2019 Americas Rugby Championship: Chile vs USA

The 2019 Americas Rugby Championship begins on Saturday, February 2 with Chile hosting the USA Men’s Eagles at Estadio Santiago Bueras.

The match against Chile will be broadcast live at 1 pm ET LIVE on FloRugby. As reigning two-time Champions, the Eagles will begin the chase to secure their third consecutive title in the opening of a Rugby World Cup year.

Backs for the USA include Marcel Brache with 12 caps at wing. he takes the place of Blaine Scully, who is out due to injury. Gannon Moore, who recently earned his first cap in the team’s historic first ever victory over Samoa last November, is the other wing. AJ MacGinty is back from injury, starts at flyhalf, with Will Magie moving to fullback. Shaun Davies continues at scrumhalf with Paul Lasike and Bryce Campbell the centers.

The forwards include Titi Lamositele and Dino Waldren at prop with Joe Taufete’e at hooker. Taufete’e with 14 career tries, is only two tries away of becoming the highest scoring front row forward in World Rugby history. Ireland’s Keith Wood currently holds the record at 15 tries that he scored over a nine-year career, while Taufete’e was first capped with the Eagles in 2015 and will earn his 20th cap.

With the establishment of Major League Rugby in 2018, the team now consists mainly of professionals, with some amateur Collegiate players included for some ARC matches. Ten players in Saturday’s lineup are from MLR teams with Tadhg Leader, captain of the New England Free Jacks, having the opportunity to earn his first cap from the reserves. The full match-day 23 features a cumulative total of 343 caps.

Head Coach Gary Gold said: “Our first challenge of the ARC will not be easy, playing the Chilean side in their home territory. Chile plays a very passionate and physical game and given this is the start of a long tournament, we must play to our strengths to establish the momentum we need to carry us through the competition. Of course, we want to win our third ARC title, but that will be even more difficult as all teams have come back with a renewed physicality. This is the start of our Rugby World Cup year and we must ensure our guys are prepared to manage the intensity in each game for the full 80 minutes.”

Following the match against Chile, the United States will face Argentina XV in Rio Negro on Saturday, February 9 before all teams rest for a bye week. After the break, the Eagles will play three matches in the USA against Brazil (Feb 23) in Austin, TX, as well as Uruguay (Mar 2) and rival-Canada (Mar 8) in Seattle, WA.

Tickets for Eagles home matches in the Americas Rugby Championship 2019 are available at usarugby.org/tickets. All USA matches of the tournament will be broadcast LIVE on FloRugby exclusively in the United States.

USA Men’s Eagles

Player	Position	Club	Caps
1. Titi Lamositele	Prop	Saracens (ENG)	26
2. Joe Taufete’e	Hooker	Worcester Warriors (ENG)	19
3. Dino Waldren	Prop	London Scottish (ENG)	15
4. Greg Peterson	Lock	Bordeaux Bégles (FRA)	20
5. Nick Civetta	Lock	Doncaster Knights (ENG)	18
6. John Quill	Flanker	Rugby United New York	29
7. Hanco Germishuys	Flanker	Glendale Raptors	11
8. Cam Dolan	No. 8	NOLA Gold	40
9. Shaun Davies	Scrumhalf	Glendale Raptors	19
10. AJ MacGinty	Flyhalf	Sale Sharks (ENG)	20
11. Marcel Brache (C)	Wing	Western Force (AUS)	12
12. Paul Lasike	Center	Harlequins (ENG)	9
13. Bryce Campbell	Center	London Irish (ENG)	21
14. Gannon Moore	Wing	Utah Warriors	2
15. Will Magie	Fullback	Glendale Raptors	19

Men’s Eagles Reserves: USA vs Chile

Player	Position	Club	Caps
16. James Hilterbrand	Reserve	Manly Marlins (AUS)	16
17. Chance Wenglewski	Reserve	Lindenwood University	1
18. Paul Mullen	Reserve	Houston SaberCats	6
19. Nate Brakeley	Reserve	Rugby United New York	15
20. Tevita Tameilau	Reserve	Glasgow Warriors (SCO)	12
21. Ruben de Haas	Reserve	Free State Cheetahs (RSA)	7
22. Tadhg Leader	Reserve	New England Free Jacks	0
23. Dylan Audsley	Reserve	San Diego Legion	6

