In less than nine months time Los Cóndores will be competing at Rugby World Cup. RWC 2023 will be the first involving Chile. The South Americans are the first new competitor since Russia qualified for RWC 2011. Chile’s involvement is hugely significant for the sport in the country and in South America. It was made possible by eliminating Canada and sending the USA to repechage.
Chile will play in Pool D of RWC 2023. The group has RWC 2003 champions England, RWC 2019 hosts Japan, RWC 2007 and 2015 Semi Finalists Argentina and RWC 1991 and 1995 Quarter Finalists Samoa. In short, Chile is up against established powers with reputable accomplishments on their résumé’s.
Selecting Chile’s 33-man roster for the World Cup is unique. Pablo Lemoine has a tendency to move players across positions. Santiago Videla and Rodrigo Fernández traded places from fly half and fullback, Clemente Saavedra played lock, flanker and N8 in 2022 and Matías Garafulic and Pablo Casas have played wing and center.
The qualifying wins over Canada and the USA, highlighted this; Los Cóndores play to a game plan that is fine-tuned from one match to the next. The calmness in how this was done from wet and winter of Santiago to the heat and summer of Denver against the USA was exceptional.
Click here to access Chile’s complete list of senior training rosters and overseas professionals.
The following table notes the rankings of players across all positions. This has been organized based on the patterns of selection under Pablo Lemoine in addition to patterns of selection for Selknam.
| # | 1st Choice | 2nd Choice | 3rd Choice |
| 1 | Javier Carrasco | Salvador Lues | Sebastián Otero |
| 2 | Diego Escobar | Augusto Böhme | Tomás Dussaillant |
| 3 | Matías Dittus | Vittorio Lastra | Iñaki Gurruchaga |
| 4 | Clemente Saavedra | Pablo Huete | Augusto Sarmiento |
| 5 | Javier Eissmann | Santiago Pedrero | Agustín Fernández |
| 6 | Martín Sigren (capt.) | Santiago Edwards | Maximiliano Silva |
| 7 | Thomas Orchard | Ignacio Silva | Ernesto Tchimino |
| 8 | Alfonso Escobar | Raimundo Martínez | Joaquín Milesi |
| 9 | Marcelo Torrealba | Lukas Carvallo | Nicolás Herreros |
| 10 | Rodrigo Fernández | Diego Warnken | Tomás Álvarado |
| 11 | Pablo Casas | Gaspar Moltedo | Baltazar Jana |
| 12 | Iñaki Ayarza | José Larenas | Clemente Armstrong |
| 13 | Matías Garafulic | Domingo Saavedra | Cristóbal Game |
| 14 | Nicolás Garafulic | Franco Velarde | Julio Blanc |
| 15 | Santiago Videla | Francisco Urroz | Luca Strabucchi |
The table lists 45 players. This is more than the number that will compete at the World Cup. The size is intentional as it was utilized so as to attempt to identify players who would be added to the roster due to an injury either before or during the World Cup.
Rosters at RWC 2023 will consist of 33 players. This is an increase from 31 from the previous tournament. The 33 players that ARN projects for Chile’s roster are those in the color blue above. The remaining names can be considered non-traveling replacements. Thus, an injury to a blue name would see the next listed name selected.
Two immediate points of note surround flanker and fly half. Santiago Edwards and Diego Warnken are listed as second choice but are not on the 33-man roster. This is because of probable rotation within the roster. First, Clemente Saavedra and Nicolás Garafulic can play back-row and two of the three N8s cover flanker. Second, Santiago Videla and Francisco Urroz cover fly half and both are reliable goal-kickers as is Matías Garafulic.
