Uruguay play host to Chile on Saturday. The match is game two in the winner-ges-to Australia series. The teams are battling it out to determine who will officially be South America 1 in Australia 2027. Game one saw Uruguay defeating Los Cóndores in Chile.
Chile and Uruguay reached the South American final by winning their respective series’ against Brazil and Paraguay. One of them will officially join Argentina to give South America two confirmed teams competing at Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia.
Los Teros have the edge; Uruguay are established as regular competitors at Men’s Rugby World Cups. Uruguay competed at Rugby World Cups 1999, 2003, 2015, 2019 and 2023. Chile were debutants at Rugby World Cup 2023 and the first newcomers since Russia in 2011.
Both Uruguay and Chile have developed substantially over the course of the past decade. Uruguay made High Performance investments and Chile acted to replicate the model. The success saw North American teams missing out on Rugby World Cup 2023. Chile eliminated Canada and sent the USA to repechage with Portugal claiming the final spot.
The arrival of Super Rugby Americas (formerly Súper Liga Americana de Rugby) has been critical to the development of Chile and the sustained growth of Uruguay. The South American league provides a gap between amateur rugby and the test arena for Uruguay and Chile.
FORM GUIDE + |
Current World Ranking: 20 (62.90)
Aug 30, 2025 – Chile 16-28 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
July 26, 2025 – Chile 35-20 Brazil (Santiago, CL)
July 19, 2025 – Brazil 21-35 Chile (São Paulo, BR)
July 05, 2025 – Chile 40-16 Romania (Santiago, CL)
Current World Ranking: 16 (68.45 points)
Aug 30, 2025 – Chile 16-28 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
Aug 23, 2025 – Uruguay 78-10 Paraguay (Montevideo, UY)
July 26, 2025 – Paraguay 0-38 Uruguay (Asunción, PY)
July 19, 2025 – Argentina 52-17 Uruguay (Salta, AR)
July 12, 2025 – Uruguay 70-8 Romania (Montevideo, UY)
|
IN | OUT |
| 11 | Ignacio Álvarez Akiki | Baltazar Amaya |
|
IN | OUT |
| 10 | Santiago Videla | Rodrigo Fernández |
| 11 | Iñaki Ayarza | Nicolás Garafulic |
| 12 | Nicolás Saab | Santiago Videla |
| 14 | Nicolás Garafulic | Iñaki Ayarza |
| + MOST CAPS |
– M Sanguinetti (95), A Vilaseca (85), I Dotti (71), G Kessler (71), S Arata (51), M Diana (50)
– S Videla (39), M Dittus (35), C Saavedra (35), A Böhme (33), J Carrasco (33), J Eissmann (33)
| + LEAST CAPS |
– F Suárez (4), J González (8), I Álvarez Akiki (12), R Piussi (13)
– N Saab (5), L Berti (6), E Tchimino (7), B Sáez (8), JC Reyes (8)
| + NOTABLE ABSENTEES |
– Guilherme Pujadas (HK), Diego Arbelo (TH)
– Vittorio Lastra (TH), Martín Sigren (FL), Bruno Sáez(LO), Marcelo Torrealba (SH), Rodrigo Fernández (FH), Domingo Saavedra (CE), Luca Strabucchi (FB)
- The match is the second of two to determine who will qualify for Rugby World Cup 2027 as South America 1. Game one saw Uruguay winning 28-16 on the road in Santiago del Chile.
- Uruguay has 40 wins against Chile while Chile has 10 wins against Uruguay.
- The most recent Chilean win over Uruguay was 30-15 in 2015.
- A non-capped match saw the Chile XV defeating the Uruguay XV 22-21 in Montevideo in 2020. The line-ups of both teams that day mean it was not the ‘A’ teams and merited test match status.
- Uruguay has named a replacements bench of 6 forwards and 2 backs.
- Baltazar Amaya is out due to concussion protocol. Ignacio Alvarez Akiki replaces him in Uruguay’s one change from the starting formation in Santiago.
- Replacement N8 Manuel Diana sat out game one to be with family following the birth of his child.
- Regular Chilean captain, Martín Sigren is out for the season.
