Chile put up a fight against Italy on Saturday. The test match in Genoa proved to be competitive for the most with Italy ultimately outscoring Los Cóndores by five tries to three. The match opened international competition between Italy and Chile. That is to say, it was the first ever test match played between the countries.
Both Italy and Chile will feature at Rugby World Cup 2027. Italy is a mainstay of Rugby World Cups; the Azzurri have competed at every Men’s Rugby World Cup ever played. Los Cóndores were debutants at Rugby World Cup 2023 in France. The South Americans kicked-on in 2025 with wins over reputable opponents Uruguay and Samoa in qualifying.
The outcome of the test match in Genoa confirmed the World Rugby rankings which will be used for the Rugby World Cup seedings for both Italy and Chile. Italy end the year ranked 10th in the world and Chile ranked 17th. This means Italy will be in Band 2 (7th to 12th) while Chile will be in Band 3 (13th to 18th).
If people expected Chile to be easy-beats they were wrong. The match was competitive with Italy taking time before wrestling their way into control. The Azzurri converted a 15-7 half-time lead into a 34-19 victory.
After an early start with back-and-forth box-kicking for possession, Italy scored first. The Azzurri did so on 12 minutes with Frenchman Ange Capuozo running around Domingo Saavedra to score under the posts. Giacomo Da Re converted for a 7-0 lead.
Da Re put Italy 10-0 up on 24 minutes with a penalty. It would be the only penalty of the match scored by either side.
The game’s second try came ten minutes after the penalty. An Italian lineout to maul move finished with Tommaso Di Bartolomeo scoring from the tail. The conversion attempt was wide from Da Re.
Chile fought back to score on the stroke of half-time. Replacement loose head prop Salvador Lues went over from a pick-and-go. Replacement Tomás Salas added the conversion for a 15-7 scoreline. As noted, there was an early injection of replacements.
Salas had an opportunity for further points early in the second-half. His penalty attempt was wide. It saw Italy dropping out from the 22. The long kick was taken by Clemente Armstrong. He kicked it back and Nicolás Saab chased and gathered ahead of Capuozo before running over to score. Salas converted and all of a sudden it was a 15-14 scoreline.
Italy looked to their forwards in response. Again it was a lineout to maul and again it was Tommaso Di Bartolomeo who went over. Giacomo Da Re converted from wide.
The Azzurri then put the result beyond doubt with two tries to Australian Monty Ioane. First, the winger scored down the left with Italy having a numerical advantage. Second, good runs from the forwards saw Ioane free and Leonardo Marin provided the assist pass. Da Re converted both tries.
Italy’s momentum ended with Chile having the final say. A kick through from Matías Garafulic saw Nicolás Saab gathering and being stopped inches short. Captain Clemente Saavedra finished off the job by scoring from lose range for Chile. Tomás Salas’ conversion was wide as Adam Leal blew full-time.
The full-time whistle brought to an end international duty for both the Azzurri and Los Cóndores for 2025. They will compete in different international competitions in 2026 with Italy playing in the Nations Championship and Chile involved in the Nations Cup.
- The match officially opened international competition between Italy and Chile.
- It was Italy’s first, and only, match of the year against a country from the Americas.
- It was Chile’s only match of the November Internationals and only match outside of the Americas in 2025.
- The coaches of both teams are former Rugby World Cup players. Both competed at Rugby World Cups 1999 and 2003. Gonzalo Quesada played for his native Argentina and Pablo Lemoine for his native Uruguay. The players were also Stade Français players and were teammates at the Top 14 club.
- Italy’s team was 17/23 (73.91%) homegrown.
- Chile’s team was 22/23 (95.65%) are homegrown.
ITALY (34)
TRY – Ange Capuozzo (12′), Tommaso Di Bartolomeo 2 (34′, 53′), Monty Ioane 2 (62′, 72′)
CON – Giacomo Da Re 3 (12′, 54′, 63′)
PEN – Giacomo Da Re (24′)
CHILE (19)
TRY – Salvador Lues (40′), Nicolas Saab (48′), Clemente Saavedra (80′)
CON – Tomas Salas 2 (41′, 49′)
ITALY
1 Muhamed Hasa, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 3 Simone Ferrari, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 5 Federico Ruzza, 6 Alessandro Izekor, 7 Michele Lamaro (capt.), 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 11 Monty Ioane, 12 Leonardo Marin, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 14 Mirko Belloni, 15 Ange Capuozo
Replacements: 16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 Enoch Opoku Gyamfi, 20 Martin Page-Relo, 22 Juan Ignacio Brex, 23 Eduardo Todaro
CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Augusto Böhme 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Ernesto Tchimino, 7 Clemente Saavedra (capt.), 8 Alfonso Escobar, 9 Lucas Berti, 10 Juan Cruz Reyes, 11 Nicolás Saab, 12 Santiago Videla, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Clemente Armstrong, 15 Matías Garafulic
Replacements: 16 Raimundo Martínez, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Matías Dittus, 19 Bruno Sáez, 20 Augusto Villanueva, 21 Juan Sebastián Bianchi, 22 Tomás Salas, 23 Joaquín Milesi
Referee: Adam Leal (England)
Assistant Referees: Adam Jones (Wales); Ben Connor (Wales)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Foul Play Review Officer (FPRO): Stuart Terheege (England)
