Lemoine loads bench with forwards - Chile name team to play Japan
Chile head coach Pablo Lemoine has named his match-day 23 to face Japan in Toulouse on Sunday, with a 6-2 forwards-to-backs split among the replacements.
1 Javier Carrasco
2 Diego Escobar
3 Matias Dittus
4 Clemente Saavedra
5 Javier Eissmann
6 Martín Sigren (c)
7 Raimundo Martínez
8 Alfonso Escobar
9 Marcelo Torrealba
10 Rodrigo Fernandez
11 Franco Velarde
12 Matias Garafulic
13 Domingo Saavedra
14 Santiago Videla
15 Inaki Ayarza
Replacements:
16 Augusto Bohme
17 Salvador Lues
18 Inaki Gurruchaga
19 Pablo Huete
20 Santiago Pedrero
21 Ignacio Silva
22 Lukas Carvallo
23 José Ignacio Larenas
• Chile have four sets of brothers in their 33-man squad, with two named in the starting line-up in Alfonso and Diego Escobar, and Clemente and Domingo Saavedra.
• There are only three players in the match-day team who play their club rugby outside of South America, with Inaki Ayarza for Soyaux Angouleme XV Cherente and Matias Dittus for Club Athletique Perigeux in France, and captain Martín Sigren for Doncaster Knights in England.
• Three of their seven starting backline players have all scored multiple times this season, with Rodrigo Fernandez, Domingo Saavedra and Raimundo Martinez all with two tries in 2023.
• Inaki Ayarza has made the most line breaks (six) and beaten the most defenders for Chile (24) across their past two tests.
• Marcelo Torrealba has made four try assists across his past two tests, with two for his fly-half Rodrigo Fernandez and two for his full-back Inaki Ayarza.
• Raimundo Martinez won four jackals from 22 defensive ruck entries for Chile this season. He has made the most dominant tackles (22) for Los Cóndores and two try-saving tackles.