too much and this resulted in attacks by Argentina. A penalty to Argentina had Juan Cruz González increase Argentina’s lead to 10-3.

After back and forth play by both sides, Fernando Luna scored a try in the corner and Juan Cruz González  converted on the last play prior to halftime to increase their lead to 17-3.

Argentina took the ball to begin the second half and a penalty had them kick to touch for a lineout. Chile turnover the ball and cleared. Argentina then attacked again and Nicolás Solveyra scored in the corner. González converted for a 24-3 lead.

It has been all Argentina in the second half with their relentless attacks. A Germán Schulz offload to Bautista Delguy had him scoring in the corner. Fernando Luna converted for a 31-3  point lead. It also was the fourth try for Argentina that will gain them a valuable bonus point.

With twenty minutes remaining, Chile mounted their best attack of the half. Unfortunately, a turnover resulted in a counter attack by Argentina and Bruno Devoto took an offload in for a try under the posts. Luna converted again increasing the lead to 38-3.

With eleven minutes left in the match, Chile used quick ball in freeing Rodrigo Fernández for a highlight try down the touchline for a try. Jorge Castillo converted and the lead was cut to 38-10.

Claudio Zamorano was issued a yellow card, his second of the match, so he went off with a red card and Chile would play down a man for the rest of the match. Argentina looked for a push over try from a 5 meter scrum, but after a wheel Chile was penalized. Argentina spun the ball to their backs and Chile was penalized again for a no wrap tackle. A quick tap soon resulted in Bruno Devoto’s second try. Luna converted for a 45-10 lead.

Argentina has one more attack after the restart, however the match ended just short of the line. Argentina XV will be satisfied earning a bonus point win and with their second half of attacking rugby. Chile will look to their early pressure against Argentina and feel good about their scrums.

Argentina XV Head coach Felipe Contepomi now can turn to prepare for Brazil, while Chile will play the United States at home.

Chile: 1 Claudio Zamorano, 2 Manuel Gurruchaga, 3 Gonzalo Martínez, 4 Mario Mayol, 5 Nelson Calderón, 6 Cristóbal Niedmann, 7 Anton Petrowitsch, 8 Benjamín Soto, 9 Juan Pablo Larenas, 10 Jorge Castillo, 11 Martín Verschae, 12 Ricardo Sifri, 13 José Ignacio Larenas (Capt.), 14 Martín Fernández, 15 Rodrigo Fernández 16 Martín Mendoza, 17 Sebastián Valech, 18 José Tomás Munita, 19 Manuel Dagnino, 20 Eduardo Orpis, 21 Sergio Bascuñán, 22 Francisco González Moller, 23 Mauricio Urrutia

Argentina XV: 1 Nicolás Solveyra, 2 Axel Zapata, 3 Eduardo Bello, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Ignacio Larrague, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 7 Santiago Montagner, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 9 Lautaro Bazán 10 Juan Cruz González, 11 Germán Schulz, 12 Bruno Devoto, 13 Juan Cappiello (capt.), 14 Santiago Álvarez, 15 Fernando Luna 16 Marcelo Brandi, 17 Francisco Ferronato, 18 Alejo Brem, 19 Pedro Ortega, 20 Lautaro Bavaro, 21 Sebastián Cancelliere, 22 Tomás Granella, 23 Bautista Delguy

Chile – Americas Rugby Championship