In just over a decade, South America has evolved from an isolated figurehead of the international rugby scene into a continent with its own layers: the mentor (Argentina), the gifted student (Uruguay) and the debutant (Chile). The first World Cup with three South American teams brought this Saturday in Nantes the first regional derby of the great global event, an Argentina-Chile for the ages that ended, as the script ordered, with a victory over the Albiceleste (59-5). . The rise of the Pumas, who have become the big players, has given a boost to their neighbors who are growing thanks to their technology, their structures or their passion.
The British brought rugby to Argentina, a country that always had talent when it lacked structure. These expatriates led the country to third place at the 2007 World Cup and called for a new beginning. In doing so, they entered the aristocracy of the southern hemisphere and in 2012 transformed the Three Nations between Australia, South Africa and New Zealand into the Rugby Championship. The local barn grew, there were further World Cup semi-finals in 2015 and two recent wins against the All Blacks. It’s already a selection that can blow anyone’s mind.
Uruguay joined that wave and used its ticket to the 2015 World Cup – making it to the play-offs in a close qualifying round against Russia – to stay. This completely amateur group with hardly any foreign influences was enriched with more professionalism in the next cycle. Local rugby added staff and created structures – better calendars, doctors, physiotherapists and youth categories – to regularly compete against teams of its level, from European teams like Spain to its North American neighbors. He entered the 2019 World Cup as a first team, beating the United States. And when they arrived in Japan, they made a splash by defeating Fiji at Kamaishi and Fukushima – a huge leap.
More information
As Chile charts its future plan, it makes no secret of the fact that Uruguay has eight years of excellence ahead of it, but the Cóndors have amazed the world at how much progress they have made in such a short space of time. Its parent club, Selknam Rugby – a tribute to the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego – is barely four years old. Much of the credit goes to his coach Pablo Lemoine, also national coach, a renowned Uruguayan with a long career in France, where he shared a team with French coach Fabien Galthié.
This is the factory of Chilean rugby, which competes in Super Rugby Americas, a seven-club competition that includes two Argentine affiliates (Pampas and Dogos), an American club (American Raptors), a Paraguayan club (Yacare) and the Cobras Brazil and Peñarol Rugby, the leap forward in Uruguayan rugby, winner of the first edition with the global brand of the football club. A barn already home to expatriate stars like Santiago Arata, one of the best scrum-halves in French rugby, a little devil in the model and image of Les Bleus leader Antoine Dupont.
With these cards, Uruguay came to France with the aim of winning two games and qualifying directly for Australia 2027. They performed well in the opening game against France (27-12) and fought for this ambitious goal in the following game against Italy. The Teros, who were not far from beating the Italians in 2021, put a member of the Six Nations in a real quandary. They led by ten points at half-time, a lead they had to give up after an avoidable yellow card, before losing in the physical area by an exaggerated 38-17. Despite the disappointment, they saved the day against Namibia, against whom they came from 0-14 behind to win 36-26. And next Thursday they will say goodbye to the World Cup against the All Blacks: their first haka.
Chile adopts the mantra: its goal is to participate in the World Cup. They surprised the USA in the playoffs with drives like that of Rodrigo Fernández, who evaded the entire opposition defense in the rain and signed what was voted the best test of 2022. Despite their Cinderella role, they gave Japan a headache, they couldn’t break away until the end of the first half and held on against Samoa. For a country used to playing against Argentina’s reserve team, facing the Pumas nine years later was a milestone. Despite the good staging – ten minutes of high pressure and few mistakes – the competition was something different. All in all, they had the pleasure of scoring a try with their lead and achieving a less impressive result than the one England (71-0) gave them. After that game, Lemoine highlighted the inequality of the tournament: “It disgusts me. On the one hand we are the clowns and on the other hand we are the owners of the circus.”
The Pumas from the aristocracy demonstrated the longevity of their veterans in the derby. Nicolás Sánchez, who celebrated his 100th birthday with the national team. Like Agustín Creevy, who at 38 is the fourth oldest player in a World Cup. After the defeat against England and the dull win against Samoa, their coach Michael Cheika has to make a decision in view of the direct duel against Japan for a place in the quarter-finals: keep Gonzalo Bertranou and Santiago Carreras or hand over the reins to the old guard, Sánchez and Cubelli . As Chile or Uruguay would say, these are first world problems.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on Facebook and Xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.