Chile’s men’s national team, which hasn’t played a match in about 18 months, is focusing on changing things this year. The Weichafes last played when they competed in, and won, the South American Championship in Buenos Aires in December 2024. Chile beat Brazil in their opening match and then narrowly lost to Argentina in the follow-up contest but still clinched the title. It was Chile’s second loss to the Argentinians in their three head-to-head matchups so far. They played each other in 2016, 2017 and again in 2024. Chile didn’t play any matches in 2025, and head coach Rod Millar says that needs to change going forward.
“We are looking for opportunities to play more international games be it against North American nations or expand to play in other continents,” he says. “Our aim is to progress up to the top 20 in the rankings table.”Chile is currently ranked #25 on the International Rugby League’s (IRL) rankings. Jamaica at #18 and the USA at #22 are ranked higher, while Canada at #29 is further down the list. Millar says there’s a reason why they’d like to face off against the USA Hawks, Canada Wolverines and Jamaican Reggae Warriors.
“Playing against North American nations will hopefully bring back the Americas Cup,” he says. “This was played some time back; however, no South American team were involved at that stage, except for the 2018 World Cup Qualifier. No discussions have been entered into as yet and we’re happy to get this conversation started.” The Weichafes have only ever played the US and Canada once each. That was in 2018 in the qualifying series for the 2021 Rugby League World Cup and they were on the losing side of big scorelines in both games.
“We were looking forward to our next installment of South American Championships due this year in Chile, however, we may have to postpone until next year due to uncertainty in flights as every partaking nation will need to fly in,” he continues. Many airlines around the world have rescheduled flights, including the cancelation of some, because of the rising cost of jet fuel brought on by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Iran conflict. As for the state of rugby league in the South American nation, the coach says it’s been a bit of a hard slog of late.
“Domestically it has been hard to reestablish ourselves post Covid times, however, things are starting to look up, with discussion with schools progressing well to reestablish a school base rugby league program,” Millar adds. “We are currently using the very cold winters in the south of Chile as a recruitment drive of rugby league in the region. We have been getting good numbers at training sessions, so, hopefully by the time the weather becomes a lot more favourable, we will be able to commence our intercity domestic league. “In the north of the country, Antofagasta continues to have plenty of interest and we are hoping to commence a domestic league by August this year.”
