Chile vs Uruguay Preview: Which South American side will book their place in the 2027 World Cup?

In the next two weeks, the world will learn which South American side will be joining Argentina at the 2027 World Cup.

On August 30th and September 6th, Chile and Uruguay will face off for the right to call themselves the region’s second side.

The first leg will be played on Saturday at Santiago’s Estadio Municipal de La Pintana, which normally holds around 5000 fans. However, due to increased demand, the Chilean Union has announced they are expanding the capacity for this game.

Away from the pitch, the Uruguayan Union reportedly blocked Chile’s move to host the game in Viña del Mar, where they beat Belgium in 2024 in front of over 15,000 fans, because the request was made after the deadline had passed. Whether this constitutes mind games for either side remains unclear.

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Both sides come into the tie in good form, having won both legs of their respective semifinals. Chile faced the tougher test but overcame Brazil by an accumulative score of 70-41.

Uruguay, meanwhile, made short work of Paraguay, particularly in the 78-10 second leg victory that helped them to a 116-10 aggregate score.

The two sides also share a recent opponent as both secured big wins over Romania in July. Chile’s 40-16 victory was their first over Romania and took them into the World’s top 20 for the first time.

Uruguay ran in eleven tries against the touring side in a 70-8 rout. Rodolfo Ambrosio’s team also tested themselves against Argentina, and will no doubt benefit from the game despite succumbing to a 52-17 defeat.

It is also worth remembering that the bulk of both these sides play for Chile and Uruguay’s respective Super Rugby Americas franchises, Selknam and Peñarol.

The two sides faced off three times this year, with Uruguay’s Peñarol winning all three, including an impressive 34-18 win in the semifinal. However, the two regular-season meetings were extremely close with Selknam falling short by just nine points across both games.

Key Matchups

Perhaps the most fascinating clash will take place on the touchlines, as old friends Pablo Lemoine and Rodolfo Ambrosio look to get the better of one another.

Lemoine is in his seventh year in charge of Chile and carries all the experience of their dramatic 2023 qualification into this tie.

Ambrosio, meanwhile, is just over a year into his job and will want to make a statement over the coming weeks to show his team are capable of big things in Australia.

There are countless mouthwatering head-to-heads, but perhaps none more tantalising than the two diminutive back rowers, Raimundo Martínez and Manuel Ardao.

Martínez was arguably the best player in Super Rugby Americas this year and grabbed two tries in Chile’s last match against Brazil.

Ardao’s talents are well known to any Tier Two enthusiasts and is one of the world’s best jacklers. Whoever gets the better of this battle may well find themselves on the winning side.

Selection News

Uruguay had the luxury of resting several of their key players for the second game against Paraguay, but did welcome back Baltazar Amaya for his first appearance of the season.

One of the stars of their 2023 World Cup, Amaya adds cutting-edge to an already impressive backline. Another returning star, Santiago Arata, has arrived in Uruguay ahead of the first game, though it remains to be seen whether Ambrosio will select him from the start against Chile, having not played for the team this year.

Chile’s chances have been boosted by the return of scrum-half Benjamín Videla, hooker Augusto Böhme and centre Domingo Saavedra from injury. However, they will still be missing Marcelo Torrealba and influential captain Martín Sigren, both of whom are recovering from knee injuries.

Tactical Battles

Uruguay rightly go into the tie as favourites but are facing a wily and physical Chilean outfit. Despite winning the Super Rugby Americas title, Peñarol’s scrum struggled this year, and there were signs that those problems have carried over to the national team, even in their dominant victories over Paraguay.

Chile will look to take the game to Uruguay up front, especially in front of their own fans.

On paper at least, Uruguay’s backline looks the more dangerous and is expertly marshalled by fly-half Felipe Etcheverry.

Lemoine has prioritised power across his backline in recent games, with several outside backs weighing over 100kg.

This approach may yield results when his team is on the front foot, but Uruguay will surely look to test them with kicks in behind.

By Joe Santamaria

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