Jaguares fall flat in away loss to Sharks

Los Jaguares fell flat this afternoon in an away loss to the Sharks in Durban. In failing to score any second half points the Argentine side were defeated 19-15.

The Sharks opened the scoring early with fly half Joe Pietersen kicking his first penalty of the match. Los Jaguares responded as strongly as possible with Emiliano Boffelli scoring the games opening try.

Nicolás Sánchez landed the conversion but the lead was short lived as the Sharks crossed from a superb maul. Coming from a lineout the South Africans would employ a number of moves to great effect in the match.

Joe Pietersen’s conversion made it a three point lead which Sánchez cancelled out. But with the Sharks earning penalties the lead again went to the home side. Worryingly for the visitors it meant that for the second time in as many matches Los Jaguares had to play an extended period with two players off the field. Back-rowers Rodrigo Báez and Pablo Matera were both yellow carded by local referee Jaco Peyper.

With two men down Los Jaguares did well to hold off the home side, going into half time with a two point lead. The offensive effort, though, did not gain a pass mark as handling errors cost Los Jaguares scoring opportunities throughout the second half.

Joe Pietersen opened the second half scoring with a 51st minute penalty goal to reclaim the lead. One point became four in the 68th minute when the Argentine scrum gave away another penalty inside their own half. It would be the final points of the match.

Three minutes latter Joe Pietersen had an opportunity to extend the lead but his kick sailed wide. It saw Martín Landajo replaced, at a time when the scrum half had been questioning many decisions of the referee. The controversy surrounded Peyper penalizing Los Jaguares on numerous occasions despite Tendai Mtawarira appearing to be folding under the weight of Ramiro Herrera repeatedly.

Los Jaguares now return home with one win from two games in South Africa. With a bye in round three the next fixture for the Argentine side will come in round four. The home match against New Zealand franchise, the Chiefs on March 19 will see the first ever professional rugby game in the Americas. The following day New Jersey will host London Irish vs Saracens.

Scorers
Sharks
Try: Coetzee
Conversion: Pietersen
Penalty: J Pietersen (4)

Los Jaguares
Try: Boffelli, Cordero
Conversion: Sánchez
Penalty: Sánchez

Sharks
1 Tendai Mtawarira (capt.), 2 Franco Marais, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 5 Stephan Lewies, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 8 Daniel du Preez,9 Cobus Reinach, 10 Joe Pietersen, 11 JP Pietersen, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 13 Paul Jordaan, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 15 Willie le Roux

Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Philip van der Walt, 21 Michael Claassens , 22 Garth April, 23 S’bura Sithole

Los Jaguares
1 Santiago García Botta, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt., 3 Ramiro Herrera, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Matías Alemanno, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Rodrigo Báez, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 12 Santiago González Iglesias, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Matías Orlando, 15 Santiago Cordero

Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Felipe Arregui, 18 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 19 Javier Ortega Desio, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Joaquín Paz, 23 Lucas González Amorosino