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The historic first ever Super Rugby Quarter Finals appearance of Los Jaguares will take place on Saturday. The Argentine franchise face South Africa’s best, the Lions in Johannesburg.
The match is the third in as many weeks in South Africa for Los Jaguares. Having played the Bulls and Sharks they now face the Lions, a side to have bad a bye while the Argentine side was playing in Pretoria.
For the Quarter Final the Lions have made two changes from the side that faced the Bulls last weekend. Head Coach Swys de Bruin has recalled Ross Cronje at scrum-half and Aphiwe starts on the left wing.
Cronje replaces Nic Groom who required surgery following breaking his hand last weekend against the Bulls. Aphiwe Dyantyi has been preferred to Courtnall Skosan who will feature from the bench against Los Jaguares.
The Lions bench is to also feature Dylan Smith, who returns from a calf injury, and Dillon Smit who will cover Cronje at scrum-half.
Mario Ledesma has made 11 changes from the side that faced the Sharks last weekend. Having used the final round match as an opportunity to give some game time while resting others, he now has his strongest fit-side read for the Quarter Final.
Captain Pablo Matera has been cleared to play after his suspension was removed by SANZAAR. He joins Tomás Lezana and Javier Ortega Desio in the back-row.
Regular flanker Marcos Kremer moves to the second-row for the match. It is part of Ledesma’s vision to beating the Lions. The naming of a mobile pack is complemented by big replacements in the form of Kremer and Guido Petti locking the scrum while Matías Alemanno and Tomás Lavanini are both to feature from the bench.
In the front-row Agustín Creevy, Santiago García Botta, and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro all return. Julían Montoya and Santiago Medrano drop to the bench with Juan Pablo Zeiss completing the replacement front-rowers. Out of action is Javier Díaz who is out for the season.
Also gone from last week is Ramiro Moyano. With Joaquin Tuculet out until 2019 Ledesma has recalled Emiliano Boffelli at fullback. Bautista Delguy remains on one wing with Matías Moroni moving from outside center to start on the right wing.
The mid-field sees Jerónimo de la Fuente and Matías Orlando who returning. They are to play outside of the regular halves combination of 2018 – Gonzalo Bertranou and Nicolás Sánchez.
Only two backs have been named on the bench – Martín Landajo and Sebastián Cancelliere. The former is covering scrum-half while the later is the replacement wing. Other positions will be covered from within the starting backs if required.
Saturday’s Quarter Final will be the third match between the Lions and Jaguares this year. The teams also have a broad history already, despite 2018 being just the third year of Los Jaguares existence.
The first ever match between the sides took place 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. This year the Lions won 47-27 in South Africa while Los Jaguares did so 49-35 at home.
The Lions enter the Quarter Final as favorites. This is based on winning the prior home matches vs Los Jaguares and the run of form in recent rounds. The Lions enter expected to win by 7 points.
TEAMS
LIONS
15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Warren Whiteley (capt.), 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Kwagga Smith, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Marvin Orie, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Jacques van Rooyen
Replacements: 16 Corne Fourie, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Marnus Schoeman, 21 Dillon Smith, 22 Courtnall Skosan, 23 Howard Mnisi
JAGUARES
15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Matías Moroni, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Bautista Delguy, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Tomás Lezana, 6 Pablo Matera (capt.), 5 Marcos Kremer, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Nahuel Tetaz, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Santiago García Botta
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Juan Pablo Zeiss, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Tomás Lavanini, 21 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 22 Martín Landajo, 23 Sebastián Cancelliere
Date: Saturday July 21
Kick-Off: 3:05pm (local), 10:05am (Argentina)
Venue: Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant Referees: Marius van der Westhuizen, Egon Seconds
TMO: Marius Jonker
