Chile faced the USA yesterday night in their bid to qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. It was the first of a two leg playoff, the winner of which will qualify as Americas 2 and will be placed in Pool D (England, Japan, Argentina, Samoa). The loser will advance to the 2023 Rugby World Cup - Final Qualification Tournament for a place in Pool C (Wales, Australia, Fiji, Georgia).
USA edged the match 22-21, which was played in horrifically wet and muddy conditions in Santiago. In a game that featured a few interesting twists, the most memorable moment came in the 51st minute when Chile outhalf Rodrigo Fernandez scored a solo try for the ages.
After fielding a high ball deep inside his own half, Fernandez dummied the first defender and raced through to the USA 22. With a maze of defenders in his way he somehow weaved stepped all the way to USA try line.
You can check out the try below at 5:45
Among the scorers for USA was former Connacht and Blackrock College flyhalf AJ McGinty who slotted two conversions and a penalty in the win.
Should Chile defeat the USA over the two legs, they will qualify for the Rugby World Cup for the first time in their history.
Teams and scorers (taken from Goff Rugby Report):
USA
1. David Ainu’u; 2. Joe Taufete’e; 3. Paul Mullen; 4. Nick Civetta; 5. Greg Peterson; 6. Ben Bonasso; 7. Hanco Germishuys; 8. Cam Dolan; 9. Ruben de Haas; 10. AJ MacGinty (C); 11. Martin Iosefo; 12. Bryce Campbell; 13. Tavite Lopeti; 14. Christian Dyer; 15. Marcel Brache
Reserves: 16. Kapeli Pifeleti (@68); 17. Chance Wenglewski (@68); 18. Angus MacLellan (@68); 19. Siaosi Mahoni (@68); 20. Jason Damm (@61); 21. Tevita Tameilau (@72); 22. Nate Augspurger (@72); 23. Luke Carty (@68);
Chile 21
Tries: Videla, Fernández
Convs: Videla
Pens: Videla 3
Chile
1. Javier Carrasco; 2. Augusto Bohme; 3. Matías Dittus; 4. Santiago Pedrero; 5. Javier Eissmann; 6. Martín Sigren (C) 7. Clemente Saavedra; 8. Raimundo Martínez; 9. Lukas Carvallo; 10. Rodrigo Fernández; 11. Franco Velarde; 12. José Larenas; 13. Matías Garafulic; 14. Nicolás Garafulic; 15. Santiago Videla
Reserves: 16. Diego Escobar; 17. Salvador Lues; 18. Vittorio Lastra; 19. Augusto Sarmiento; 20. Thomas Orchard; 21. Ignacio Silva; 22. Lucas Strabucchi; 23. Marcelo Torrealba;
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