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In the final round of the regular season of Super Rugby Los Jaguares play host to the Sunwolves on Friday evening. It is a fixture putting the two newest editions to Super Rugby together with one making global rugby headlines for performances and the other for having been shown the exit door from the competition.
Los Jaguares Head Coach Gonzalo Quesada has opted for heavy player rotation for the match. For the likes of Agustín Creevy, Jerónimo de la Fuente, Tomás Lavanini, Javier Ortega Desio, and Mayco Vivas they are being rested. Emiliano Boffelli, meanwhile, is out injured.
Of the side that ran-out last weekend against the Sharks only three will also start against the Sunwolves. The 12 alterations include a new front-row with Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Julián Montoya, and Enrique Pieretto replacing Vivas, Creevy, and Santiago Medrano.
In the second-row Guido Petti is back from injury to take the place of Lavanini. He will join Lucas Paulos in the engine room with Marcos Kremer covering from the bench.
Kremer has been flanker and second-rower this season. The long injury lay-off to Matías Alemanno has seen extra work for certain players. Against the Sunwolves rotation sees Rodrigo Bruni back form the Argentina XV to start at N8 with Tomás Lezana starting following injury.
There is a double change in the halves. Felipe Ezcurra, and Domingo Miotti will be the combination. New centers will play outside them in the form of Santiago González Iglesias, and Matías Orlando. For González Iglesias it is to be his first match since facing the Bulls in South Africa. During this time there have been eight matches without his involvement.
Sebastián Cancelliere, and Santiago Carreras have been retained as the wingers while Joaquín Tuculet will play fullback. It is to be Tuculet’s first match since getting injured against the Sharks in South Africa.
The replacements to face the Sunwolves feature the notable inclusion of Santiago Socino. He will make his Super Rugby debut against the Japanese side, doing so just weeks after returning to Argentina from England.
The Sunwolves go in to the game as the bottom placed side in the competition. The side has already been confirmed as the wooden-spooners for 2019 as they have 12 competition points which have come from two victories, and thirteen losses.
Against Los Jaguares the Sunwolves have had two prior matches. The first saw the teams meeting in Tokyo and the Sunwolves impressed, winning 36-28 in 2016. Los Jaguares achieved revenge in the second outing, winning 46-39 in Buenos Aires in 2017.
Both previous fixtures between the teams were under the coaching regime of Raúl Pérez. Mario Ledesma had no match against them and Friday’s match will be the first for Quesada. Of the changes post Pérez one notable feature has been vastly improved defense. With this in mind the Sunwolves are expected to have a much tougher time scoring tries.
As demonstrated throughout the four match tour to Oceania Quesada is a master at player rotation. He has been able to achieve wins against reputable opponents even with many changes from one week to the next. This is expected to occur again on Friday with Los Jaguares entering the match as favorites to win by 18 points.
TEAMS
JAGUARES:
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Julián Montoya, 3 Enrique Pieretto, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Lucas Paulos, 6 Tomás Lezana, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 10 Domingo Miotti, 11 Santiago Carreras, 12 Santiago Gónzalez Iglesias, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Joaquín Tuculet
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Francisco Gorrisen, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Juan Cruz Mallía, 23 Matías Moroni
SUNWOLVES
1 Masataka Mikami, 2 Nathan Vella, 3 Conan O’Donnell, 4 Mark Abbott, 5 Tom Rowe, 6 Ryota Hasegawa, 7 Shuhei Matsuhashi, 8 Ben Gunter, 9 Jamie Booth, 10 Hayden Parker, 11 Hosea Saumaki, 12 Timothy Lafaele, 13 Josh Timu, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 15 Semisi Masirewa
Replacements: 16 Jaba Bregvadze, 17 Shogo Miura, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Yuya Odo, 20 Masakatsu Nishikawa, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Takuya Yamasawa, 23 Jason Emery
Date: Friday June 14
Kick-Off: 7:10pm (Local)
Venue: Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires
Referee: Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Assistant Referees: Nick Briant (New Zealand), Juan Pablo Federico (Argentina)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
