Jaguares Fail to Perform against Sharks

Los Jaguares failed to perform against South African side the Sharks this evening, losing yet another match that was there for the taking. To blame were reoccurring problems from the Raúl Pérez coached side.

Six penalties from the boot of Springbok Pat Lambie was what separated the teams. Indeed, Los Jaguares were vastly superior with ball in hand as they outscored the Sharks by three tries to one. But with wayward goal kicking and dubious refereeing decisions the Buenos Aires based side fell short.

The match was decided in the final minutes with Lambie breaking a 22-22 deadlock to seal a three point victory. The penalty came from an overly long advantage from South African referee erratic Marius van der Westhuizen whose inconsistency was widely commented on throughout the match on social media.

While failing to get the win Los Jaguares continued with their high-risk approach. Offloading was again the priority and, again, worked against the Argentine side. Early on, nonetheless, Los Jaguares were well positioned as they crossed for two early tries with Tomás Lavanini and Martín Landajo each crossing for one.

The frist try provided a platform for Los Jaguares to build upon but ill discipline proved decisive as Lambie quickly made it a 7-6 scoreline. A third chance went begging for the Argentine side before alarm bells started ringing as Manuel Montero was forced off after taking a knock to his ribs.

Following multiple penalties in favor of the Sharks van der Westhuizen sent Pablo Matera to the sin bin and without Daniel du Preez crossed for his team’s only try. The 19-14 lead was nonetheless decreased with a Sánchez penalty, his only one of the evening, making it a 19-17 scoreline at half time.

A missed opportunity from Montero’s replacement, Lucas González Amorosino cost Los Jaguares as Emiliano Boffelli scored from a forward pass. A second incident saw Matías Orlando’s try called back bu van der Westhuizen.

Despite trailing at the interval the superior side had been Los Jaguares. They looked to get back in front but it was a further Lambie penalty which opened the second half. With the Sharks up 22-17 they opted to try to shut out the match. Though tactics of killing the ball they succeeded in doing so as van der Westhuizen’s officiating left Los Jaguares unimpressed.

Looking to reclaim the lead Sánchez attempted an unsuccessful long-range penalty and a drop goal. Los Jaguares turned to their scrum for points and had four successive advancing scrums illegally defended yet van der Westhuizen decided against the protocol of awarding a penalty try.

On one occasion Los Jaguares had advantage which Leonardo Senatore capitalized on to touch down for a try. The score was not to be with Los Jaguares instead awarded another scrum. Eventually the passage of play ended with Senatore knocking-on.

Further raids from Los Jaguares in the final ten minutes saw the first and only try of the second half awarded. Loosehead prop Santiago García Botta scattered over as Velez Sarsfield erupted but with the scores leveled Juan Martín Hernandez was unable to give his team the lead as his conversion attempt was well wide.

A late Lambie penalty saw the visitors coming out on top and collecting four competition points. Los Jaguares must now regather and prepare to fly to South Africa where they will play two matches over the coming weekends.

SCORERS
LOS JAGUARES
Try: Lavanini, Landajo, García Botta
Conversion: Sánchez (2)
Penalty: Sánchez
Yellow Card: Matera

SHARKS
Try: du Preez
Conversion: Lambie
Penalty: Lambie (6)
Yellow Card: Sithole

LOS JAGUARES
1 Santiago García Botta, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 3 Ramiro Herrera, 4 Matías Alemanno, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Manuel Montero, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 15 Joaquín Tuculet

Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Lucas González Amorosino

SHARKS
1 Tendai Mtawarira, 2 Franco Marais, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 4 Lubabalo Mtyanda, 5 Stephan Lewies, 6 Keegan Daniel, 7 Jean Deysel, 8 Daniel du Preez, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 10 Pat Lambie (cap.), 11 JP Pietersen, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 13 Paul Jordaan, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 15 Willie le Roux

Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Dale Chadwick, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Etienne Oosthuizen, 20 Tera Mtembu, 21 Joe Pietersen, 22 Garth April, 23 Sibusiso Sithole