Los Jaguares Complete Historic Super Rugby Victory

Argentina’s arrival in Super Rugby is now complete. Los Jaguares completed an historic Super Rugby victory earlier today, defeating the Cheetahs 34-33 in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

The Argentine franchise showed a willingness to attack straight away. Both goal kickers, Nicolás Sánchez and Fred Zeilinga had early shows at goal but were unable to open the scoring. Sáncxhez, though, gifted the Cheetahs an opportunity with a wayward pass which saw Francois Venter intercept and result in a converted try.

7-0 down, Sánchez looked to make up for the error by kicking a penalty shortly thereafter. The three-pointer would be the first score in the history of professional rugby by a team from the Americas.  Minutes later Sánchez was yellow carded for fetching the ball without being on his feet, forcing Los Jaguares to adapt.

With the Cheetahs in possession and advancing the numerical advantage became two with scrum half Martín Landajo joining Sánchez off the field. This forced wingers Santiago Cordero and Emiliano Boffelli to fill in for them and they did so with the Cheetahs 14-3 ahead after referee Stuart Berry also awarded a penalty try for Landajo’s foot-tripping offense.

A third try followed shortly thereafter with further handling errors costing the Argentine side. William Small-Smith’s score made it 24-3 but signs of implosion were quickly averted when Sánchez and Landajo returned to turn the match around.

The first Jaguares try would be the second by a Pumas scrum half of the day. Following Tomás Cubelli’s score for the Brumbies vs Hurricanes, Landajo crossed for one of his own. It came from a strong offload from captain Agustín Creevy, the hooker putting Landajo in the clear for a simple finish.

Minutes later Creevy scored a try of his own, a well -taken effort which contributed to him being awarded the man-of-the-match award. Another veteran, Leonardo Senatore was prominent in the following try as he caught a perfectly weighted Sánchez cross-kick and linked with Rodrigo Báez who dived over in the corner.

Sánchez landed the wide conversion attempt to level the scores. It made it a 24-24 game at the midway stage. At this stage of the match the South Americans appeared to be on course for a win. They were enjoying the better of play and by eliminating errors ought to see themselves home.

Errors, though, continued as the all out attacking approach saw spilt balls turning over possession with regularity.  Fred Zeilinga added six points, through two penalties to give the home side a 30-24 advantage.

The South Americans recovered to score the try of the match with Landajo scoring for the second time. It came from a break from replacement Matías Orlando who ran half the length of the field before finding Landajo who doted down untouched. Sánchez added the conversion before making it a four point game with a well-taken drop goal.

The Cheetahs responded with one last penalty from Zeilinga to set up a thrilling finish. Los Jaguares attacked as the final minutes ticked over before spilling the ball enabling a late counter attacking opportunity. The Cheetahs, though, remained within their own territory as the final whistle was blown.

Los Jaguares will remain in South Africa for a further week, preparing to face the Sharks in Durban next week. The team will then have a round three bye before playing at home for the first time in round four. The March 19 fixture will take place in Buenos Aires.

Scorers
Cheetahs
Try: F Venter, Penalty Try, Van Jaarsveld, Small-Smith
Conversion: Zeilinga (2)
Penalty: Zeilinga 2, Marais

Jaguares
Try: Landajo (2), Creevy, Báez
Conversion: Sánchez (4)
Penalty: Sánchez
Drop goal: Sánchez
Yellow Cards: Sánchez, Landajo

Cheetahs
15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Francois Venter (c), 12 William Small-Smith, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Boom Prinsloo, 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Maks van Dyk, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Charles Marais

Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 Reniel Hugo, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Paul Schoeman, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Niel Marais

Jaguares
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Jerónimo De la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Rodrigo Báez, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 1 Lucas Noguera Paz

Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Matías Orlando