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'The more you suffer, the more you enjoy it at the end'
By Liam Heagney
Jose Escobedo was the toast of Chile on Friday after his last gasp-try in the corner in Stellenbosch defeated Tonga, last weekend’s first-leg title winners, at the 2023 Sevens Challenger Series. The Chileans had underperformed in week one, surprisingly losing to Belgium at the quarter-final stage and finishing seventh overall.
However, they made up for that setback with a thrilling success over the Tongans in the final match on the opening day of the second leg of the series. Chile had raced into a 17-0 lead only to become swamped by a massive Tongan onslaught that ushered the Pacific Islanders 19-17 ahead to leave them set for victory.
However, the drama under the warm South African sun had one final twist with Tomas Salas collecting a left-to-right pass from a breakdown and running back towards the left-hand corner to where he supplied Escobedo with the inch-perfect pass to clinch an inspiring 22-19 victory.
Manuel Bustamante told RugbyPass: “We are happy for the win. Tough game. We really had to grind to make it better. But the more you suffer, the more you enjoy it at the end.
“We talked about being patient and never giving up – and that is one of the basics of our team. All the training we have been through, the mindset as well helps with that, not giving up, and you see the result.
“We are happy for the win, but we haven’t won anything yet so eyes on the prize still, one step at a time, Jamaica first on Saturday and after the quarter-finals.”
The aggregate winners of the 12-team men’s section will go forward into a four-team qualifier in London next month looking for promotion to next season’s revamped World Series circuit.
The aggregate women's section winner will be automatically promoted to the World Series and host nation South Africa remain on course to make the jump. Having won the first-leg title last weekend, they won both their pool matches on Friday to progress to the second-leg quarter-finals.
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Latest Comments
@dc0000 Ffs Nige, are you typing with your forehead again?
Go to commentsYes but we don’t want to be anything like the US do we!
I think it works especially in america for those types of days. Of course the general idea is that you spend time together and although watch sport is the exact opposite I’d reckon it would probably be a net positive in the end.
Something that has or should have more meaning is another thing entirely though. Or does the day just not have that much meaning anymore either? Like having a ‘rivalry’ with the other nation you’re celebrating as team mates.. well hello? Maybe it’s a good day for the All Blacks v Kangaroos game? Transtasman version of the black clash?
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