Video: Jaguares Fall Short Against Stormers

Los Jaguares fell short against the Stormers, losing 32-25 this afternoon in Cape Town. A poor first half from the Argentine side and two yellow cards ultimately prevented a winning result. Next up is a home match in Buenos Aires against the Lions.

Los Jaguares opened the scoring. Nicolás Sánchez landed the first of two opening half penalties in the 7th minute. It was cancelled out from his opposite, Jean-Luc du Plessis in the 12th minute.

Captain Agustín Creevy crossed for the first try of the match. The hooker bulldozed his way over from close range to put Los Jaguares 11-3 ahead in the 18th minute. Sánchez missed the conversion and would not further trouble the scorers until the 40th minute.

The second quarter of the match was comfortably won by the home side. Tries from center EW Viljoen ands scrum half Jano Vermaak put the Stormers on top. Du Plesses converted both tries to give the Stormers a 17-11 half time lead.

Both first half Stormers tries came from inside the team’s own half. Errors in the Jaguares defense contributed to both scores.

When Du Plessis added his third penalty the Stormer were 20-11 head. Los Jaguares hit back through Santiago Cordero. The winger crossed for his first of two tries. Sánchez added the conversion but further disciplinary issues saw the Stormers awarded a penalty try.

Cordero’s second try in the 67th minute brought back life to the match. It came from a break from Tomás Lezana, the best Jaguar of the match. Any hopes of a South American wing fell flat, however, as fullback SP Marais hit-back three minutes later.

The Stormers not only won the match but they asked serious questions of Los Jaguares’ game plan. Los Jaguares were exposed both in the scrum and lineout. Furthermore the loss of both Pablo Matera and Matías Moroni to second half yellow carded reiterated the flaws from the 2016 campaign. Sánchez comments post game that “the yellow cards cost us the match”.

Los Jaguares will now return home to Buenos Aires. The team will do so knowing it must drastically improve and have a smarter strategy to come out on top against the 2016 runners-up.

SCORERS
STORMERS
Try: Viljoen, Vermaak, Marais, Penalty Try
Conversion: Du Plessis (2)
Penalty: Du Plessis (3)

JAGUARES
Try: Creevy, Cordero (2)
Conversion: Sánchez, González Iglesias
Penalty: Sánchez (2)
Yellow Card: Matera, Moroni

STORMERS
1 JC Janse Van Rensburg, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 3 Wilco Louw, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 7 Siya Kolisi (Capt.), 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 9 Jano Vermaak, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 12 Dan Kriel, 13 EW Viljoen, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 15 SP Marais

Replacements: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Dewaldt Duvenage, 22 Rob du Preez, 23 Seabelo Senatla

JAGUARES:
1 Santiago García Botta, 2 Agustín Creevy (Capt.), 3 Felipe Arregui, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Matías Alemanno, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Tomás Lezana, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Santiago Cordero, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 15 Joaquín Tuculet

Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera Paz, 18 Cristian Bartoloni, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Benjamín Macome, 21 Felipe Ezcurra, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Matías Moroni