Jaguares come up short against Highlanders

Los Jaguares came up short against the Highlanders this morning, losing 32-27 in Dunedin. The match marked the first time that the Argentine side have played in the south New Zealand city.

The loss saw Los Jaguares coming away with a bonus point and there were a number of positives as they did not concede a second half try. Ultimately, however, the opening half from the Highlanders was sufficient for them to win as they converted a 26-13 half-time lead into their victory.

Scoring in the match began with a break from Sebastián Cancelliere. The right winger linked with Ramiro Moyano before bursting clean through. Looking for support he kicked through for Matías Moroni to gather as the ball bounced for him to tough it down on the line.

At the other end of the field the Highlanders hit back, doing so via flanker James Lentjes. His score would be quickly responded to by Los Jaguares with Joaquín Díaz Bonilla on target with a penalty strike. It gave the visitors a 10-5 lead.

The home side pulled away from the South Americans late in the opening half In the final ten minutes they ran-in three quick tries with fullback Matt Fades, center Patelesio Tomkinson, and hooker Liam Coltman each scoring.

The Argentine side responded smartly in the second half. They did so with regular starting flanker, Marcos Kremer breaking a tackle to barge over in his first start of the year in the second-row.

Two penalties from fly half Josh Ioane would be all the home side could come up with as Los Jaguares were convincingly the better second half side. This was underlined with the bench impact contributing in the lead-up to winger Ramiro Moyano scoring.

Moyano’s try saw Los Jaguares closing-in on a victory in the second half. Fifteen minutes remained but Los Jaguares were repeatedly penalized by local referee Paul O’Keefe.

Gonzalo Quesada’s team now travel north to Wellington to prepare to face the Hurricanes on Friday. Many changes are expected with regulars benched or rested today including Agustín Creevy, Tomás Cubelli, Tomás Lavanini, Pablo Matera, Santiago Medrano, Domingo Miotti, Matías Orlando, Guido Petti, and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.

 

SCORING

HIGHLANDERS (32)
Try: Lentjes, Faddes, Tomkinson, Coltman
Conversion: Ioane (3)
Penalty: Ioane (2)

JAGUARES (27)
Try: Moroni, Kremer, Moyano
Conversion: Díaz Bonilla (2)
Penalty: Díaz Bonilla (2)

TEAMS

HIGHLANDERS
1 Ayden Johnstone, 2 Liam Coltman, 3 Siate Tokolahi, 4 Josh Dickson, 5 Tom Franklin, 6 Luke Whitelock (capt.), 7 James Lentjes, 8 Elliot Dixon, 9 Aaron Smith, 10 Josh Ioane, 11 Tevita Li, 12 Patelesio Tomkinson, 13 Rob Thompson, 14 Jordan Hyland, 15 Matt Faddes

Replacements: 16 Ash Dixon, 17 Daniel Lienert-Brown, 18 Tyrel Lomax, 19 Jack Whetton, 20 Liam Squire, 21 Kayne Hammington, 22 Daniel Hollinshead, 23 Thomas Umaga-Jensen

JAGUARES
1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Julián Montoya, 3 Enrique Pieretto, 4 Marcos Kremer, 5 Lucas Paulos, 6 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 7 Tomás Lezana, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente (capt.), 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Emiliano Boffelli

Replacements: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Tomás Lavanini, 20 Pablo Matera, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Matías Orlando