Jaguares Flop to Biggest Defeat of 2017 Against Bulls

Los Jaguares failed to perform today. The Argentine side flopped to their biggest defeat of 2017, losing 26-13 against the Bulls in Pretoria.

A high penalty count and an inability to find cohesive play saw Los Jaguares fail to spark. Changes made from last weekend’s loss to the Sharks complicated rather than aided the performance of the Argentine side.

At the half way point against the Bulls Los Jaguares were 13-3 down. The Bulls had scored the only try of the first half with Travis Ismaiel punishing slopping ball-handling from Los Jaguares on the floor. The try summed up the performance in general of Los Jaguares’ starting lineup, many of whom will struggle to be retained.

Getting an opportunity in his favored position, Santiago González Iglesias was out performed by Handré Pollard. The Springboks fly half kicked 16 points for his team and was sharp in general play. González Iglesias struggled to ignite the back line and was yellow carded late in the opening half.

González Iglesias returned to play out the match, doing so with Nicolás Sánchez coming on for Jerónimo de la Fuente. Sánchez immediately created an opportunity with a half break putting Gonzalo Bertranou over for the only Jaguares try of the match.

The try made it a 16-10 scoreline, in favor of the  Bulls. Los Jaguares were back in the game and looked like scoring again. Replacement Tomás Lezana made multiple line breaks with Pablo Matera also carrying strongly in the second half.

Ultimately González Iglesias would cut the deficit to three points but his 56th minute strike would be Los Jaguares’ final points of the match. The Bulls added a second, again through an unlikely play with Warrick Gelant being the benefactor.

The Bulls were deserved winners. The home side played the conditions much better than did Los Jaguares. Evident was the familiar problem of Los Pumas’ discipline not transferring over to Super Rugby. In the first half alone Los Jaguares conceded 7 penalties. The team also, once again, had a player yellow carded. The opposition did not.

Los Jaguares remain in South Africa for one more week. Their next match sees them taking on the Lions in Johannesburg on Friday. They will then fly back home across the Atlantic Ocean for five consecutive home matches. The season will finish with matches against The Rebels and Waratahs in Australia in July.

SCORERS
BULLS
Tries: Ismaiel, L de Jager
Conversion: Pollard (2)
Penalty: Pollard (4)

JAGUARES
Try: Bertranou
Conversion: González Iglesias
Penalty: González Iglesias (2)
Yellow Card: González Iglesias

BULLS
15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nick de Jager, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Pierre Schoeman

Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Martin Dreyer, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Marnus Schoeman, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Warrick Gelant

LOS JAGUARES
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Santiago González Iglesias, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Rodrigo Baez, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Marcos Kremer, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Lucas Noguera Paz

Replacements: 16 Roberto Tejerizo, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Benjamin Macome, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Nicolás Sánchez, 23 Ramiro Moyano