- Santiago Videla is the most capped member of the Chilean line-up with 39 caps. He moves from inside center to fly half. This comes Rodrigo Fernández ruled out with a badly bruised leg from game one.
- Mateo Sanguinetti will earn his 96th cap for Uruguay. Five others have passed the mark of 50 caps.
- Only one of Uruguay and Chile will qualify via South American RWC Qualifying. The lower ranked Hong Kong (ranked 23) will debut at RWC 2027 as Asia 1. Hong Kong qualified by facing lower ranked opposition than Chile: South Korea (36), United Arab Emirates (40), Sri Lanka (47) and Malaysia (54).
- Uruguay have competed at five Rugby World Cups including the Australian-hosted event in 2003.
- Chile debuted at Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.
- The match will be refereed in English by Jérémy Rozier. The assistants and TMO are Argentines.
| RWC QUALIFIER VS TEAMS |
URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Reinaldo Piussi, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Manuel Leindekar (capt.), 6 Santiago Civetta, 7 Lucas Bianchi, 8 Manuel Ardao, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Ignacio Álvarez Akiki, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Bautista Basso, 15 Juan González
Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Francisco Suárez, 18 Ignacio Péculo, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Carlos Deus, 21 Manuel Diana, 22 Santiago Álvarez, 23 Juan Manuel Alonso
CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Diego Escobar, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Raimundo Martínez, 7 Clemente Saavedra (capt.), 8 Alfonso Escobar, 9 Benjamín Videla, 10 Santiago Videla, 11 Iñaki Ayarza, 12 Nicolás Saab, 13 Matías Garafulic, 14 Nicolás Garafulic, 15 Cristóbal Game
Replacements: 16 Augusto Böhme, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Matías Dittus, 19 Joaquín Milesi, 20 Ernesto Tchimino, 21 Lucas Berti, 22 Juan Cruz Reyes, 23 Tomás Salas
Cool conditions have defined preparations for Saturday’s showdown at the Estadio Charrúa. This will not bother either side. Uruguay will be looking to score points by any means necessary to seal their spot at Rugby World Cup 2027. The pressure is firmly on Chile who need to win by +13. This will require a solid platform upfront and enterprising play from the backs. Uruguay are favorites to win in Santiago and qualify for Rugby World Cup 2027.
Venue: Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo, Uruguay
Date: Saturday, September 06
Kick-Off: 4:30pm (Uruguay); 3:30pm (Chile)
Weather: Partly Cloudy. 12°C; Wind 14 km/h
Broadcast: Disney +
Referee: Jérémy Rozier (France)
Assistant Referees: Tomás Bertazza (Argentina); Federico Longobardi (Argentina)
TMO: Lucas Galan (Argentina)
 AUSTRALIA 2027 – SOUTH AMERICAN RWC QUALIFYING PICTURE |
Los Cóndores began their Rugby World Cup 2017 qualifying campaign in 2024 and Los Teros did so in 2025. Uruguay’s regular participation in Rugby World Cups, results and ranking saw Los Teros starting this year. In contrast, Chile, who debuted at Rugby World Cup 2023 had to contend with Brazil and Paraguay in 2024.
Paraguay secured a spot in the final round of the South American qualifiers for Rugby World Cup 2027.Los Yacarés did so with a record win over Colombia in October. The 49-18 victory saw Paraguay securing the final spot in the Sudamericano 2025 alongside Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.
The result saw Colombia eliminated. Los Tucanes booked their spot against Paraguay by being crowned champions of the third tier of South America. It involved a Four Nations competition, which also featured countries from Central America, with Colombia being joined joined Costa Rica, Peru and Venezuela.
Colombia won the tournament with comfortable wins over Costa Rica and Venezuela. Los Tucanes’ 50-05 win over Venezuela meant Colombia advanced to face Paraguay with Costa Rica, Peru and Venezuela all eliminated.
Paraguay’s pathway to facing Colombia began in the Southern Cone against Chile and Brazil. Los Cóndores and Os Tupis both won Rugby World Cup Qualifiers against Paraguay to book their spots alongside Uruguay in the South American Semi Finals. Paraguay claimed the remaining spot with the aforementioned win over Colombia.
