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This weekend marks round five of the 2018 Super Rugby season. For Los Jaguares it is game five in as many weeks. Their opponents, the Reds, are to be playing for the fourth time. Both teams won last weekend.
For Los Jaguares their win over the Waratahs was their first of 2018. It was a vast improvement on their defeats against the Stormers, Lions and Hurricanes in the opening three rounds.
Head Coach Mario Ledesma has thanked his players in the best way possible – making no changes for Saturday’s match against the Reds. The same fifteen men who started against the Waratahs will do so against the Queensland state side.
This means that Daniel Hourcade favorites Martín Landajo and Juan Martín Hernández remain outside of the starting line-up. Both men, however, return to be named on the bench. They do so by taking over from Felipe Ezcurra and Joaquín Díaz Bonilla respectively.
Both captain Pablo Matera and outside center Matías Orlando have been declared fit for the match. The pairing had been in doubt following knocks taken in the win over the Waratahs.
The Reds have made one change. The alteration sees Angus Scott-Young set to make his first Super Rugby start. It comes two weeks after he made his debut as a replacement against the Brumbies. His father, Sam Scott-Young was a Wallaby, earning seven caps from 1990-1992.
Scott-Young will start at flanker. This sees others moving position with Adam Korczyk changing from one flanker to the other and Liam Wright demoted to the bench.
Other changes can be found among the replacements. Andrew Ready has been named as the reserve hooker, prop Ruan Smith is set for his feds debut while Ben Lucas is covering scrum-half.
The Reds are to be led by Wallaby James Slipper from Loose Head. Additional Australian test players in the starting line-up include Kane Douglas, Samu Kerevi, Eto Nabuli, Izack Rodda, and Taniela Tupou.
There has only been one prior match between Los Jaguares and the Reds. That match was a round five fixture in the 2017 Super Rugby season. Los Jaguares hosted and defeated the Reds 22-8 on that occasion.
Ledesma has named eight Jaguares to start who also did so in the 2017 fixture. They are Felipe Arregui, Agustín Creevy, Matías Alemanno, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Gonzalo Bertranou, Matías Orlando, and Joaquín Tuculet.
The Reds travelled from Australia to Argentina for the match. The long-haul flight combined with doing off three games in Australia makes it an uphill challenge for the Queenslanders. Los Jaguares’ impressive performance last weekend makes them favorites to claim a second win for 2018.
JAGUARES
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Santiago González Iglesias, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera (capt.), 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Felipe Arregui
Replacements: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Juan Martií Hernández, 23 Sebastián Cancelliere
REDS
15 Aidan Toua, 14 Filipo Daugunu, 13 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Eto Nabuli, 10 Jono Lance, 9 James Tuttle, 8 Caleb Timu, 7 Adam Korczyk, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 1 James Slipper (capt.)
Replacements: 16 Andrew Ready, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Harry Hockings, 20 Liam Wright, 21 Ben Lucas, 22 Hamish Stewart, 23 Duncan Paia’aua
Date: Saturday March 17
Venue: Estadio Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires
Kick-off: 6:40pm local
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistants: Jamie Nutbrown (New Zealand), Pablo Deluca (Argentina)
TMO: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)
