SR Preview: Bulls vs Jaguares

In game two of Los Jaguares’ three match tour of South Africa, the Argentine side take-on the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday. It is a crucial game for both sides, due to their positioning in the South African Suer Rugby conference.

In his fifth season in the competition, RWC 2019 winner, Warrick Gelant, will play in his 50th Super Rugby match. He will play in his familiar position of fullback against Los Jaguares.

Not involved in the game will be, captain Burger Odendaal, who has been declared unfit to play due to an ankle injury. His non-availability sees a debut appearance of New Zealander Nafi Tuitavake. The 31-year-old, formerly of the Crusaders, has 14 caps for Tonga and played at RWC 2019.

Tuitavake will start at outside center, a selection which sees John-Ben Kotze moving into inside center. Meanwhile, scrum-half Embrose Papier will earn his first start of 2020 when he plays inside former Springboks fly half Morné Steyn.

The forwards feature three changes, two of which are positional. Marco van Staden will start the match at openside flanker, while Jeandré Rudolph and, Scotland international, Josh Strauss move positions.

Jerónimo de la Fuente is back to captain Los Jaguares. He is one of nine changes to the side from that which faced the Stormers last Saturday. de la Fuente replaces Juan Cruz Mallía to form a mid-field partnership with Matías Moroni.

Elsewhere in the backs there is a double change in the halves with Gonzalo Bertranou and Joaquín Díaz Bonilla starting. While in the back-three Santiago Carreras returns at fullback and Sebastián Cancelliere and Emiliano Boffelli start on the wings.

Not considered for the match are the injured trio of Matías Alemanno, Tomás Cubelli and Bautista Delguy. The former remains with the roster in South Africa, while the two others have flown home.

Alemanno’s non-availability sees Guido Petti locking the scrum with Marcos Kremer. They are to play behind a new front-row of Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Julián Montoya and Joel Sclavi, who makes his first start in Super Rugby.

Set to debut from the bench is Bautista Pedemonte. The bench otherwise contains names from the previous match. Of note is that Los Jaguares do not have a replacement scrum half. Instead, Cancelliere will move into the position if required.

Saturday marks the fourth time in which Los Jaguares and the Bulls have met in Super Rugby. In prior outings Los Jaguares won 29-11 in Buenos Aires in 2016; the Bulls winning 26-13 in Pretoria in 2017; and Domingo Miotti turned the tide in a 22-20 Jaguares’ win in 2019.

Los Jaguares have played well in 2020, although this has not always been evident in their results. The Bulls have been an underfeeding team and will need a strong performance to down the Argentine outfit on Saturday. ARN predicts a Jaguares victory by 11 points.

 

TEAMS

BULLS
1 Lizo Gqoboka, 2 Jaco Visagie, 3 Trevor Nyakane (capt.), 4 Andries Ferreira, 5 Juandre Kruger, 6 Marco van Staden, 7 Josh Strauss, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 9 Embrose Papier, 10 Morné Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 12 John-Ben Kotze, 13 Nafi Tuitavake, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 15 Warrick Gelant

Replacements: 16 Corniel Els, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Ruan Nortje, 20 Ruan Steenkamp, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Divan Rossouw

JAGUARES
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Julián Montoya, 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Marcos Kremer, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 7 Tomás Lezana, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente (capt.), 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Santiago Carreras

Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Bautista Pedemonte, 21 Domingo Miotti, 22 Juan Cruz Mallia, 23 Santiago Chocobares

Date: Saturday February 29
Kick-Off: 5:15pm (Local), 12:15pm (Rio de la Plata)
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: AJ Jacobs (South Africa), Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)