Saturday’s showdown in Montevideo is the Second of two between Chile and Uruguay. Uruguay won the first game 28-16 to take a 12+ advantage into the decider in Montevideo. The winner, on aggregate, will be the Sudamericano 2025 champion and qualify for Rugby World Cup 2027 as South America 1.
South America 1 will join Argentina in seeking a spot in Australia 2027. The runner-up of the Sudamericano 2025 will face the bottom team from the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup in a winner goes to the Rugby World Cup clash. The third placed team from the Sudamericano 2025 will advance to the Final Place Play-Off tournament to determine the 24th competitor at the World Cup.
| vs COMPLETE RESULTS (1948-2023) |
Aug 29, 2025 – Chile 16-28 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
July 29, 2023 – Uruguay 26-25 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
July 18, 2021 – Uruguay 15-10 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Feb 09, 2019 – Uruguay 20-05 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Feb 24, 2018 – Chile 15-67 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
May 27, 2017 – Uruguay 27-11 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Mar 04, 2017 – Uruguay 45-14 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
May 07, 2016 – Uruguay 39-14 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Feb 27, 2016 – Chile 20-23 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
May 09, 2015 – Chile 30-15 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
May 10, 2014 – Uruguay 55-13 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
May 04, 2013 – Uruguay 23-09 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
May 23, 2012 – Chile 26-27 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
May 20, 2011 – Uruguay 18-21 Chile (Puerto Iguazú, AR)
May 19, 2010 – Chile 19-36 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
May 02, 2009 – Uruguay 46-09 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Nov 22, 2008 – Uruguay 46-12 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Aug 25, 2007 – Chile 34-35 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
Jul 22, 2006 – Uruguay 43-15 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
May 11, 2005 – Uruguay 34-25 Chile (Buenos Aires, AR)
May 01, 2004 – Chile 13-20 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
Apr 27, 2003 – Uruguay 20-13 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Jul 27, 2002 – Chile 10-06 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
Jul 09, 2002 – Uruguay 34-23 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
May 01, 2002 – Uruguay 33-16 Chile (Mendoza, AR)
Oct 13, 2001 – Uruguay 26-07 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Nov, 12, 2000 – Uruguay 11-09 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Apr 04, 1998 – Chile 14-20 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
Aug 24, 1997 – Uruguay 32-17 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Sep 24, 1995 – Chile 13-31 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
Oct 09, 1993 – Uruguay 14-06 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Sep 20, 1992 – Uruguay 37-15 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Sep 08, 1991 – Chile 18-34 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
Nov 04, 1990 – Chile 27-33 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
Dec 10, 1989 – Uruguay 19-17 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Sep 30, 1987 – Chile 19-33 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
Sep 21, 1985 – Uruguay 09-03 Chile (Asunción, PY)
Jul 20, 1983 – Uruguay 25-03 Chile (Buenos Aires, AR)
May 24, 1981 – Uruguay 33-03 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Oct 12, 1979 – Uruguay 09-09 Chile (Santiago, CL)
Oct 27, 1977 – Uruguay 21-10 Chile (Tucumán, AR)
Sep 25, 1975 – Uruguay 07-15 Chile (Asunción, PY)
Oct 14, 1973 – Uruguay 13-10 Chile (São Paulo, BR)
Oct 12, 1971 – Uruguay 06-11 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Oct 08, 1969 – Chile 13-06 Uruguay (Viña del Mar, CL)
Sep 24, 1967 – Uruguay 11-16 Chile (Buenos Aires, AR)
Aug 18, 1964 – Uruguay 15-08 Chile (São Paulo, BR)
Oct 12, 1961 – Uruguay 05-28 Chile (Montevideo, UY)
Oct, 11 1958 – Chile 34-09 Uruguay (Santiago, CL)
Sep 16, 1951 – Uruguay 08-03 Chile (Buenos Aires, AR)
Aug 05, 1948 – Uruguay 03-21 Chile (Buenos Aires, AR)
| vs OVERALL RESULTS |
40 Wins 10 Wins
Draws 1
