Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Los Jaguares fell this morning, losing 36-28 against the Sunwolves at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo. The match was the fourth of as many away matches during the current tour which sees the Argentine side returning home with no wins and no competition points.
The Argentine side played with flair, outscoring the Japanese franchise by four tries to three but with Tusi Pisi able to convert his kicks and Juan Martín Hernández unable to do so it was the home side that finished with more points.
The match started horribly for Los Jaguares with Joaquin Tuculet being forced off after just one minute, replaced by Emiliano Boffelli. In gathering a high ball the fullback collided with opposition wingers Viliami Lolohea and Mifiposeti Paea and would play no further part in the match. New Zealand referee Jamie Nutbrown determined that there had been no act of foul play.
With his first of four penalties Pisi opened the scoring. The three points came following an infringement from second-rower Guido Petti who had been a late replacement for the injured Juan Cruz Guillamáin.
Los Jaguares hit-back through captain Agustín Creevy. The hooker borrowed over in the 8th minute to score the game’s opening try. Hernandez’s attempted conversion was off-target as it would be so three minutes later.
The second Jaguares try was a team effort. Scrum half Gonzalo Bertranou stood back, taking a pass from a rolling-maul to find Hernández who linked extremely well with Jerónimo de la Fuente. The Rosario center broke the line and attracted the final defender to put Lucas González Amorosino in the clear.
The sunwolves cancelled out both tries with a try of their own, scored in the left corner by a diving Yasutaka Sasakura. The converted try was followed by a Pisi penalty which put the Japanese on top 13-10.
35 minutes in and it was Ramiro Moyano’s turn to create a try. Having missed a tackle for Sasakura’s try the Tucumán fullback made amends as he put in a well-directed kick which was regathered by Boffelli who scored. Hernandez’s conversion was unsuccessful though he would trade penalties with Pusi to make it 18-16 to the visitors.
A set-move from the back of the Sunwolves scrum involving USA back-rower Andrew Durutalo went horribly wrong. A wayward pass was picked-off by Facundo Isa who ran 52 meters to score untouched. The 48th minute try would be converted by Hernández but would be Los Jaguares’ final try of the match.
Unable to protect a 25-16 lead, Los Jaguares were caught and overtaken. It did not come, however, without dubious refereeing as Nutbrown missed a clear forward pass from Harumichi Tatekawa to the try scoring Derek Carpenter in the 55th minute.
Pisi added the conversion and, after being the Sunwolves into a one point lead he made sure Los Jaguares would miss out on a bonus point as he set up Tatekawa for a try in the final minute.
In losing the round nine fixture Los Jaguares are well down in the standings, sitting in sixth place out of eight in the African conferences with seven competition points. Significant improvement is required from the Buenos Aires based franchise who host the Kings next weekend. A number of rested players will return.
SCORERS
SUNWOLVES
Try: Sasakura, Carpenter, Tatekawa
Conversion: Pisi (3)
Penalty: Pisi (4), Viljoen
Try: Creevy, González Amorosino, Boffelli, Isa
Conversion: Hernández
Penalty: Hernández (2)
SUNWOLVES
1 Masataka Mikami, 2 Shota Horie (capt.), 3 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 5 Liaki Moli, 6 Yoshiya Hosoda, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 8 Ed Quirk, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 10 Tusi Pisi, 11 Mifiposeti Paea, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 13 Derek Carpenter, 14 Viliami Lolohea, 15 Riaan Viljoen
Replacements: 16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Ziun Gu, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Faatiga Lemalu, 20 Talyo Ando, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Yasutaka Sasakura
LOS JAGAURES
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 12 Santiago González Iglesias, 11 Lucas González Amorosino, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 1 Felipe Arregui.
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Matías Orlando, 20 Rodrigo Báez, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Joaquín Paz, 23 Emiliano Boffelli
