Chile stun Romania to claim maiden scalp

MATCH REPORT: Chile made history by defeating Romania for the first time in a 40-16 hammering at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martinez Pradanos Stadium on Saturday.

The hosts, to the delight of their 20,000 supporters in the stands, put on a spectacular performance in both halves of the contest.

Racing 92 hooker Diego Escobar opened the scoring for Chile which went unconverted as Romania responded with penalties through scrumhalf Alrin Conache.

Chile responded with two tries by Nicolas Garafulic and Inaki Ayarza before the visitors fought back with a try by debutant Toni Maftei to bring the score to 23-12 in favour of the hosts.

Romania started the second stanza the stronger of the two sides, but Chile did enough defensively to keep them at bay.

A line-break by Nicolas Garafulic allowed his No.8 Alfonso Escobar to dot down and join his brother on the scoresheet.

Garafulic scored his brace to ensure the record-breaking result for Chile.

Scorers: 

For Chile: 
Tries: Escobar, Garafulic 2, Ayarza, Escobar
Cons: Videla 3
Pens: Videla 3

For Romania: 
Tries: Maftei, Boldor
Pens: Conache 2

Teams

Chile: 15 Cristóbal Game, 14 Nicolás Garafulic, 13 Matías Garafulic, 12 Santiago Videla, 11 Iñaki Ayarza, 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 9 Lucas Berti, 8 Alfonso Escobar, 7 Clemente Saavedra, 6 Raimundo Martínez, 5 Javier Eissmann, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 2 Diego Escobar, 1 Javier Carrasco.
Replacements: 16 Salvador Lues, 17 Norman Aguayo, 18 Matías Dittus, 19 Bruno Sáez, 20 Augusto Villanueva, 21 Juan Cruz Reyes, 22 Nicolás Saab, 23 Santiago Valenzuela

Romania: 15 Ovidiu Neagu, 14 Toni Maftei, 13 Antonio Mitrea, 12 Fonovai Tagimana, 11 Taliaʻuli Sikuea, 10 Tudor Boldor, 9 Alin Conache, 8 Nicolas Immelman, 7 Matthew Tweddle, 6 Cristi Boboc, 5 Andrei Mahu, 4 Adrian Moțoc, 3 Gheorghe Gajion, 2 Tudor Butnariu, 1 Alexandru Sarin.
Replacements: 16 Ștefan Buruiana, 17 Iulian Hartig, 18 Thomas Crețu, 19 Yanis Horvat, 20 Vlad Neculau, 21 Vladut Bocanet, 22 Alexandru Bucur, 23 Romeo Corrado-Ștețco

Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
Assistant referees: Francisco Gonzalez (Uruguay), Gonzalo de Achaval (Argentina)
TMO: Marcelo Pilaro (Argentina)