Chile's players connected with their fans at their first Rugby World Cup. Photo: Getty Images/Alex Livesey
When Pablo Lemoine is asked to describe his squad in one word, the Chilean head coach has an answer ready. “Brave,” he says. “This group is very brave.”
The significance of a World Cup debutant can be overwhelming, but Chile have achieved World Cup success with their strong performances.
Of course, the lowest-ranked team in the competition — ranked 22nd in the world — lost both of their opening games against Japan and Samoa. But there was a certain rigidity to Chile's performance, which can be attributed to the magical way in which they qualified for the tournament.
It was Rodrigo Fernandez's sensational solo try for the Condors against the United States on Santiago's muddy Glastonbury pitch that helped Chile qualify last year.
Fernandez, a Chilean midfielder and fearless playmaker, took the ball into his own 22 and then burst through the American defense in a 70-meter blitz before firing home.
Lemoine's side still trailed 22–21, but a stunning fightback in the return leg in Colorado, trailing by two points after the first half-hour, secured a 31–29 victory and saw them advance to the playoffs. their first World Championship thanks to a 52-51 aggregate victory. Fernandez's cameo role was immortalized by World Rugby, which awarded him the Try of the Year award.
Chile's landmark victory was the culmination of a three-year project led by Lemoine, the Uruguayan rugby star who coached his country at the 2015 World Cup. When he took over at the start of 2019, Chile were ranked 30th in the world, had not won a match for three years and were desperate to end a 14-match losing streak. The former prop has led the revival of Chilean rugby.
By his own admission, Lemoine says he is a different coach than the one who led Uruguay to the 2015 tournament. He chuckles when I ask if he respects any of the other managers in the game, although he name-checks Fabien Galthie. “I'm always focused on myself,” he says. “I am developing as a coach. I think I have a lot more patience than I did in 2015. There have been times in the past when I have been overly anxious or emotional. I guess I have softened a little.”
Chile head coach Pablo Lemoine praised him for his courage. players Photo: Getty Images/Jan Kruger
Under his leadership, Chile was busy attracting new fans in France. South Africa's World Cup winning trio of Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and Cheslin Kolbe were spotted in the crowd during the Condores' second group game against Samoa last weekend before the Springbok thrashed Romania 76-0 in Bordeaux.
< p>Kolisi even shared clips of Chile's defensive play on his Instagram account, which has nearly 900,000 followers. Chile captain Martin Seagren has less than 9,000. Such profiling is a dream for Lemoine's men, who are rarely given a platform by rugby royalty, given that most of the team always communicate only with themselves.The glimpses of cohesion shown by the team are backed up by some pretty stellar statistics: 27 members of Lemoine's 33-man squad play their club rugby in Selknam, Chile's professional rugby franchise, in the Super Rugby Americas league, where players earn around £1,200 a month. which is what some English men would do. earn money for posting paid partnerships on your social media accounts.
«Super America is at a high level, it's more or less the same standard as the English second division,» he says, «but it's a great platform for the development of players from all over South America.»
Lemoine , who took up rugby at school in Montevideo and became the first Uruguayan professional player when he joined Bristol in 1998, makes no secret of his desire to see more of his players play in Europe like Seagren, his captain, who spent a season at Doncaster Knights last year.
He might not have to wait too long. Diego Escobar, Chilean hooker, fullback Inaki Ayarsa and scrum-half Marcelo Torrealba are among the players who have impressed and will attract the attention of scouts in France. The same could be said for Fernandez, who scored Chile's first goal in their blistering start against Japan just six minutes after making his World Cup debut.
Against the Brave Flowers, Chile barely disgraced themselves with a flashes of eyes. catching passes against the 2019 quarterfinalists. They were also up against Samoa right up until half-time before slumping to a 43-10 defeat.
But England, given they have worked out some of their teething problems, will be a very different proposition and Lemoine knows. This. “England is England. They were champions, finalists of the world championships. Semi-finalists,” he says. “But we'll see. They've already created a legacy for this team just by being here.” For Chile, it's the journey, not the destination, that matters.
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