Jaguares Bow out By Beating Lions

A strong second half showing saw Los Jaguares ending their inaugural Super Rugby season with a win. The Argentine franchise will have learned a lot and Daniel Hourcade can now begin Rugby Championship preparations in advance.

Early on in Buenos Aires the Lions had the better of play. Through controlled forward momentum, the Johannesburg-based franchise, worked their way into the Jaguares 22. Fly half Jaco van der Walt turned the good work into a 3-0 lead.

The following minutes saw a number of scrums. Firstly referee Rohan Hoffmann instructed the Lions not to bind early only to next penalize the Jaguares. From there Los Jaguares won the next scrum and an eventual penalty to kick into the Lions 22.

Multiple attacking phases followed with the Lions defense proving to be solid. Gardner, though, awarded Los Jaguares a penalty for the Lions not being behind the last feet at the base of a ruck. Nicolás Sánchez took the opportunity to equalize, making it a 3-3 match after 12 minutes.

A simple response from the Lions returned to them the lead. Experienced scrum half Ross Cronjé outclassed his opposite to break through and link with Anthony Volmink running over unmarked. The difficult conversion from van der Walt was successful.

Good work from the restart saw a second kickable penalty for Los Jaguares. With it Sánchez added his second to make it a 10-6 scoreline after 16 minutes.

Unhappy with the scrum Hoffmann talked to Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro and subsequently gave the Lions a free-kick. It gave the Lions a good attacking platform and position. Bad handling, though, saw Los Jaguares getting back into the opposition half. Following a near try the South Americans were awarded a penalty and the deficit was reduced to one in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

The Lions responded well, scoring for the second time. Like the first a gap down the left saw an unmarked Sylvian Mahuza going over. With van der Walt again on target the Lions were again six points ahead.

With both sides looking to attack with width mistakes were common and notably so in the final fifteen minutes of the opening half. The most notable coming from Martín Landajo. The scrum half knocked-on what was a certain try. Guido Petti repeated his smooth work vs France to run 40 meters and offload to Landajo only for the captain to drop the ball when he was unmarked.

A scrum followed and good work from Ramiro Herrera won a penalty. Sánchez added his fourth kick to bring the first half to a close.

The second half started in a hurry with both teams scored in the opening eight minutes. First Volmink scored his second of the night and second Facundo Isa scored from the base of an attacking scrum. van der Walt landed his conversion while Sánchez missed.

Minutes later Sánchez had a straight forward penalty opportunity. The Tucumán pivot uncharacteristically kicked it wide. But with the Lions pack down to seven the Jaguares remained in the Lions 22. Following a disallowed try from Julián Montoya the Argentines scored a penalty try. Sánchez’s boot found the target to give the home side the lead for the first time.

Los Jaguares dominance continued and as the forwards almost found their way over shortly thereafter. It ended with a knock-on. 65 minutes in, though, a counter attack from Santiago Cordero saw the winger blocked after kicking. Sánchez slotted the penalty to make it 27-22 as Los Jaguares sensed victory was in their hands.

The Lions had no answer to Los Jaguares raids. Replacement winger Matías Orlando went close. Tackled a meter short fellow substitute, Matías Alemanno gathered and dived over. Sánchez found his target as his team led 34-22 after 66 minutes.

In the final minutes Raúl Pérez emptied the remainder of his bench. A push-over scrum looked inevitable only for that ball to spill out and Gonzalo Bertranou mishandle it. Shortly thereafter Bertranou tapped a quick penalty from in front of the mark which saw Santiago González Iglesias’ try disallowed.

Bertranou almost nearly made up for it with a solo break but did not have the legs to score. The final score of 34-22, nonetheless, made certain that Los Jaguares ended their season well.

SCORERS
JAGUARES
Try: Isa, Penalty Try, Alemanno
Conversion: Sánchez (2)
Penalty: Sánchez (6)

LIONS
Try: Volmink (2), Mahuza
Conversion: van der Walt (3)
Penalty: van der Walt

JAGUARES
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 6 Javier Ortega Desio, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Julián Montoya, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro

Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Mattias Alemanno, 20 Marcos Kremer, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Mattias Orlando

LIONS
15 Sylvian Mahuza, 14 Koch Marx, 13 Stokkies Hanekom, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Ross Cronjé (c), 8 Cyle Brink, 7 Robert Kruger, 6 Stef de Witt, 5 Lourens Erasmus, 4 Martin Muller, 3 Jacques van Rooyen, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Corné Fourie

Replacements: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Clinton Theron, 18 Pieter Scholtz, 19 Fabian Booysen, 20 Ruaan Lerm, 21 Dillon Smit, 22 Jacques Nel, 23 Shaun Reynolds