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The 2018 Super Rugby season rolls on. Round three sees Los Jaguares at home for the first time. Their opponents are the 2016 champions, the Hurricanes. For the Argentine side is is their third match in as many weeks while it is the second for the visitors.
Los Jaguares are looking for their first win. They struggled on the road against the Stormers and Lions, returning home without any competition points. The Hurricanes one match thus far was also in South Africa and saw the New Zealanders falling to a 21-19 defeat against the Bulls.
In search of an improved effort Mario Ledesma has made three team changes, all of which come in the forwards. Javier Ortega Desio is back to fitness and will start at flanker with Leonardo Senatore dropping to the bench.
Also missing out on starting this week are second-rowers Guido Petti and Tomás Lavanini. Ledesma has instead named Marcos Kremer and Matías Alemanno to lock the scrum.
Among the replacements there is an opportunity for Sebastián Cancelliere to make his Super Rugby debut. He takes over as the replacement winger from the injured Ramiro Moyano. Should he receive game time Juan Martín Hernández will make his first appearance of the season.
Rookie front-rowers Javier Díaz and Juan Pablo Zeiss, will again feature among there replacements. Meanwhile Santiago García Botta is to start for the Argentina XV away to Brazil this weekend in the Americas Rugby Championship.
Hurricanes Head Coach Chris Boyd has named a powerful line-up. Starting for the first time in 2018 are the Barrett brothers. Beauden Barrett starts at fly half and Jordie Barrett at fullback. For the latter it is his first game or rugby since the 2017 Super Rugby Semi Finals.
The Barrett brothers are two of what are four changes from last week. Outside there are new wingers. Chris Eves replaces the injured Toby Smith while Ben Lam takes over from Wes Goosen.
The remaining alternation is a positional change. With Jordie Barrett fit and starting at fullback Matt Proctor moves into the mid-field. This sees Vince Aso dropping to the bench.
Saturday’s match is to be just the second between the teams. In the prior match the Hurricanes ran-out 40-22 winners in Wellington, New Zealand in 2016.
Past records, form and the daunting line-up that the Hurricanes have named make it a vastly difficult match for Los Jaguares. The New Zealanders enter the fixture as favorites. They do so with some of New Zealand’s best players including not only the Barrett brothers but also center Ngani Laumape, scrum-half TJ Perenara and forwards Vaea Fifita and Ardien Savea.
Containing the above mentioned players as well as finding the means of scoring tries will require not only a strong performance but also an intelligent one from the South Americans. Plenty of weight will be placed on the captaincy of Pablo Matera and the decision making of Nicolás Sánchez.
JAGUARES
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Bautista Ezcurra, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Tomás Lezana, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera (capt.), 5 Marcos Kremer, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Felipe Arregui
Replacements: 16 Javier Díaz, 17 Julián Montoya, 18 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Martín Landajo, 22 Juan Martín Hernández, 23 Sebastián Cancelliere
HURRICANES
5 Jordie Barrett, 14 Julian Savea, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Ben Lam, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Brad Shields (capt.), 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Vaea Fifita, 3 Ben May, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Chris Eves
Replacements: 16 James O’Reilly, 17 Fraser Armstrong, 18 Alex Fidow, 19 Michael Fatialofa, 20 Blade Thomson, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Jackson Garden-Bachop, 23 Vince Aso
Date: Saturday March 3
Venue: Estadio Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires
Kick-off: 6:40pm local
Referee: Nick Briant (New Zealand)
Assistants: Mike Fraser (New Zealand), José Covasi (Argentina)
TMO: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)