USA Men’s Eagles Staff

Head Coach Gary Gold
Assistant Coach, Backs & Attack Greg McWilliams
Assistant Coach, Forwards Shawn Pittman
Strength & Conditioning Coach Huw Bevan
Performance Analyst Jimmy Harrison
Team Doctor Mark Sakr (Chile, Argentina Uruguay, Canada)
Head Athletic Trainer Kevin Ng
Assistant Athletic Trainer Kristen Douhan
Team Manager Chris Hanson

Squads

Chile: 1 Francisco Pizarro, 2 Tomás Dussaillant, 3 Nicolás Ovalle, 4 Bastián Burguener, 5 Clemente Saavedra, 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Ignacio Silva, 8 Jaden Laing, 9 Domingo Saavedra, 10 Francisco González Moller, 11 Gonzalo Lara, 12 Vicente Ayarza, 13 Christian Huerta, 14 José Ignacio Larenas, 15 Tomás Ianiszewski16 Augusto Böhme, 17 Javier Carrasco, 18 Matías Dittus, 19 Javier Eissmann, 20 Thomas Orchard, 21 Juan Pablo Larenas, 22 Francisco Urroz, 23 Julio Blanc

USA: 1 Titi Lamositele, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 3 Dino Waldren, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Nick Civetta, 6 John Quill, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Shaun Davies, 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Marcel Brache (capt.), 12 Paul Lasike, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Gannon Moore, 15 Will Magie 16 James Hilterbrand, 17 Chance Wenglewski, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Nate Brakeley, 20 David Tameilau, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Tadhg Leader, 23 Dylan Audsley

Chile Squad

On January 24, Los Condores played a tune-up match against Argentina XV losing 47-14 in Buenos Aires. The team has not been named for Saturday’s match yet but will be selected from the forwards and backs listed below.

Forwards: Javier Carrasco (Old Reds), Matías Dittus (Uni Católica), Mauricio Gómez (Old Lions), Marcelo Huerta (Stade Francais), Vittorio Lastra (Verona, IT), Nicolás Ovalle (Old Boys), Francisco Pizarro (Viña), Augusto Böhme (Uni Católica), Tomás Dussaillant (Old Boys), Bastián Burguener (Sporting), Javier Eissmann (Uni Católica), Thomas Orchard (Old Lions), Clemente Saavedra (Old Boys), Alfonso Escobar (COBS), Jaden Laing (Davenport Panthers, US), Eduardo Orpis (COBS), Javier Richard (COBS), Camilo Sánchez (Old Lions), Martín Sigren (Old Boys), Ignacio Silva (PWCC)

Backs: Juan Pablo Larenas (Uni Católica), Juan Pablo Perrotta (Uni Católica), Domingo Saavedra (Old Boys), Francisco González Moller (Sporting), Francisco Urroz (Old Reds), Santiago Videla (Old Boys), Vicente Ayarza (Old Boys), Christian Huerta (Stade Francais), Martín Verschae (Independiente, ES), Julio Blanc (Old Boys), Gonzalo Lara (COBS), José Ignacio Larenas (Uni Católica), Tomás Ianiszewski (Old Locks)

Americas Rugby Championship 2019 Schedule

Saturday, Feb. 2 vs Chile at 1 PM ET in Santiago, CHL, Referee: Damián Schneider (ARG)
Saturday, Feb 9 vs Argentina XV at 3 PM ET in Rio Negro, ARG
BYE WEEK
Saturday, Feb 23 vs Brazil at 7:10 PM CT at Dell Diamond, Austin, TX Get Tickets
Saturday, Mar 2 vs Uruguay at 7:10 PM PT at Starfire Sports, Seattle, WA Get Tickets
Friday, Mar 8 vs Canada at 7:10 PM PT at Starfire Sports, Seattle, WA Get Tickets

About the Americas Rugby Championship

The Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) is an international, round-robin competition at the test level which features six competing teams from North and South America including Argentina XV, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Uruguay, and the USA. All matches contested in the ARC count for rankings points and test caps with the exception of those played against Argentina XV who compete as a secondary national team. Originally introduced as a development tournament, the Americas Rugby Championship began operating at the senior international level in 2016 where Argentina XV (who remained as part of the setup) claimed the inaugural championship and USA took runners-up. USA is currently reigning champions having won both the 2017 and 2018 ARC with Argentina XV runners-up in both years.