PROJECTED XV
| # | PLAYER | CLUB | POS | CAPS |
| 1 | Salvador Lues | COBS / Selknam | LH | 9 |
| 2 | Diego Escobar | COBS / Selknam | HK | 4 |
| 3 | Vittorio Lastra | Old Macks / Selknam | TH | 22 |
| 4 | Thomas Orchard | Old Lions / Selknam | LO | 19 |
| 5 | Javier Eissmann | Uni Católica / Selknam | LO | 12 |
| 6 | Martín Sigren (capt.) | Doncaster Knights (UK) | FL | 25 |
| 7 | Ignacio Silva | PWCC / Selknam | FL | 36 |
| 8 | Alfonso Escobar | COBS / Selknam | N8 | 16 |
| 9 | Lukas Carvallo | PWCC / Selknam | SH | 5 |
| 10 | Rodrigo Fernández | COBS / Selknam | FH | 21 |
| 11 | Pablo Casas | PWCC | WI | 14 |
| 12 | Matías Garafulic | COBS / Selknam | CE | 10 |
| 13 | Domingo Saavedra | Old Boys / Selknam | CE | 23 |
| 14 | Nicolás Garafulic | COBS / Selknam | WI | 18 |
| 15 | Santiago Videla | Old Boys / Selknam | FB | 23 |
The projected XV is that which ARN projects to face Japan. Los Cóndores will begin their World Cup against the no 1 Asian side on September 10 in Toulouse. It should be noted that there are changes to the first XV compared to the first choice players as listed in blue.
The changes represent ARN’s understanding of how Pablo Lemoine will approach Chile’s first and second matches. ARN expects Chile to opt for a mobile line-up against Japan and a solid pack against Samoa. Such an approach happened against the USA with a mobile team playing in Denver and winning.
Thomas Orchard started the match in Denver. He played second-row rather than flanker. Salvador Lues and Vittorio Lastra were the props. this had the larger players who had started in Santiago to prodide second-half impact.
Martín Sigren will be captain and ought to also do so against Samoa, Argentina, and England. ARN projects him to have the services of the sniping Lukas Cavallo at scrum-half. Two play-makers are listed in the XV with Rodrigo Fernández at fly half and Santiago Videla at fullback.
PROJECTED OTHER XV
| # | PLAYER | CLUB | POS | CAPS |
| 1 | Javier Carrasco | Old Reds / Selknam | LH | 17 |
| 2 | Tomás Dussaillant | Old Boys / Selknam | HK | 36 |
| 3 | Matías Dittus | Périgueux (FR) | TH | 19 |
| 4 | Pablo Huete | Old Boys | LO | 28 |
| 5 | Javier Eissmann | Uni Católica / Selknam | LO | 19 |
| 6 | Martín Sigren | Doncaster Knights (UK) | FL | 25 |
| 7 | Clemente Saavedra | Old Boys / Selknam | FL | 18 |
| 8 | Alfonso Escobar | COBS / Selknam | N8 | 16 |
| 9 | Marcelo Torrealba | Old Boys / Selknam | SH | 10 |
| 10 | Rodrigo Fernández | COBS / Selknam | FH | 21 |
| 11 | Pablo Casas | PWCC | WI | 14 |
| 12 | Iñaki Ayarza | Charente (FR) | CE | 12 |
| 13 | Matías Garafulic | COBS / Selknam | CE | 10 |
| 14 | Nicolás Garafulic | COBS / Selknam | WI | 18 |
| 15 | Francisco Urroz | Old Reds / Selknam | FB | 9 |
Chile’s scrum has caused rivals including Uruguay and the Argentina XV problems. Javier Carrasco and Matías Dittus are solid in this area. They and Tomás Dussaillant are a changed front-row from that listed to start against Japan. The second-row is also bulkier with Javier Eissmann and Pablo Huete locking the scrum and Clemennte Saavedra listed at flanker.
In search of a battle involving less flair and more muscle there are also changes in the backs. Marcelo Torrealba is the organizer at scrum-half with Iñaki Ayarza and Matías Garafulic giving Los Cóndores a combative mid-field. Francisco Urroz is the defensive option at fullback.
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