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Fresh off a bye round, Los Jaguares return to the 2018 Super Rugby competition this Saturday. The Argentine side is to be up against none other than the Crusaders, the most successful team in the history of the competition.
The lead-up to the match has been overshadowed by the retirement of Juan Martín Hernández. In RWC 2007 he was deemed the Diego Maradona of rugby. Some eleven years later his professional career ended officially on Wednesday.
Jaguares Head Coach Mario Ledesma is charged with picking up the pieces after having lost one of Argentina’s all-time Great players.
Hernández had been a regular at inside center under Raúl Pérez though Ledesma has used others. Bautista Ezcurra and Santiago González Iglesias have both had starts in the position this year. Against the Crusaders, though, the spot goes to Jerónimo de la Fuente who is fit to earn his first start of 2018.
de la Fuente is the one change made by Ledesma for the match. Ezcurra started in the 12 shirt in Los Jaguares’ prior match which was at home against the Lions.
There are changes to the bench with Javier Díaz taking the Loose Head replacement spot from Felipe Arregui, while Tomás Lezana returns to replace veteran Juan Manuel Leguizamón. With de la Fuente starting González Iglesias takes over the vacant 22 spot.
The Crusaders are coached by former All Blacks no 8 Scott Robertson. Part of his rise through the ranks as a coach included him coaching Brazil’s test team. He is now a man being watched closely as a potential option to coach New Zealand after RWC 2019.
Robertson has made four changes from last week. One sees the impressive Manasa Mataele starting on the right wing. He comes in for the fellow Fijian-born Seta Tamanivalu. At outside center Tim Bateman starts in place of Jack Goodhue who is out with a hamstring injury.
In the forwards All Blacks second-rower Luke Romano is back to start. He partners fellow international lock Sam Whitelock. The final change sees Tom Sanders elevated from the bench to start at flanker with Heiden Bedwell-Curtis named at no 8.
The Jaguares and Crusaders have met one just one prior occasion. The match was in Los Jaguares’ inaugural Super Rugby campaign in 2016. Played in Christchurch, the Crusaders won 32-15 in what was a round 8 fixture.
The favorites to win this Saturday are the Crusaders. Los Jaguares will be helped by home support and are also both rested as well as coming off a fine performance against the Lions. But the Crusaders are a side packed with talent and are the defending champions. It will take a very special performance from Pablo Matera’s side to win.
JAGUARES
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 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 Agustín Creevy, 1 Santiago García Botta
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Javier Díaz, 18 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Martín Landajo, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Ramiro Moyano
CRUSADERS
15 David Havili, 14 Manasa Mataele, 13 Tim Bateman, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 George Bridge, 10 Mitchell Hunt, 9 Bryn Hall, 8 Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, 7 Matt Todd, 6 Tom Sanders, 5 Sam Whitelock (Capt.), 4 Luke Romano, 3 Michael Alaalatoa, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Tim Perry
Replacements: 16 Ben Funnell, 17 Donald Brighouse, 18 Chris King, 19 Quinten Strange, 20 Pete Samu, 21 Mitchell Drummond, 22 Mike Delany, 23 Braydon Ennor
Date: Saturday April 07 2018
Venue: Estadio Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires
Kick-off Time: 6:40pm
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Federico Anselmi (Argentina) and Pablo Deluca (Argentina)
TMO: Santiago Borsani (Argentina)
