Chile 6-59 Argentina

Facundo Barrea scored a double

Argentina is South American Champion after having defeated Chile 59-6 in Santiago on Saturday. The win was Los Pumas´ third of the tournament having already defeated both Uruguay and Brazil in the first two rounds. Chile finished third after having defeated Brazil but having lost by a single point in an epic 27-26 point loss vs Los Teros on Wednesday. In winning, Argentina did so with a team that is far from what will face Tier One opposition this year with captain Leo Senatore being the only player to have played at Rugby World Cup 2011. He led the team in all three matches, playing a whopping three tests in just six days. 

The win saw Argentina scoring eight tries too zero with right winger Facundo Barrea and fullback Román Miralles both scoring two tries each while outside centre Santiago Craig, secondrower Benjamín Macome, replacement winger Manuel Montero and inside centre Matías Orlando all scored one try each. Valentín Cruz had a good day with the boot as he landed seven conversions.

Despite being an international match counting for IRB World Rankings and being considered exactly the same as a full strength game between France and England neither side could be said to be at full strength. Los Condores were close to it but was missing some players based abroad. Los Pumas, however, was a team made up entirely of Argentine based players. The South American Championship was used as a breeding ground for players with the future in mind. International caps were handed out to many from Los Pampas XV who would otherwise not play for their country.

Chile: 1 Luka Salamunic, 2 Sebastián Del Solar, 3 Sergio de la Fuente, 4 Nelson Calderón, 5 Salomón Diaz, 6 Rodrigo Tobar (Captain), 7 Rolando Pellerano, 8 Manuel Dagnino; 9 Alonso Oliver, 10 Benjamin Pizarro, 11 Iñaki Barturen, 12 Francisco De la Fuente, 13 Germán Herrera, 14 Francisco Neira, 15 Javier Valderrama.

Argentina: 1 Roberto Tejerizo, 2 Bruno Postiglioni, 3 Gastón Cortéz, 4 Santiago Guzmán, 5 Benjamín Macome, 6 Lisandro Ahualli de Chazal, 7 Rodrigo Bruno, 8 Leonardo Senatore (Captain), 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Valentín Cruz; 11 Diego Palma, 12 Matías Orlando, 13 Santiago Craig, 14 Facundo Barrea, 15 Román Miralles.