Super Rugby Preview – Jaguares vs Lions

The 2019 Super Rugby begins this weekend. Los Jaguares will be playing their fourth season but will begin at home for the first time. They are to be up against 2016, 2017, and 2018 beaten finalists, the Lions.

New Jaguars Head Coach Gonzalo Quesada has gone for a different line-up to that from 2018. Forwards Mayco Vivas and Rodrigo Bruni will both make their Super Rugby debuts, doing so ahead of established players.

The departure of Nicolás Sánchez sees, as expected, Joaquín Díaz Bonilla playing fly half. Santiago González Iglesias is unable to make the 23 with Juan Cruz Mallía named as the replacement fly half.

In the mid-field Matías Orlando has been preferred to Matías Moroni with the latter covering wing as a replacement. Also on the bench is Marcos Kremer who has been declared fit despite injuring his knee in a warm-up match last Friday. Enrique Pieretto, meanwhile, makes his return after missing all of 2018 through injury.

The Lions are captained by South African n8 Warren Whiteley. He is to be joined by fellow Springboks Andries Coetzee, Aphiwe Dyantyi, Elton Jantjies, Malcolm Marx, and Lionel Mapoe in the run-on team.

Marx will play opposite Creevy and be joined by debutant Carlu Sadie in the front-row. The power of the front-row is a major weapon of the Lions with another being their back-three. The outstanding Aphiwe Dyantyi will join Courtnall Skosan, and Andries Coetzee.

The first ever match between the sides was in May 2016. The Lions were highly impressive in winning 52-24 in Johannesburg. Los Jaguares got the better of them in the reverse fixture, winning 34-22 in Buenos Aires.

In 2017 and 2018 they would again split the results. Los Jaguares won 36-24 at home while the Lions held on to win 24-21 in Johannesburg in 2017. Last year the Lions won 47-27 in South Africa while Los Jaguares did so 49-35 at home.

The most recent match was last year’s Quarter Final, a match won 40-23 by the Lions in South Africa. As demonstrated in the results the home side has always been victorious and this is expected to continue on Saturday in Buenos Aires. Los Jaguares are favorites to win by 10 points.

TEAMS

JAGUARES
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente (capt.), 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 9 Gonzalo Bertrnaou, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Rodrigo Bruni, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Mayco Vivas

Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Marcos Kremer, 21 Martín Landajo, 22 Juan Cruz Mallía, 23 Matías Moroni

LIONS
15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Warren Whiteley (capt.), 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Rhyno Herbst, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Dylan Smith

Replacements: 16 Pieter Jansen, 17 Frans Van Wyk, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Robert Kruger, 21 Gianni Lombard, 22 Wandisile Simelane, 23 Ruan Combrinck

Date: Saturday, February 16
Venue: Velez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires
Kick-off: 6:40pm (Argentina)
Referee: Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand), Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa)
TMO: Santiago Borsani